Battle of Ad Decimum 533
Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
About the battle
The Battle of Ad Decimum took place on 13 September 533 between the armies of the Vandals, commanded by King Gelimer, and the Byzantine Empire, under the command of General Belisarius.
The Vandal Kingdom under King Hilderic maintained close ties with Emperor Justinian I, but Hilderic's acceptance of Chalcedonian Christianity over Arianism led to his overthrow by his cousin Gelimer in 531. Refusing to recognize Gelimer's rule, Justinian launched an expedition in 533 under the command of Belisarius to restore imperial control over North Africa. After landing at Caputvada, the Byzantine army advanced toward Carthage, while Gelimer prepared an ambush at the narrows of Ad Decimum using coordinated attacks by his brother Ammatas, his nephew Gibamundus, and his own forces.
The plan unraveled when Ammatas and Gibamundus were defeated in separate engagements before Gelimer arrived. Although Gelimer initially drove back part of the Byzantine cavalry, he paused to mourn the death of his brother instead of pressing his advantage. Belisarius regrouped his cavalry and launched a counterattack, which found the Vandals in disorder and routed them.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Battle of Ad Decimum (revision 1372804774), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; shortened by selecting paragraphs and trimming at a sentence boundary; formatting and citations removed. No text added.
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