Battle of Calama | |||||
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Part of the Vandal conquest of Roman Africa | |||||
Roman Theatre in Calama | |||||
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Belligerents | |||||
Roman Empire | Vandals | ||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||
Bonifatius | Geiseric | ||||
Strength | |||||
5,000-7,000 [1] /15,000-20,000 [2] | 15,000-20,000 | ||||
Casualties and losses | |||||
unknown, big | unknown |
The Battle of Calama was fought between the West Roman Empire and the Vandals in the war known as the Vandalian conquest of North-Africa. The battle took place in May 430 near the city of Calama. [3] The Roman army under command by comes Africae Bonifatius tried to stumble here the advance of the Vandals who crossed before the strait of Gibraltar under the leadership of King Geiseric. [4]
The Vandals marched without much opposition to the area where the main cities were located, the grain barn of Africa: Africae Zeugitana. According to Possidius, bishop of Calama and eyewitness, the Vandals along the way destroy everything they encountered:
In early 430, Bonifatius arrived in Africa to lead the war against the Vandal raiders. He put the regular field army into position supplemented with the expeditionary force of General Sigisvult who had been left behind after the civil war of 427-429. His own Gothic bucellari formed the core of this army. How large this army was is unknown, but must have been equivalent to that of Geiseric, otherwise Bonifatius would not have dared to fight. [2] However, according to Wijnendaele Bonifatius' army was a lot smaller. [5] Geiseric' force consisted of Vandals and Alans, supplemented by a Gothic tribe and warriors of different origins [6] and amounted to 15,000-20,000 fighters. [2]
According to Procopius, Bonifatius led the army of the Romans in the battle against the Vandals, but was defeated and forced to flee to the safety of the walls of Hippo. [7] In the primary source material, Calama is not mentioned as the location where there was fought. However, there are strong suspicions that it was near Calama, because Possidius fled from here to Hippo as an eyewitness.[ citation needed ]
Bonifatius was overrun by Geiseric in the battle because he was a better strategist. In all his battles with the Romans, Geiserik ended up victorious, which was exceptional, because the Roman army always ended up as the parent party until well into the fifth century. On the other hand, troops of Bonifatius, except his own bucellari, were not of the same quality as Geiserik's warriors. The Vandals were hardened in battle, while the army of the Romans was composed diverse and not used to acting as a unit. The Romans were eventually cornered and had to retreat to the fortified cities. Bonifatius entrenched himself with his bucellari in Hippo Regius which was then besieged by the Vandals. The nearby Camala was taken by the Vandals and partly destroyed.
According to Ian Hughes, [8] the government of Ravenna must have sent urgent calls for help to Constantinople shortly afterwards, so that East Roman aid arrived in 431. The situation was critical. Boniface was besieged at Hippo and the Vandals were therefore in fact in possession of the grain barn of Western Rome, and it is very likely that the city of Rome again faced famine.
The 430s decade ran from January 1, 430, to December 31, 439.
The Vandals were a Germanic people who first inhabited what is now southern Poland. They established Vandal kingdoms on the Iberian Peninsula, Mediterranean islands, and North Africa in the fifth century.
Flavius Aetius was a Roman general and statesman of the closing period of the Western Roman Empire. He was a military commander and the most influential man in the Empire for two decades (433–454). He managed policy in regard to the attacks of barbarian federates settled throughout the West. Notably, he mustered a large Roman and allied (foederati) army in the Battle of the Catalaunian Plains, ending a devastating invasion of Gaul by Attila in 451, though the Hun and his subjugated allies still managed to invade Italy the following year, an incursion best remembered for the ruthless Sack of Aquileia and the intercession of Pope Leo I.
Bonifatius was a Roman general and governor of the diocese of Africa. He campaigned against the Visigoths in Gaul and the Vandals in North Africa. An ally of Galla Placidia, mother and advisor of Valentinian III, Bonifacius engaged in Roman civil wars on her behalf against the generals Felix in 427-429 and Aetius in 432. Although he defeated the latter at the Battle of Rimini, Bonifacius suffered a fatal wound and was succeeded by his son-in-law Sebastianus as patricius of the Western Roman Empire.
The Battle of Rimini was fought in 432 between the two strong men of the Western Roman Empire, the very recently deposed Magister Utriusque Militiae Flavius Aetius and the newly appointed Magister Utriusque Militiae Bonifatius.
