title: Fabio Capello

texts:
 had been rotating the captaincy around several senior players during his first few matches in charge. On 19 August 2008, he announced that John Terry would be named the permanent captain.On 20 August 2008, England drew 2–2 with the Czech Republic after goals from Wes Brown and Joe Cole. World Cup qualification
England opened <mask>'s first competitive campaign with a 2–0 victory over Andorra, in Barcelona, on 6 September 2008. Four days later, on 10 September, England played Croatia, the team that had qualified for the previous competition at their expense. England won 4–1 with Theo Walcott scoring a hat-trick. The next qualification game was at Wembley just over a month later, on 11 October, against Kazakhstan. The game remained goalless at half-time, but England went on to win 5–1. A fourth-straight win on 15 October made this England's best ever start to a World Cup qualifying campaign as they beat Belarus 3–1.England rounded off 2008 by beating Germany 2–1 on 19 November. Goals from Terry and Matthew Upson secured the victory. In the spring of 2009, England fell to a 2–0 defeat against reigning European champions Spain and beating Slovakia 4–0. In the summer of 2009, England played another friendly against the Netherlands, coming back from 2–0 down to secure a 2–2 draw away from home. Slovenia were beaten 2–1 in Wembley in the same year. England resumed their qualification campaign by beating Ukraine 2–1, on 1 April 2009, at Wembley. On 6 June, they travelled to Almaty and beat Kazakhstan 4–0, and four days later, they returned to Wembley and to beat Andorra again 6–0, making it seven wins out of seven in the qualification campaign.A notable feature of the campaign was the goalscoring form


title: Fabio Capello

type: original

texts:
 of Wayne Rooney: eight in seven games. With two in the friendly against Slovakia in March 2009, Rooney had scored ten goals in eight England games. On 9 September 2009, <mask> successfully guided England to qualification to the 2010 World Cup following a 5–1 win at home to Croatia. England's hopes of a 100% record in their 2010 qualifying campaign were ended with a 0–1 defeat in Ukraine in the final away match. However, a 3–0 victory over Belarus confirmed England as the top scorers in the UEFA zone with 34 goals, 6 ahead of second top scorers Spain. In November 2009, England were beaten 1–0 by Brazil in Qatar, <mask>'s third defeat as England manager. 2010 World Cup
In March 2010, England played a friendly against Egypt and beat the African champions 3–1.Two months later, in the last home match before the World Cup, they beat Mexico by the same scoreline. In May 2010, England played a friendly against Japan at UPC-Arena, Graz, and won 2–1. The two goals conceded by Japan were both own goals by Marcus Tanaka and Yuji Nakazawa. After constant speculation linking him with the vacant managerial post at Internazionale, on 2 June 2010 <mask> committed himself to the England job until at least after Euro 2012. England's build-up to the World Cup started badly, with John Terry being stripped of the captaincy by <mask> after his involvement in a tabloid scandal in February 2010. Terry's successor as captain, Rio Ferdinand, was injured in a training session prior to England's opening match, resulting in his withdrawal from the squad. England drew the first game 1–1 with the United States due to an error by goalkeeper Robert Green, after which Capello declared the tournament Adidas Jabulani ball was

masks: Capello Capello Capello Capello


title: Fabio Capello

texts:
 "impossible to control".This was followed by a poor display against Algeria leading to a 0–0 draw and widespread criticism of both <mask> and the England team. On 23 June, <mask> led England into the round of 16 of the World Cup after they beat Slovenia 1–0. However, they were beaten in their first knockout match 4–1 by Germany. With Germany leading 2–1, Frank Lampard scored a 20-yard strike. However, even though the ball clearly bounced a full yard over the German goal-line, all the match officials failed to see it and did not award a goal. As England pressed forward in the second half, they conceded two counter-attack goals. Nevertheless, England's performance led to much criticism from fans, the media, and pundits alike.After England's elimination, <mask> was criticized for imposing a strict military regime at England's Bloemfontein training camp, and not allowing his senior players to have tactical input. His 4–4–2 formation was derided as "outdated" with Steven Gerrard's positioning on the left of midfield also criticized. <mask>'s squad selection was questioned, with the selection of an unfit Ledley King and out of form Emile Heskey, as well as the surprising omission of Theo Walcott also coming under fire. <mask>'s indecision over his starting goalkeeper was cited as a reason for Robert Green's error in England's opening match with the U.S. On 2 July 2010, The Football Association (FA) announced that <mask> would remain as the manager of the England national team following speculation over his future following the World Cup. Euro 2012 qualification
England kicked off their Euro 2012 qualifying campaign with two wins, 4–0 against Bulgaria and 3–1 away against Switzerland, yet could only

