📜 Byzantine Empire: Justinian and Theodora - Part 5 - Extra History
The conquest of Carthage and the North African provinces was just the beginning for Justinian's ambition. He must have Rome. But like Carthage, he must find a reason to attack the Ostrogoths who now hold it. And like Carthage, this reason is given to him when the Ostrogothic Queen Amalsuntha, his ally, is murdered. But unlike Carthage, Belisarius now has only 7500 men, barely half of what he had for North Africa. He sails out anyway, making his first stop at the island of Sicily. All the cities except Panormus surrender to him, and Panormus he takes quickly by seizing their harbor with his ships. Meanwhile, Justinian has bribed the Franks to invade Italy from the north while another his generals marches from the east. But just when the Ostrogothic king is on the verge of surrender, disaster strikes. The other Byzantine general dies, and Belisarius is forced to return to Carthage to quell a revolt. The conquest loses its momentum and the Ostrogothic king imprisons the Roman ambassador. Justinian will not be stopped, and orders Belisarius to return to Italy once North Africa is secure. Alone, Belisarius marches up the coast of Italy until he meets resistance at Neapolis. With his forces too thinned to mount a siege, he engineers a sneak attack by invading through the pipe of a dried, broken aqueduct. Neapolis falls and the way now lies open to Rome.

* Watch Extra History ad-free & get 1-week early access on NEBULA https://go.nebula.tv/extrahistory
* Suggest & Vote on our next episodes, get exclusive content & 24-hour early access on PATREON https://bit.ly/EHPatreon
* Show off your fandom with MERCH from our store! http://extracredits.store/
Interested in sponsoring an episode? Email us: [email protected]

TWITTER: http://bit.ly/ECTweet I FACEBOOK: http://bit.ly/ECFBPage
INSTAGRAM: http://bit.ly/ECisonInstagram I TIKTOK: https://bit.ly/ECtiktokz
GAMING:    / @extracredits   I TWITCH: https://bit.ly/ECtwitch

Miss an episode in our Justinian & Theodora Series?
Part 1 -    • Byzantine Empire: Justinian and Theod...  
Part 2 -    • Byzantine Empire: Justinian and Theod...  
Part 3 -    • Byzantine Empire: Justinian and Theod...  
Part 4 -    • Byzantine Empire: Justinian and Theod...  
Part 5 -    • Byzantine Empire: Justinian and Theod...  
Part 6 -    • Byzantine Empire: Justinian and Theod...  
Part 7 -    • Justinian & Theodora - The Cracks Beg...  
Part 8 -    • Justinian & Theodora - Bad Faith - Ex...  
Part 9 -    • Justinian & Theodora - Justinian's Ri...  
Part 10 -    • Theodora - This is My Empire - Extra ...  
Part 11 -    • Justinian & Theodora - The Emperor Wh...  
Part 12 -    • Justinian - Caesar I was, and am Just...  
Series Wrap-up & Lies Episode Part 1 -    • Byzantine Empire: Justinian and Theod...  
Series Wrap-up & Lies Episode Part 2 -    • Justinian & Theodora - Lies 2 - Extra...  
♪ "Monogenes Pais" by Sean and Dean Kiner -    • ♫ Justinian & Theodora: "Monogenes Pa...   - Available on Patreon!

Thanks for the high-quality conversations & for following our community guidelines here: https://bit.ly/ECFansRNice
Artist: David Hueso I Writer: James Portnow I Voice: Daniel Floyd I Editor: Carrie Floyd
♪ Extra History Theme by Sean & Dean Kiner I ♪ Music by Demetori: http://bit.ly/1EQA5N7

#ExtraHistory #ByzantineEmpire #History