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See also Gothic War (377–382) for the war on the Danube. The Gothic War (535–552), was the nearly 17-year result of Justinian 's decision in 535 to reverse the course of events of the past century in the West and win back for the Eastern Roman Empire the provinces of Italy that had been lost, first to Odoacer and then to the Ostrogoth Theodoric The Great . FIRST CAMPAIGN Justinian's Cause For War was the exile and assassination in 535 of Amalasuntha , Theodoric's heiress, whose representatives had signed a pact with Justinian that enabled Imperial forces to use Sicilian bases in their campaign against the Vandals in Africa . The Emperor's most successful general in this enterprise, which would lay southern and central Italy waste, was Belisarius , recently successful against the Vandals, whom he now commissioned to attack the Ostrogoths. Belisarius quickly captured Sicily and then crossed into Italy, where he captured Rhegium and Naples by November and Rome in December 536, forcing the Gothic king Witigis to evacuate. The following year, Belisarius, with too few troops to face the Goths in the open field, successfully defended Rome against a Gothic siege (January 537 to March 538), interrupted by minor sallies from the walled city, such as the " Battle Of The Pincian Gate ", then, finally reinforced from Constantinople , took the offensive. Narses relieved besieged Ariminum (Rimini) and Belisarius' lieutenant Mundalias moved north to take Mediolanum (Milan). The following year ( 540 ), the Franks intervened; they took Milan and sacked it. Narses was recalled but Belisarius besieged the Ostrogoth capital of Ravenna , where Witiges was captured. The Goths offered to make Belisarius the western emperor, but he refused. The Goths' offer perhaps raised suspicions in Justinian's mind and Belisarius was recalled to the East to fight the Persians in Syria. SECOND AND THIRD CAMPAIGNS In 541 the Ostrogoths acclaimed Totila as their new leader, having assassinated his predecessor who had opened negotiations with the Empire, and Totila mounted a vigorous and successful campaign against the East Romans, recapturing all of northern Italy and even driving the East Romans out of Rome, after a long, second siege (547–549). Belisarius returned to Italy in 544, where he found that the situation had changed greatly. He managed to recover Rome briefly, but his Italian campaign proved unsuccessful, thanks in no small part to his being starved of supplies and reinforcements by a jealous Justinian, if we adopt the view of Procopius. In 548, Justinian relieved him in favor of Narses , who was able to bring the campaign to a successful conclusion. For his part, Belisarius went into retirement. In the third campaign of the Gothic War, Rome was besieged a third time, and captured by Totila, whose offers of peace were rejected by Justinian. A new Italian campaign was organized under Justinian's nephew Germanus , while Liberius harassed the Visigoth s in Hispania. With the death of Germanus in 551 , Narses took on Totila, and at the Battle Of Taginae Narses defeated and killed Totila. The Goths holding Rome capitulated, and at the Battle Of Mons Lactarius , in October 553 , Narses defeated Teias and the last remnants of the Gothic army in Italy. The , leaving the Exarchate Of Ravenna a band of territory that stretched across central Italy to the Tyrrhenian Sea and south to Naples, along with southern Italy as the only remaining Imperial holding. Justinian also managed to carve out an Imperial domain in Southern Spain but that too would be conquered by German tribes a few decades later. After the Gothic Wars the Empire would entertain no more serious ambitions in the West. Rome itself would remain under imperial control until the Exarchate of Ravenna was finally abolished by the Lombards in 751. Southern Italy would remain under East Roman (administered directly from Constantinople) rule until the late 11th century. REFERENCES
Primary sources for the history of the Gothic War are by Belisarius' secretary, Procopius , whose History covers the Gothic War in three of its eight books. Moreover, Procopius was no friend of Justinian, and his assessments require caution. Edward Gibbon depended on Procopius for the first modern account (vol. iv, part V.ch 41). Claudian 's Panegyric , ''De Bello Gothico'' ("The Gothic War") which celebrates the earlier war, see's Alaric expelled from Italy. Its narrative is seen from the perspective of a client of Stilicho , "the restorer of civilization's glory" in Claudian's phrase. SEE ALSO
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