masks: Capello Capello Capello Capello Capello Capello


title: Fabio Capello

texts:
 draw 0–0 against group leaders Montenegro at Wembley. <mask> made some changes afterwards, with Ferdinand and Gerrard out of the picture. John Terry was reinstated as captain to much criticism.The traditional 4–4–2 was transformed to 4–3–3, with Darren Bent as centre forward and Rooney as a left-sided forward. The result was successful, as England beat Wales 2–0 at the Millennium Stadium on 26 March 2011. England's next game was at Wembley against Switzerland on 4 June 2011, which they recovered from a 0–2 deficit to draw 2–2 with goals from Frank Lampard and Ashley Young. After a narrow 1–0 win against Wales at Wembley, <mask> claimed that several England players were "mentally fragile" and suggested he intended to reinvent his squad once Euro 2012 qualification had been sealed. On 7 October 2011, England qualified for the European Championships with a 2–2 draw in Montenegro. England completed their campaign with a record of five wins, three draws and no defeats. England completed an unbeaten 2011 with 1–0 friendly victories over Spain and Sweden in November 2011.<mask> resigned on 8 February 2012 following the FA's removal of the captaincy from John Terry. Russia

On 26 July 2012, <mask> became manager of the Russia national team, following the resignation of Dick Advocaat. His first game in charge was a 1–1 draw with Ivory Coast. <mask>'s first competitive game in charge of Russia was the opening match of the 2014 World Cup qualification campaign, a 2–0 victory at home to Northern Ireland. He led Russia into the 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification finals, finishing first in Group F. In January 2014, <mask> committed his future to the Russia national team until the end of the 2018 World Cup in


title: Fabio Capello

texts:
 Russia. At the 2014 World Cup, Russia were knocked out at the group stage, finishing third after a 1–1 draw against Algeria in their final match. During qualifying for UEFA Euro 2016, <mask> had six games as the head coach of Russia with results: two wins, two draws and two losses.On 14 June 2015, Russia lost 1–0 to Austria. Thereafter, on 14 July 2015, <mask> was sacked as Russian manager. Jiangsu Suning and retirement
On 11 June 2017, <mask> signed a contract with Chinese club Jiangsu Suning. The club finished as the 12th (out of 16 teams) in 2017 Chinese Super League. On 28 March 2018, <mask> was sacked. In April, later that year, he officially announced that he had retired from coaching. Style of management

Considered to be one of the greatest and most successful football managers of all time, <mask> has been described as being a "pragmatic" coach, and is known for his tactical versatility and ability to adapt his formations to tactical systems which best suit his players.Nicknamed <mask> by the Spanish media during his time with Real Madrid, while he has drawn praise for his success, tactical awareness, and effectiveness as a manager, as well as for often developing several promising young players, he also drawn criticism at times from both players and pundits for being overly strict and defensive minded as a coach, which has led to many well-publicised disagreements with several of his players. In his highly successful first spell with Milan, <mask> retained many of the players and the 4–4–2 tactical system put in place by Sacchi, although his style of management was less demanding and rigorous than Sacchi's, which initially gave his forwards more creative freedom to attack; he also

