General Notes

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Belisarius was Commander-in-Chief of the Byzantine forces during the reign of Emperor Justinian. In 530, he crushed a Persian army greatly outnumbering his own. From 533-534, he conquered Africa from the Vandals and took their King Gelimer prisoner to Constantinople. In 535, Belisarius conquered Sicily and then southern Italy from the Ostrogoths. In 544, he even took Rome itself from the Ostrogoths of Italy. He was left without support however, and his rival general Narses (who rebelled against Belisarius' leadership in the earlier Italian campaigns) arrived in Italy with his own forces, and command was transfered. After a 10 year retirement, Belisarius came back to Byzantium to repel a Bulgarian invasion that threatened the capital. In 562, the Emperor Justinian imprisoned him on an accusation of conspiracy. He died three years later, the same year as the Emperor.