"...The sobs of the congregation echoed clearly inside the St. Sophia Cathedral, none louder than the Emperor Justinian's. General Belisarius was dead. A Vandal arrow had slain the emperor's favorite general as the barbarians drove his army away from the walls of Carthage. The last year he'd spent in siege of the Vandal capital was all for naught. However, the emperor's former chamberlain, the eunuch Narses, was still in the field, hemming the Vandals inside narrower and narrower possessions in Africa. And Narses' lieutenants had struck back at Persia, seizing Armenia, so all was not lost.
In the West, the unstoppable Visigoths finally tasted defeat. The Franks had held on grimly to their last province, and the Ostrogoths retook the Alpine passes, driving off the Visigothic thrusts there. The Slavs retained their stranglehold on the north, hurling back attacks by both the Gepids and Byzantines. And as harvest time in the Mediterranean neared, all kingdoms were sure to clamp down tightly on their possessions. They knew the tribute of the provinces is the lifeblood of kingdoms, without which, nations whither and kings die..."
"Carthage Relieved!"
After a year of siege, the Vandal garrison of Carthage was tired and thin. Outside the walls, though, conditions were not much better. Disease ran through the ranks of Belisarius' army, and even the general was ill. Huneric, the most successful of the Vandal warlords, couldn't have timed his attach better. His well-fed and rested horsemen drove through the Byzantine ranks. Cheers went up from the garrison atop the walls as they saw their salvation near. Belisarius tried to rally his troopers, leading a charge against a line of Vandal archers. A cloud of arrows flew towards him and he staggered in the saddle. Hurriedly, his bodyguard rushed him from the field, while the army collapsed. It was too late, though. The empire's greatest general was dead and the battle lost.
"A Cold Vengeance"
The news of the disaster at Carthage reached Narses as he crossed the border into Vandal Tripolitania. Belisarius and he had never been friends. Enemies, no, but rivals most certainly. The aged eunuch composed his face and spoke to the troops. Vengeance was a good motivater, he knew, and Narses used Belisarius' death to strike fire into his men's hearts. When the Vandals rode out to meet them, the Byzantines routed them, and within weeks, had mopped all their garrisons in Tripolitania. All that was left of the vast Vandal possessions in Africa was their newly-relieved capital and its hinterlands.
"To the Last Vandal"
The Vandals were not finished with their summer campaigning, though. Another fleet and army -- some say equipped with Visigothic gold -- landed on the mountainous coast of Mauretania. The Byzantine Exarch Tiberius called out the garrisons and marched to meet the young Vandal warlord, Geleric. The struggle see-sawed both ways until Geleric -- fighting in the front ranks -- was slain. His army gave ground reluctantly, but was forced to withdraw. Tiberius gave them no chance to link up with their fleet, though, and hunted them down -- slaying or capturing all.
"Pass Opens Way to Reconquest"
After rapidly conquering Ostrogothic Liguria and Venetia, the Visigoth warlord Iadoric decided to take a season to consolidate. However, this gave time for Totila to transfer his army from the Vandal front to the north of Italy. He attacked as the Alpine passes opened. At first, the battle favored the Visigoths. Their lightly-armed infantry, supported by the tribal warbands, swarmed across the steep slopes, encircling the Ostrogothic right. Then the Ostrogothic cavalry worked its way around the other flank. The battle hung in the balance. Totila proved superior at exploiting the breakthroughs in the swirling battle, and the Visigoths were driven from the Alps.
"Frankish Kingdom Saved"
After the Franks lost all but one province of their kingdom to the Visigoths, none gave the current warleader Clovis much chance. Even the Frankish warriors entered battle expecting only a brave death. Clovis did not give up, though. He anchored the army's vulnerable flanks on two large woods, stretching the battleline across the gap between. While the Visigoths redeployed to encircle the Franks, they were startled by the sight of the Frankish line hurtling towards them. Not all could get out of the way of the charge and were routed. The stunned Visigoths fled the field while the Franks cheered, lifting Clovis onto their shields. The kingdom was saved -- for awhile, at least.
"Exorcising Demons"
When the Slavic chieftains met in their timber and thatch halls, they were proud and confident. Their lands had swelled several times over, and they had defeated nearly all who stood in their way. Except for the Gepids, though. Three times their armies had clashed. Three times the Slavs had reason to curse the "demons of the plains." Rumor had it, that when the southern kingdoms worried about the Slavic advance, it was to the Gepids they turned. Merchants said it was Ostrogothic gold this time that spurred the Gepid Hetman Elemendus to raid the forests of Baltica. Piastes, whose lands these were, chuckled. Baltica was no rolling plains, he could beat them here in the woods, he felt. Still, the encounter was a near thing, and it was only barely -- just barely -- that Piastes' tribesmen were able to drive off the invading horsemen.
"Overconfidence Reversed"
Moravus knew the attack would come, he just wasn't sure from which kingdom. His lands along the Volga had been split off from the rest of the Slavic kingdom by last season's Gepid incursion. So, it would be either the Gepids or the Byzantines who would march on his isolated men. As it turned out, it was Byzantine General Diogenes who moved first. Diogenes' men were overconfident -- what were the Slavs, but poorly-armed savages whose only claim to valor was defeating other savages? The battle proved much fiercer than expected. Diogenes had not foreseen the speed of the Slavic attack. Finally, he had to call a retreat to salvage the army. As he retreated back across the border, his greatest worry, though, was how he would report this to Constantinople.
"A Fatal Plan"
It had been a clever plan, Chosroes thought. After seizing Cappodokia in Spring, he circled into the mountains of Armenia to strike southwards. He'd left his subordinate, Shapur, with a reinforced levy there, to meet the Byzantine counterattack he was sure would come. Instead, the wily Bessas surprised him in Armenia, and Chosroes was scrambling to turn his army to meet him. He sent cavalry around the flank to enfilade the Byzantine left wing, but their arrival was uncoordinated with his attack there. The Persian general galloped over take control. He found himself hemmed in between rocky slopes and a Byzantine battleline bristling with archers and spearmen. With no escape route open, he ordered his armored cavalry to charge -- it was the only hope to extricate the army's right wing. None doubted Chosroes' courage, as he led his troopers forward, but his death and the loss of his army (the only battle-tested one in the empire), was bitterly cursed at the Court in Ctesiphon.