Belisarius

Belisarius became the most celebrated commander of Justinian I’s reign, serving on fronts that stretched from Mesopotamia to North Africa and Italy. Hughes traces his early campaigns against the Sasanian Empire, including Dara and Callinicum, his role during the Nika revolt and the rapid conquest of the Vandal kingdom. The Italian campaign then brought him into prolonged conflict with the Ostrogoths and required the defence and recovery of Rome under severe shortages of troops and money.

The book sets these operations within the transformation of Roman warfare in the sixth century, explaining command structures, cavalry, infantry and the forces fielded by Persians, Vandals and Goths. It also examines Belisarius’s difficult relationship with the imperial court, Antonina’s political role and later accusations of disloyalty. Hughes reassesses both the scale of his achievement and the limits imposed by an empire unable to sustain every conquest it attempted.