masks:
Capello
Capello
Capello
Capello
Capello
Don Fabio
Capello


title: Fabio Capello

texts: introduced several younger players into the first team. In subsequent seasons, following injuries to several attacking players, he adopted a more conservative 4–1–4–1 formation, in which the team's strong defensive line, further protected by Desailly, a former centre back who was converted to a holding midfielder by <mask>, provided the foundation for much of the team's success, and also gave the wingers and more creative, offensive-minded midfielders licence to attack. In the final season of his first spell at the club, Capello often rotated several of the team's attacking players in order to get the best out of each them without offsetting the balance within the team; he also abandoned the club's trademark 4–4–2 formation for a 4–3–2–1 formation at times, featuring an attacking trident that allowed the team's two offensive playmakers, Baggio and Savićević, to play alongside each other, behind the club's main striker Weah. In his first spell with Real Madrid, <mask> once again built a title-winning side based on a strong defence and an efficient playing style, but also fielded three strikers – Šuker, Mijatović, and Raúl – while promoting several other promising young players to the first team. A key component of the team's success was the club's new left-back Roberto Carlos, who excelled at making overlapping attacking runs to beat the opposition's defensive line and get on the end of Hierro's long balls from the back; the role gave him the freedom to either run on goal or look to deliver the ball to one of the team's strikers. He was also criticised in the media, however, for using striker Raúl as a left winger at times.During the 2000–01 title-winning season with Roma, <mask> adopted a

masks: Capello Capello Capello


title: Fabio Capello

texts: 3–4–1–2 formation, which made use of a three-man back-line and attacking wing-backs (Cafu and Candela), while Totti operated as the team's advanced playmaker behind a main striker and a more mobile, creative forward; the offensive trio was supported by two hard-working and aggressive defensive minded midfielders, namely Emerson, and Damiano Tommasi. Following the purchase of talented youngster Cassano the next season, Capello switched to a 3–5–2 formation. At Juventus, <mask> rejected the club's board members' requests to field a three-man front line and once again reverted to his preferred 4–4–2 formation. Capello won consecutive league titles, and put together a balanced and efficient side which was built upon a strong and highly organised back-line, which was further supported by two dynamic, defensive-minded box-to-box midfielders in the centre, such as Manuele Blasi, Stephen Appiah, Alessio Tacchinardi, Emerson, and later Patrick Vieira, who both alternated defensive and playmaking duties in midfield; the team's attacking wingers, Pavel Nedvěd and Mauro Camoranesi, were required both to drop back defensively and also assist the strikers from an offensive standpoint. Capello usually partnered the team's main striker David Trezeguet alongside the emerging Zlatan Ibrahimović up-front, with the latter playing in a more creative role, while the team's captain, Alessandro Del Piero, was used mostly as a substitute. Capello also introduced several younger players into the squad, such as the Romanian striker Adrian Mutu, and left-back Giorgio Chiellini; the latter's performances later prompted Capello to bench Jonathan Zebina and shift left-back Gianluca Zambrotta to right-back, in order to


title: Fabio Capello

texts:
 accommodate the youngster into the first team. In his second spell with Real Madrid, Capello implemented a 4–2–3–1 formation, which made use of two defensive-minded full-backs, two defensive midfielders, and two wingers who also often tracked back; however, as a result, the club's main striker, Ruud van Nistelrooy, was often isolated, while the team's efficient playing style was described as being boring in the media, and Capello was frequently derided for his overly defensive tactics.Despite the criticism he endured, <mask> made several bold decisions which allowed several talented players to co-exist, benching Ronaldo, and reinstating David Beckham into the starting line-up, and was able to create an organised and unified team environment through his disciplined approach; he ultimately led the club to an eight match unbeaten streak to come back from behind and claim the Liga title, although he was sacked at the end of the season. Personal life
<mask> was born in San Canzian d'Isonzo near Gorizia, in north-eastern Italy, in what was then the Allied-occupied Zone A of the Julian March. His parents were Guerrino and Evelina <mask>. <mask> is a devout Catholic who prays twice a day. His father, a schoolteacher, played football, and his uncle Mario Tortul was also a football player; for Triestina, Padova, Sampdoria and the Italy national team during the 1960s. <mask> has spent his entire adult life working in football. He has been married to his wife Laura, whom he first met on a bus as a teenager, for over 40 years.He is represented by his son Pier Filippo, who acts as his agent. In January 2008, Italian police announced that they were launching an investigation into tax irregularities by <mask>.


