Byzantine Battles: Battle of Membresa

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4 th century

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5 th century

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6 th century

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7 th century

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8 th century

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9 th century

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10 th century

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11 th century

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12 th century

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13 th century

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14 th century

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15 th century

Battle of Membresa	year: 536 Spring 536
Victory of Belisarius against rebels of the army of North Africa	★ ★ ★ ★ ★

enemy: Army rebels	location: Outside Membresa, present-day Majaz al Bab west of Tunis	accuracy: ●●●●●
battle type: Pitched battle	war: Military Revolts	modern country: Tunisia

	▼ The Byzantines(emperor: Justinian I)	▼ The Enemies
Commander:	Belisarius	Stotzas
Forces:	2,000	8,000 & 1,000 Vandals
Losses:

Background story:

Following the departure of general Belisarius from Carthage after the destruction of the Vandal kingdom in 534, the local population of Berbers revolted. In the spring of 535, Solomon, the praetorian prefect (governor of the province) defended successfully the Byzantine sovereignty against Moorish rebels.
Next year, in the Easter of 536, a new large-scale revolt broke up, this time by the Roman soldiers who were dissatisfied with Solomon who would not share the Vandal lands and war booty with them. Solomon, together with the famous historian Procopius, who worked as his secretary, was able to escape to Sicily, which had just been conquered by Belisarius.
Upon hearing about the mutiny, Belisarius, with Solomon, 100 picked men and one ship, set sail for Africa. Carthage was being besieged by 9,000 rebels, including 1,000 Vandals, under a certain Stotzas, an ex Roman soldier. The defenders of the city were contemplating capitulation, when Belisarius appeared.

The Battle:

Roman cavalry

The news of the famous general’s arrival were sufficient for the rebels to abandon the siege and withdraw westwards. Belisarius, although able to gather only 2,000 men, immediately gave pursuit and caught up the rebel forces at the city of Membresa, 350 stades (63 km) to the southwest.
There, both armies made camp and prepared for battle. Neither of them entered the city because it was not fortified. The following day, as the armies moved to engage, a very strong wind began to blow in the faces of the men of Stotzas. The rebels considered the wind to be a serious disadvantage and decided to move to another position to have the wind on their back. Of course, Belisarius did not adjust his position to that movement. Instead seeing the enemy forces breaking their ranks, ordered a general attack. The rebels were surprised by the speed and the force of the attack and they fled in complete panic. They did not suffer however many losses. Most of the dead were Vandals.
Belisarius did not pursue. He gave to the soldiers the enemy camp to plunder. To their delight they found many woman and a lot of gold in the empty camp. The booty was from the looting of Carthage by the rebels a few days earlier.

Aftermath:

Belisarius had to return to Italy, and Justinian appointed his own cousin Germanus as magister militum to deal with the crisis. The new governor found that two thirds of the Byzantine army in Africa had joined the rebels.The mutiny was continued the next year.