Rise and Reign of Gaiseric

Gaiseric became king in 428 and led the Vandals and Alans from Hispania into Roman Africa. Through warfare and negotiation he secured territory, captured Carthage in 439 and converted the province’s resources and ports into the base of a powerful Mediterranean kingdom.

His fleet raided Roman coasts, and the dynastic crisis of 455 provided the opportunity for the Vandal sack of Rome. Roman attempts to recover Africa failed, most dramatically when the great eastern expedition under Basiliscus was destroyed near Cape Bon in 468.

Gaiseric’s reign demonstrates how a migrant military coalition could appropriate Roman institutions and resources while remaining an external strategic threat. His kingdom survived him and endured until Justinian’s Vandalic War.