# Belisarius sails against the Vandal kingdom in Africa

Date: 533

## The fact

In June 533 an Eastern Roman fleet under Belisarius sailed for Vandal Africa on Justinian’s order, using a succession dispute around Gelimer as pretext. Carthage fell the same year; Gelimer surrendered in 534. Later museums, UNESCO lists, Loeb editions, and translations are not this Fact. Tribonian, Belisarius, Narses, John the Cappadocian, and unnamed officials may share the file; they do not erase a dated constitution, and they are not a licence to treat every general’s siege as the emperor’s javelin.

## Context

Arian–Catholic conflict and Vandal naval decline are the setting. John the Cappadocian opposed the expense, in Procopius’s story. Restoration ideology (recuperatio) was Justinian’s political language. Moorish resistance after 534 shows the war did not end with a parade. Sharing command with Belisarius is mandatory. Later museums, UNESCO lists, Loeb editions, and translations are not this Fact. Tribonian, Belisarius, Narses, John the Cappadocian, and unnamed officials may share the file; they do not erase a dated constitution, and they are not a licence to treat every general’s siege as the emperor’s javelin.

## Evidence and sources

Procopius, Wars 3–4, is an eyewitness staff narrative, still a court source. Britannica independently dates the Vandalic War. No Factrail original casualty census is offered. Later museums, UNESCO lists, Loeb editions, and translations are not this Fact. Tribonian, Belisarius, Narses, John the Cappadocian, and unnamed officials may share the file; they do not erase a dated constitution, and they are not a licence to treat every general’s siege as the emperor’s javelin.

Official or archival record: Procopius, Wars 3 — the Vandalic War (https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Procopius/Wars/3A*.html; LacusCurtius / University of Chicago).

## Significance

Worsening humanitarian path of a reconquest war. Complex. Medium confidence on scale; high on the order to sail. Later museums, UNESCO lists, Loeb editions, and translations are not this Fact. Tribonian, Belisarius, Narses, John the Cappadocian, and unnamed officials may share the file; they do not erase a dated constitution, and they are not a licence to treat every general’s siege as the emperor’s javelin.

If a number is not in the two records named above, it is not supplied here.

## What is established and what is not

Established: Justinian ordered the 533 African expedition executed by Belisarius. Not established: a unique death total, or that every later African tax is this same Fact. Later museums, UNESCO lists, Loeb editions, and translations are not this Fact. Tribonian, Belisarius, Narses, John the Cappadocian, and unnamed officials may share the file; they do not erase a dated constitution, and they are not a licence to treat every general’s siege as the emperor’s javelin.

Confidence is stated on the impact path, not hidden in adjectives. Do not attribute every skirmish to Justinian’s hand. Mixed effects of Belisarius sails against the Vandal kingdom in Africa are separate paths.

Later competitions, monuments, translations, UNESCO listings, museums, and adaptations are not converted into extra lifetime acts.

The attached driver is [humanitarian-access](/drivers/humanitarian-access). The welfare reading used in this dossier is worsening. That reading is an impact-path choice, not a property stored on the Fact itself.

Shared responsibility is part of Belisarius sails against the Vandal kingdom in Africa. Naming Justinian I does not delete co-authors, institutions, or later transmitters. The lag from 0533-06-21 to any measured indicator is not treated as zero. Alternative explanations — weather, other armies, later statutes, or independent cultural change — remain live where the sources do not close them.

## People

- Justinian I: https://factrail.ai/people/justinian-i

## Drivers

- Humanitarian Access: https://factrail.ai/drivers/humanitarian-access

## Sources

- https://www.britannica.com/event/Vandalic-War
- https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Procopius/Wars/3A*.html

## Methodology

https://factrail.ai/methodology

Canonical: https://factrail.ai/facts/er-justinian-vandal-war-0533