African Vandal (442-535 AD)
DBA 84
By 420 AD, the Silingi Vandals had been pushed from Pannonia across Gaul and deep into Spain by the Goths and Franks. After the death of King Gunderic, son of Godegisel, in battle with the Franks in 428 AD, the Vandals elected Gunderic's bastard half-brother, Gaiseric (a.k.a. Genseric) as their king. Gaiseric convinced his people and their Alan allies to abandon Spain for North Africa, possibly at the invitation of the Roman Governor Boniface, who needed allies as a hedge against the intrigues of the Patrician Aetius in Rome.
Eighty thousand in number, including thirty thousand warriors, the Vandals crossed at the Straights of Gilbralter in 429 AD and seized lands from the local Berbers. There was a treaty of peace with Rome in 435 AD, but Gaiseric soon broke it and set about conquering the rich northern African province including the 14 month seige of Hippo (in which the famous St. Augustine perished) and culminating with the sack of Carthage, which Gaiseric made his capital in 438 AD.
Having secured his kingdom, Gaiseric left intact the efficient Roman bureaucracy and set about building a great fleet. Tracing their origins to Vendsyssel, the northernmost region of Jutland, the Germanic Vandals quickly resumed their sea-faring ways, and became the terror of the Mediterranean. Over a period of thirty-five years, Gaiseric's fleets ravaged the coasts of the Eastern and Western Roman Empires. In 455 AD, a Vandal army landed in Italy and plundered the Eternal City of Rome itself, only sparing it the torch when Pope Leo the Great personally implored Gaiseric to abstain from murder and destruction by fire.
In 460 AD, the Vandals destroy the Roman fleet off Cartagena, confirming their mastery of the western Mediterranean. By 462 AD the Vandal Kingdom included the Roman provinces of North Africa, Sicily, Sardinia, Corsica, and the Balearic Islands. In 476 AD, Gaiseric sold eastern Sicily to Theodoric, king of the Visigoths and then launched raids into Greece and Dalmatia, threatening the Byzantine capital at Constantinople. The Byzantine Emperor Leo I and his Western counterpart Anthemius joined forces to deal with the Vandal threat. Leo financed a fleet of 1000 ships that set sail in 468 AD to capture Carthage. A three-pronged attack under the overall command of Leo's brother-in-law, the incompetent Basiliscus, was poorly coordinated and ended in an embarrassing and costly withdrawal. After 474 AD, the new Eastern emperor Zeno was forced to negotiate a treaty of peace with Gaiseric to prevent further raids. The African Vandal kingdom had reached its zenith.
Gaiseric died in early 477 AD, and the throne went to his eldest son Huneric in accordance with the Vandal law of succession by seniority. Huneric, who by several accounts was not the most competent of rulers, was swayed by his Arian Christian bishops and soon began a reign of savage persecutions within the Kingdom against the orthodox Romano-Christian majority; creating numerous martyrs for the Catholic Book of Saints and committing unspeakably cruel acts that gave the Vandal name much of its bad historical connotation.
Huneric died in 484 AD, and was followed in the Kingship by Gunthamund (484-496 AD), Thrasamund (496-523 AD), Hilderic (523-530 AD), and the last Vandal King Gelimir (530-535 AD). A vigorous and warlike people under Gaiseric, the Vandals gradually became soft with the riches of their conquests and absorbed in the religious and internal politics of the former Roman North African province in which they were always a minority of the population.
In 533 AD, a Byzantine army under Belisarius landed in North Africa and launched a campaign to expel the Vandals and restore Roman rule. On Sept. 13, Belisarius met King Gelimir and his brother Ammatas with their army at the tenth milestone south of Carthage (Ad Decimum). The tide of battle stood against the Byzantines until Ammatas was killed. Gelimir lost his nerve and the Vandal army disintegrated in flight. Belisarius quickly occupied Carthage and within two years had eliminated the last of Gelimir's loyalists, marking the end of the Vandal Kingdom of North Africa in 535 AD.
Army Composition
The African Vandals can be fielded either as a totally mounted army of 12 Knight elements, or as a mixed command of 8 Vandal Knights with 1 Light Horse (Alans?) and 3 Psiloi (subject Moors).
Enemies
The enemies of Gaiseric and his successors are the Moorish (#61), Patrician Romans (#81), and Early Byzantines (#86).
Tactics
With twelve Knights, who needs tactics? Just line them up and charge.
The Moorish Psiloi (a.k.a. "speedbumps") don't have a chance against Knights in open terrain, and must be protected by bad going or by the Moorish Light Horse, who can flit about and even kill the occasional impetuous Vandal Knight with good die rolling.
The Patrician Romans can keep two of the twelve Vandal Knights busy with their own German Knights and two Roman Blades can thumb their noses at two of the Vandal Knights since Blades are not subject to quick-kill like other foot. Knock off two more Vandal knights spent chasing the single Roman elements of Cavalry and Light Horse. That leaves six Vandal Knights to try their luck against six elements of highly vulnerable Warband and Auxilia. You tell me who is likely to prevail.
The Early Byzantine Cavalry and Light Horse will give ground, but not necessarily break before the on-slaught of Vandal Knights. But that leaves at least five elements of Spear, Psiloi or Auxilia for the Vandals to ride over.
Can the Vandals be beaten? Surely. It requires a creative use of terrain, a strategy of avoidance to deny the Vandal Knights easy quick-kill opportunities, taking advantage of impetuous Knight follow-ups to gain overlaps, and most of all, good die rolling.
You might ask the question, why would an African Vandal commander ever opt for the Light Horse and Psiloi option? I have no answer unless perhaps it's that the Psiloi could come in handy on a game board that is likely to have every piece of Bad Going terrain an opponent can possibly squeeze on it. Either that or the Vandal commander is feeling uncharacteristically merciful.
Other Resources
Writing in 550 AD, the historian Procopius of Caesarea gave this account of the Vandal Conquest of North Africa.
The African Vandals are described in Ian Heath's Armies of the Dark Ages (published by WRG) and are also listed in the DBM Book II (Army List 84).
Any history of the late Roman Empire is likely to feature Gaiseric and his Vandal successors, who played a prominent role in bringing about the downfall of the western Roman empire. Edward Gibbon's "The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire" is the classic example and a good source for Vandal information. A more recent scholarly addition to anyone's "Fall of Rome" bookshelf is Thomas Hogkin's "Huns, Vandals and the Fall of Rome," printed by Greenhill Press (1986) and weighing in at 816 pages.
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Comments, questions or suggested additions to this page can be sent to Chris Brantley, brant@erols.com.
Last Updated: March 6, 1999
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