While Gaiseric has not become a household name like other
'barbarian' leaders such as Attila or Genghis Khan, his sack of
Rome in AD455 has made his tribe, the Vandals, synonymous with
mindless destruction. Gaiseric, however, was no moronic thug,
proving himself a highly skilful political and military leader and
was one of the dominant forces in Western Mediterranean region for
almost half a century. The book starts with a concise history of
the Vandals before Gaiseric's reign and analyses the tactics and
weaponry with which they carved a path across the Western Roman
Empire to Spain. It was in Spain that Gaiseric became their king
and he that led the Vandals across the straits of Gibraltar to
seize a new home in North Africa, depriving Rome of one of its most
important remaining provinces and a key source of grain. Roman
attempts at reconquest were defeated and the Balearic Islands,
Sicily, Corsica and Sardinia were all added to Gaiseric's kingdom.
His son, Huneric, was even betrothed to Eudoxia, daughter of the
Emperor Valentinian III and it was her appeal for help after her
father's murder that led Gaiseric to invade and sack Rome. He took
Eudoxia and the other imperial ladies back to Africa with him,
subsequently defeating further attempts by the Eastern Roman Empire
to recapture the vital North African territory. Ian Hughes'
anaylsis of the Gaiseric as king and general reveals him as the
barbarian who did more than anyone else to bring down the Western
Roman Empire, but also as a great leader in his own right and one
of the most significant men of his age.
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