title: Fabio Capello

texts:
 The probe, however, has been dismissed as routine by <mask>'s spokesmen, who said this was part of a wider investigation into a number of wealthy Italians. The FA revealed that they had known about the upcoming probe when they had appointed <mask>, and expected no charges to be brought. <mask> is a fine art enthusiast. His art collection is estimated to be worth £10 million. His favourite artist is reportedly Wassily Kandinsky.players
A.S. Roma players
Juventus F.C. players
A.C. Milan players
Serie B players
Serie A players
Italy international footballers
1974 FIFA World Cup players
Italian football managers
A.C. Milan managers
Real Madrid CF managers
A.S. Roma managers
Juventus F.C. managers
England national football team managers
Russia national football team managers
Jiangsu F.C. managers
Serie A managers
La Liga managers
Chinese Super League managers
UEFA Champions League winning managers
2010 FIFA World Cup managers
2014 FIFA World Cup managers
Italian expatriate football managers
Italian expatriate sportspeople in Spain
Italian expatriate sportspeople in England
Italian expatriate sportspeople in Russia
Italian expatriate sportspeople in China
Expatriate football managers in Spain
Expatriate football managers in England
Expatriate football managers in Russia
Expatriate football managers in China
Italian people of Hungarian


title: Belisarius

texts:
<mask> (;  – 565) was a military commander of the Byzantine Empire under the emperor Justinian I. He was instrumental in the reconquest of much of the Mediterranean territory belonging to the former Western Roman Empire, which had been lost less than a century prior. One of the defining features of <mask>' career was his success despite varying levels of available resources. His name is frequently given as one of the so-called "Last of the Romans". He conquered the Vandal Kingdom of North Africa in the Vandalic War in nine months and conquered much of Italy during the Gothic War. He also defeated the Vandal armies in the battle of Ad Decimum and played an important role at Tricamarum, compelling the Vandal king, Gelimer, to surrender. During the Gothic War, he took Rome and then held out against great odds during the siege of Rome.He also won an important battle against the Persians at Dara but was defeated at Callinicum. He successfully repulsed a Hunnish incursion at Melantias. He was also known for military deception; he repulsed a Persian invasion by deceiving their commander and lifted the siege of Ariminum without a fight. Early life and career

<mask> was probably born in Germania, a fortified town of which some archaeological remains still exist, on the site of present-day Sapareva Banya in south-west Bulgaria, within the borders of Thrace and Paeonia, or in Germen, a town in Thrace near Orestiada, in present-day Greece. Born into an Illyrian, Thracian, or Greek family that spoke Latin as a mother tongue, he became a Roman soldier as a young man, serving in the bodyguard of Emperor Justin I. After

masks:
Flavius Belisarius
Belisarius
Belisarius


title: Belisarius

texts: overall commander. Mindouos was probably the first battle in which he led the army entirely on his own. Following Justin's death in 527, the new emperor, Justinian I, appointed <mask> to command a Roman army in the east, despite earlier defeats. In June/July 530, during the Iberian War, he led the Romans to a stunning victory over the Sassanids in the Battle of Dara. This victory caused the Persian king Kavad I to open peace negotiations with the Byzantines.At the battle <mask> had dug trenches in order to direct the more mobile Sassanian force to a location where he could attack them from the rear, this was adopted from the Sasanians at Tanurin two years earlier. On other fronts, the Byzantine forces were also winning. The Persians and their Arab allies, with a mobile force of 15,000 high-quality cavalries, invaded Byzantine lands again, now via Euphratensis, a route they had never taken before. <mask> was taken by surprise and was unsure whether this was a feint or a real attack, so at first, he did not move. He called upon Roman-allied Arab tribes for help and received 5,000 troops. He forced the Persians to retreat with a successful strategic maneuver but he kept pursuing the fleeing Persians, reportedly because his soldiers threatened mutiny if no battle was fought. With 20,000 Byzantines and 5,000 Arabs he moved against the Persians, but he was defeated by Callinicum (modern Raqqa) despite heavy numerical superiority, as the opposing commander, Azarethes, was a tactician as good as himself.<mask> fled the field probably long before the fighting was over. This setback cost Justinian a chance to sign

