Battle of Taginae
At the
battle of Taginae (also known as the
battle of Busta Gallorum) in July of
552, the
Byzantine Empire under General
Narses broke the power of the
Ostrogoths in
Italy, and brought the entire peninsula under the rule of
Constantinople.
In
551, Emperor
Justinian I decided to retake Italy from the Ostrogoths, who had themselves retaken it in the
540s. So in the spring of
552, his elderly General Narses recruited an army of 20,000, including East Romans,
Lombards, and
Heruli, then moved up the
Balkan Peninsula and then down into northern Italy along the
Via Flaminia, heading for
Rome.
At the village of Taginae (modern
Gualdo Tadino), Narses ran into the Ostrogoth army commanded by king
Totila, which had been advancing to intercept. Totila found that he was outnumbered, negotiated for awhile, then attempted to surprise the Byzantines, succeeding only in occupying a small hill. He then waited for reinforcements of 2,000 additional
cavalry.
Narses' army deployed in an arc, with the Lombard and Heruli infantry in the center, then cavalry behind archers on either side. Totila massed his horsemen in front, with the infantry in a group behind them.
Initially, a Byzantine deserter in the Ostrogoth army came out, and issued a challenge to single combat, but was defeated, upon which Totila came out and did some sort of war dance or equestrian exercise (the sources are vague on this point). Then his reinforcements arrived, everybody had lunch, and only then did Totila charge the center, apparently hoping that the shock would somehow cause Narses' army to collapse.
Of course, Narses was ready for this, and moved his archers in so that the charging cavalry were
enfiladed by arrows from both sides, with terrible casualties. Then as the Ostrogoths struggled to maintain their momentum, Narses brought his cavalry around to attack the flanks.
By early evening, the Ostrogoths were completely disorganized and when Narses ordered a general advance, they broke and ran. The Ostrogoths suffered a total of 6,000 casualties, Totila among them.
By the end of the year, Rome was again under Roman rule, and the rest of Italy in the following year after the defeat of Totila's successor
Teia at
battle of Mons Lactarius (near Mount
Vesuvius) - the Ostrogoths fade into obscurity. But the
Lombards soon turned on the Byzantines and took most of Italy away again (
568-
570).
* H.N. Roisl, 'Totila und die Schlacht bei den Busta Gallorum, Ende Juni/Anfang Juli 552', Jahrbuch der Österreichischen Byzantinistik 30 (1981), 25-50.
* Roy Boss, 'Justinian's Wars: Belisarius, Narses and the Reconquest of the West (Stockport 1993).
* Philip Rance, 'Narses and the Battle of Taginae (Busta Gallorum) 552: Procopius and sixth century warfare', Historia 54 (2005), 424â€"472.
*
Locations of this battle and battle of Mons Lactarius
