On the 15th of December, 533CE, the Byzantine general Belisarius defeated the Vandals, commanded by King Gelimar at the Battle of Tricamarum.
The Vandals were a Germanic people whose story intersects with the declining power of the Western Roman Empire. By the time of the Battle of Tricamarum in 533 CE, they had traversed a complex path from their origins in Central Europe to the sunlit coasts of North Africa, leaving a profound mark on late antiquity.
The earliest known homelands of the Vandals were in the regions we now identify as southern Poland and along the Oder and Vistula rivers. They were part of the wider Germanic cultural milieu, sharing linguistic and social traits with neighbouring tribes. In the late second and third centuries CE, they began to migrate southwards, drawn by the pressures of population growth, the allure of Roman resources, and the disturbances caused by the movements of other peoples, such as the Goths and the Huns.
By the fourth century, the Vandals are recorded in Roman sources as divided into two main groups: the Hasdingi and the Silingi. They had a reputation as capable warriors and opportunistic raiders, sometimes serving as Roman foederati and at other times clashing with the empire. The arrival of the Huns in Europe in the late fourth century proved decisive. Fleeing the Hunnic advance, the Vandals, along with allied groups such as the Alans and Suebi, crossed the frozen Rhine on the fateful night of the 31st of December 406 CE, a moment that symbolises the crumbling of the Roman Empire’s northern frontiers.
Once inside Roman territory, the Vandals moved through Gaul, plundering and skirmishing, before turning their attention to the Iberian Peninsula. By 409 CE, they had settled in parts of Hispania: the Silingi in Baetica (roughly modern Andalusia) and the Hasdingi in Gallaecia (north-western Spain). Their presence, however, was contested by Roman authorities and by rival barbarian groups. In the 420s, the Visigoths, acting as Roman allies, launched campaigns that forced the Silingi to merge with the Hasdingi, consolidating the Vandal people under one political structure.
The next monumental step in Vandal history came under the leadership of King Gaiseric (also rendered as Genseric), who assumed power in 428 CE. Described in contemporary sources as cunning, ruthless, and calculating, Gaiseric recognised both the opportunities and the perils of remaining in Hispania. In 429 CE, he led his people across the Strait of Gibraltar into Roman North Africa, a region vital to Rome as the granary of the Western Empire.
The reasons for this move were manifold. North Africa was rich and lightly defended due to ongoing Roman political struggles. Additionally, Gaiseric may have been invited or at least tolerated initially by the Roman governor Bonifatius, who was embroiled in a feud with the imperial court. Once established, the Vandals quickly expanded their territory, capturing Carthage in 439 CE. This was a seismic blow to Rome, for Carthage was one of the empire’s wealthiest cities and a critical source of grain and olive oil.
From their North African base, the Vandals became a maritime power. Their fleets roamed the western Mediterranean, famously sacking Rome itself in 455 CE. This action, though brutal, was relatively restrained compared to earlier disasters, yet it cemented the Vandal name in posterity as a byword for wanton destruction. Throughout the latter fifth century, the Vandal kingdom flourished, controlling not only the African provinces but also the Balearic Islands, Sardinia, Corsica, and parts of Sicily.
Nevertheless, the kingdom faced internal and external pressures. Internally, the Vandals were Arians, a Christian sect considered heretical by the Catholic majority in the region, leading to religious tensions and periodic persecutions. Externally, they faced the resurgence of imperial ambitions from Constantinople. By the early sixth century, the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire under Justinian I sought to reclaim the lost western provinces.
The final chapter leading to the Battle of Tricamarum unfolded during the Vandalic War of 533–534 CE. The Byzantine general Belisarius landed in North Africa with a comparatively small but disciplined force. The initial clash at the Battle of Ad Decimum near Carthage in September 533 saw the Vandals defeated. King Gelimer, Gaiseric’s successor, attempted to regroup and muster his remaining forces for a decisive engagement.
The Battle of Tricamarum took place in December 533, near a stream some 30 kilometres from Carthage. Gelimer and his brother Tzazo led the Vandal army against Belisarius’s Byzantines, who were bolstered by Hunnic cavalry. Despite a valiant effort, the Vandals were routed in a pitched battle. Tzazo fell in combat, and Gelimer fled into the interior before ultimately surrendering in 534. This defeat marked the end of the Vandal kingdom, which had lasted just over a century in Africa.