Siege of Ravenna (539–540) 539
Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Year | 539 | Wikidata P580 (start time) |
|---|---|---|
| Era | Medieval (500–1499) | derived from year |
| Location | Italy | Natural Earth (modern borders) |
| Continent | Europe | Natural Earth |
| War / conflict | Gothic War of 535–554 | Wikidata P361 |
| Participants | Byzantine Empire, Ostrogothic Kingdom | Wikidata P710 |
| Coordinates | 44.4178, 12.1994 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
The siege of Ravenna took place in late 539 – May 540 during the Gothic War of 535 to 554 between the Byzantine forces against the besieged Ostrogoths (Goths). The capture of Ravenna concluded the first phase of the Gothic War.
Since the start of the Gothic War, Byzantine general Belisarius had conquered the southern and central Italian Peninsula, and his aim was to capture Ravenna, the capital of the Goths. After securing key strongholds, such as Auximus and Fiesole, he moved to isolate Ravenna by cutting off supplies by land and sea. Within the city, food shortages and declining morale weakened Gothic resistance under King Witigis. Despite a Frankish offer of assistance, the Goths were skeptical in view of recent Frankish betrayals and preferred to negotiate surrender. Byzantine Emperor Justinian offered a peace treaty on generous terms for the Goths, as the empire was under imminent Sasanian threat from the east. However, Belisarius refused to ratify the treaty. The Gothic aristocracy proposed in secret to make Belisarius the Western Roman emperor in exchange of their safety. He accepted these terms, except the crown, which he claimed that he would do in front of the Gothic nobles.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Siege of Ravenna (539–540) (revision 1370992510), 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.
Nearby battles
- Siege of Ravenna (1240) 1240 · 0 km
- Siege of Ravenna (490–493) 490 · 0 km
- Battle of Ravenna (1512) 1512 · 0 km
- Battle of Ravenna (729) 729 · 0 km
- Battle of Ravenna (476) 476 · 0 km
- Battle of Rimini (432) 432 · 0 km
Other battles of the Gothic War of 535–554
- Siege of Naples (536) 536
- Siege of Rome (537–538) 537
- Siege of Ariminum (538) 538
- Siege of Milan (538–539) 538
- Siege of Urbinus 538
- Siege of Auximus 539
- Battle of Treviso 541
- Siege of Verona 541
- Battle of Faventia 542
- Battle of Mucellium 542
All 20 battles of the Gothic War of 535–554 →
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