masks: Belisarius Belisarius Belisarius Belisarius


title: Belisarius

texts:
 an early peace treaty as the shah regained confidence in the war effort. While the war went on after Dara and Callinicum, the death of the Persian shah, Kavad I, soon led to a peace treaty. The new shah, Khosrow, saw Justinian was anxious to sign for peace and thought he could quickly reach a favorable peace, such as the so-called eternal peace which heavily favored the Persians. <mask> was recalled to Constantinople and charged with incompetence and responsibility for the defeats at Thannuris and Callinicum, but after an investigation, he was cleared of the charges against him. Nika riots
In Constantinople, Justinian had been carrying out reforms of the empire. In this, he had been assisted by John the Cappadocian and Tribunianus, who were corrupt.The corruption of John and Tribunianus, the curbing of corruption of other influential figures, loss of influence and employment because of a decrease in funding for the civil service, Justinian's low birth, extremely high taxes, cruel methods of tax collection, the curbing of the power of the chariot racing factions and the execution of rioters led to great anger among the population and eventually to the Nika riots of 532. The riots were led by the chariot racing factions—the blues and the greens. At the time the riots broke out, <mask> was in Constantinople. <mask>, Mundus—the magister militum per Illyricum—renowned as a great commander, and Narses, a eunuch and confidant of Justinian who would later also be known as a great commander, were called upon to suppress the revolt. At this point, much of the city had been burned by the rioters but the blue

masks: Belisarius Belisarius Belisarius


title: Belisarius

texts:
 faction began to calm down and after Narses distributed gifts to them, many returned home while others began spreading moderate views among the other rebels. Belisarius tried to enter the hippodrome, where the rioters were gathered, through the emperor's box but was blocked by its guards. Belisarius was surprised and informed Justinian, who ordered him to enter from another direction.Entering the hippodrome, he wanted to arrest Hypatius, who was declared emperor by the rioters. Hypatius was defended by guards who <mask> would first need to eliminate, but if he attacked, the rioters would be at his rear. <mask> decided to deal with the rioters and, bypassing the door to Hypatius' location, charged into the crowd. Mundus, hearing the sound of battle, also charged while Narses blocked the other exits in order to trap the rioters. Thus the revolt ended in a massacre. At least 30,000 and up to 60,000 died, mostly unarmed civilians. Vandal War

Prelude
In 533, <mask> began a campaign against the Vandal Kingdom in North Africa.The Byzantines had political, religious, and strategic reasons for such a campaign. The Vandals, being Arians, persecuted Nicene Christians, refused to mint coins with depictions of the emperor on them, and had banished the Roman nobility, replacing them with a Germanic elite. The recent Byzantine emperors had spent much effort on reunifying pro-Chalcedonian and anti-Chalcedonian Christians and uniting the eastern and western parts of the church, so the prosecution of "good" Christians by Arian heretics was an especially big issue. The persecution had started after the popular and


title: Belisarius

texts:
 successful Vandal military leader Gelimer had overthrown his cousin, the king, Hilderic, a childhood friend of Justinian, in the year 530. In a recent war against the native Berbers, the Vandals had lost 5,000 men in two decisive defeats; only when Gelimer was appointed commander did the tide shift. As king, Gelimer acquired a reputation for greed and cruelty and became unpopular with the people and nobility. Two revolts broke out at nearly exactly the same time, probably orchestrated by Justinian.With a large number of Vandals killed by the Berbers, and the Ostrogoths still angry because of the actions of Hilderic, the Vandals were perceived to be weak. Using the fact that Gelimer had defied him, and the pleas of African Catholics as justification, Justinian sent an invasion force. Belisarius appointed
There were multiple reasons to choose <mask> to lead such an expedition. He had shown military competence at Dara, been cleared of incompetence in his other battles by an inquiry, and was a friend to the emperor and thus obviously loyal to him. As an inhabitant of Germana, which was in or near Illyricum and west-oriented, and a "native" speaker of Latin, he wasn't considered an untrustworthy Greek by the natives. <mask> was reappointed Magister Militum per Orientem and given command of the expedition. This time Belisarius would be free from dual command for the duration of the war.Belisarius' army
The expedition consisted of 5,000 high quality Byzantine cavalry under multiple commanders, 10,000 infantry under overall command of John of Epidamnus, <mask>' guard, mercenaries (including 400 Heruls led by