Possidius was a friend of Augustine of Hippo who wrote a reliable biography and an indiculus or list of his works. He was bishop of Calama in the Roman province of Numidia.
The sack of Rome in 455 AD marked a pivotal moment in European history when the Vandals, a Germanic tribe led by King Genseric, invaded the city. The Vandals pillaged the city for two weeks, causing widespread destruction. The event, following the Visigothic sack of 410, shocked the Roman world and symbolized the decline and impending fall of the Western Roman Empire.
The Vandalic War was a conflict fought in North Africa between the forces of the Byzantine Empire and the Vandalic Kingdom of Carthage in 533–534. It was the first of Justinian I's wars of the reconquest of the Western Roman Empire.
Victor Vitensis was an African bishop of the Province of Byzacena. His importance rests on his Historia persecutionis Africanae Provinciae, temporibus Genserici et Hunirici regum Wandalorum.
Gaiseric, also known as Geiseric or Genseric was king of the Vandals and Alans from 428 to 477. He ruled over a kingdom and played a key role in the decline of the Western Roman Empire during the 5th century.
The Vandal Kingdom or Kingdom of the Vandals and Alans was a confederation of Vandals and Alans, which is one of the barbarian kingdoms established under Gaiseric, a Vandal warrior. It ruled in North Africa and the Mediterranean from 435 to 534 AD.
The siege of Hippo Regius was a siege from June 430 to August 431, carried out by the Vandals under their king Gaiseric against Roman defenders under Boniface, Count of Africa.
Calama was a colonia in the Roman province of Numidia situated where Guelma in Algeria now stands.
The Vandal conquest of Roman Africa, also known as the Vandal conquest of North Africa, was the conquest of Mauretania Tingitana, Mauretania Caesariensis, and Africa Proconsolaris by the migrating Vandals and Alans. The conflict lasted 13 years with a period of four years of peace, and led to the establishment of the Vandal Kingdom in 435.
The Gothic War (436-439) was a military conflict between the Gothic foederati and the Western Roman Empire under Emperor Valentinian III. It occurred primarily in the Gallic provinces from 436 to 439. The key figures involved were the Gothic leader Theodoric I and the Roman army's commander-in-chief, Aetius. Contemporary sources characterize this conflict as a war. Additionally, there were uprisings of the Burgundians and the Bagaudae during the same period.
The Vandal War (439-442) was a military conflict between the West Roman Empire and the Vandals that was fought in the western Mediterranean Sea region. The main protagonists in this conflict were the Vandal king Geiseric and the commander-in-chief of the Roman army Aëtius.
The Roman Civil War (432) was a military conflict between the Roman generals Aëtius and Bonifatius during the reign of Emperor Valentinian III. This war took place on Italian soil and was decided in the Battle of Rimini. Despite Aëtius losing the battle, the civil war ended in his favor, because Bonifatius was wounded in battle and eventually died of his injuries.
The Roman Civil War of 425 was a short civil war between the West Roman Emperor Joannes and the East Roman Emperor Theodosius II. After rising tensions, battles took place in Italy between the armies of both halves of the empire. Despite this, the conflict did not end by battle, but as a result of a conspiracy in which the Western emperor was captured and killed shortly afterwards.
The Roman civil war of 427-429 was a civil war during the reign of the West Roman emperor Valentinian III. In that period there was a power struggle going on between the generals Felix and Bonifatius that degenerated into an armed conflict. When the central government tried to deput Bonifatius as governor of North-Africa, he separated his territory from the empire without proclaiming himself emperor. He carried the personal loyalty of the African troops and lead them at his discretion during this war. Bonifatius was able to successfully defy and resist state authority. The civil war ended with a truce after which peace was made.
The Vandal War (461-468) was a long-termconflict between the two halves of the Roman Empire on the one hand and the Vandals in North Africa on the other. This war revolved around hegemony in the Mediterranean and the empire of the west. The Vandals as a rising power posed an enormous threat to the stability of the Roman Empire. Piracy and plunder were a scourge, threatening trade throughout the Mediterranean. The Roman war effort from 466 onwards was aimed at the destruction of the Vandal Kingdom in order to restore the empire to its original territory. In this war, armed conflicts alternated with peace talks and the two parts of the Roman Empire did not always act in unison.