Vandals

In this episode, we explore the Vandals, an East Germanic people whose migrations carried them across Europe and eventually into Roman North Africa, where they established a powerful kingdom centered on Carthage. We trace their rise from migrating tribal groups to a major Mediterranean power, their conquest of North Africa, and their famous sack of Rome in 455. The episode also examines Vandal rule, their Arian Christianity, their naval strength, and their uneasy relationship with the Roman world. We conclude with Emperor Justinian’s Vandalic War, Belisarius’s victory over King Gelimer at Ad Decimum in 533, and the collapse of the Vandal Kingdom as North Africa returned to Byzantine control.