title: Belisarius

texts: praised heavily by Procopius. By the time they arrived at Sicily 500 men had died after eating improperly prepared bread. Belisarius quickly acquired fresh bread from the locals.He would make several extra stops during his journey to acquire extra bread during the voyage. In Methone he also organized his forces. Before the Byzantines could cross over to Gothic Sicily, where they were allowed to stop on their way to Africa by the pro-Byzantine, anti-Vandal queen Amalasuntha, they had to cross the Adriatic Sea. Despite acquiring fresh water, the weather caused the water supply to spoil before arrival, and only <mask> and a select few others had access to unspoiled water. In Sicily Procopius was sent to acquire supplies from Syracuse and gather intelligence about the Vandals' recent activities. There he found out that the Vandals had taken no measures to defend against a Byzantine invasion, and in fact were unaware one was coming. Procopius also found out that most of the Vandal fleet was occupied around Sardinia.At this point Dorotheus died and <mask> and his troops were demoralized, but when they heard Procopius' discovery they quickly left for Africa. In total, unfavorable winds had protracted their journey to 80 days. Despite the long duration, the journey went better than that of any other Roman invasion of Vandal Africa; all three others ended before reaching the coast. During and before the journey to Africa, <mask> had no chance to personally train his units, which would make his campaign in Africa more difficult. This was in contrast to his campaign in the east; unit cohesion was especially lacking


title: Belisarius

texts: during this invasion. While the full conquest of Africa is often portrayed as the original objective of the campaign, it is unlikely this was actually the case. Belisarius had the full authority to act in any way he saw fit.Only when <mask> was already in Sicily was the choice made to sail straight for the Vandal heartland. If the Vandal fleet had been ready, such an operation would have been unlikely to succeed. When information arrived in Constantinople it was already weeks, if not months, old, so it seems unlikely that Justinian in Constantinople would have made the decision on whether to move on the area at all. Only at Sicily would one be in any kind of position to decide on how to proceed. Since Justinian had been reluctant to launch a campaign in the first place and Hilderic was still alive at this point, conquest seems not to have been the absolute intention. On the other hand, Justinian had lost almost all of his prestige and much of his power through defeat by Persia, the Nika riots, the slow progress of the current legal reforms and the failure of his quest for reconciliation in the church. He would need some kind of victory to repair his prestige.Capturing the undefended region of Tripolitania, which lacked Vandal settlement almost entirely, was currently rebelling, and whose vulnerability could be detected from Constantinople, would be such a victory. As such, this seems likely to have been his minimal demand. If successful, the Byzantines could use this region as a springboard to conquer the entire country later on, giving an extra reason to make it the minimal demand of the campaign. As


title: Belisarius

texts:
 such, it is <mask>' decision at Sicily that initiated Justinian's reconquest. Campaign
With Gelimer being four days inland and his troops scattered, Belisarius could have taken Carthage before the Vandals even knew he was coming and certainly before they were in a position to react. Archelaus argued in favor of this approach, pointing out that Carthage was the only place in the Vandal Kingdom which had a fortified harbor. Belisarius considered potentially being cornered in Carthage, with the Vandals holding a superior naval position, his forces vulnerable to attack when landing, and no information on the position of the Vandals to be too dangerous.There also was the risk of unfavorable winds which had led to disaster in 468; they might be trapped in an unfavorable situation before even reaching Carthage. Instead the Byzantines landed at Caput Vada,  away from Carthage. <mask> ordered fortification to be constructed, guards to be posted and a screen of lightships to be deployed to defend the army and fleet, so that this invasion would not be a repeat of the Battle of Cape Bon where the Byzantines were defeated by fire ships. During the construction of the base, a spring was found, which Procopius called a good omen from God. When he heard of the Byzantine landing, Gelimer rapidly moved to consolidate his position. He had Hilderic and other captives executed, ordered his treasury to be put on a ship ready for evacuation to Visigothic Iberia if necessary, and began gathering his troops. He had already made a plan to ambush and encircle the Byzantines at Ad Decimum.Gelimer had instantly recognized that the

masks: Belisarius Belisarius


title: Belisarius

texts: Byzantines would move to Carthage via the coastal road, but still sent garrisons to guard other roads. At the same time that Gelimer was preparing his ambush, <mask> was gathering information on the local inhabitants and preparing to move to Carthage via the coastal road, as Gelimer expected. During the first night on African soil, some Byzantine soldiers had picked some fruit without asking the locals for permission, and <mask> had them put to death. Only after he had already ordered the soldiers to be executed did Belisarius gather his men and tell them how to behave. He warned his men that if they didn't have the support from the locals, the expedition would end in defeat. Next, he sent a unit of his personal guards under Boriades to the town of Syllectus (Salakta) to test the willingness of the locals to join his side. Boriades was denied entry to the town, but after three days eventually gained entry by joining a group of wagons entering the town.When the locals found out the Byzantines were in the town, they submitted without a fight. The Byzantines also captured a Vandal messenger who Belisarius decided to release. The messenger was paid to spread the message that Justinian was only waging war on the man who had imprisoned their rightful king, and not against the Vandal people. The messenger was too afraid of the possible repercussions to tell it to anyone but close friends. Even though this early attempt failed, <mask> made it well known throughout the campaign that he was only there to restore the rightful king. When Belisarius advanced again, he positioned his troops in such a way that he and


title: Belisarius

texts:
 his guards could rapidly reinforce any position that could be attacked, especially the flank, as the last known Vandal position was to the south and the army moved north. He also sent 300 guards ahead to scout while the 600 Huns guarded his left flank, and the fleet his right flank.When the army arrived in Syllectus, their civilized behavior caused the city to give their full support to the Byzantines. This positive reputation of the Byzantine army began immediately spreading, causing much of the population to support the Byzantines. Marching at the speed of around  to  a day, the Byzantines advanced on Carthage, their speed dictated by the need to build a fortified camp every day. When <mask> was  away from Carthage, he knew the Vandals would be near at this point and that they would act before he could reach Carthage, but he was not aware of the location and wanted to gather information of his situation first. Part of the rearguard encountered a Vandal force sent ahead by Gelimer, which gave <mask> the knowledge that at least some Vandal troops were behind his own force. His journey now became increasingly dangerous as the fleet had to sail around Cape Bon and the road curved inland so it became impossible to rapidly evacuate, which he could have done at any time he wanted until this point. Belisarius ordered Archelaus and the naval commander Calonymus remain at a distance of at least  from Carthage.He advanced on land with about 18,000 men himself. Soon he would encounter Gelimer at Ad Decimum. Battle of Ad Decimum

The Byzantines were located in between the Vandal forces in the north and the south.


title: Belisarius

texts: Gelimer needed a victory at Ad Decimum to unite his forces. Numbering about 10,000-12,000, the Vandals were outnumbered. The valley in which the ambush was to take place was narrow, and as two of the three roads to Carthage became one in the valley, it seemed like a great spot for an ambush to Gelimer. Ammatus, with 6,000-7,000 men, was ordered to block the northern exit and attack the Byzantines head-on, then drive them further back into the valley and cause disorder.Meanwhile, 5,000-6,000 Vandals under Gelimer were already advancing towards Belisarius from the south as the earlier clash showed; these would be in the near vicinity when <mask> entered the valley and would attack them from behind, after all the Byzantines had moved into the valley. Brogna states that this plan was doomed to fail, as coordination over dozens of miles was needed, however, Hughes disagrees and calls the plan "elegant and simple", but does state that the plan relied too much on hard to pull off timing and synchronization. The battle consisted of four separate stages. Four miles (6.5 km) from Ad Decimum, Belisarius found an ideal spot to camp. Leaving the infantry behind to build a camp, he rode out with his cavalry to meet the Vandals who he suspected were nearby. This way he left his infantry, baggage, and wife in a secure position. Unlike the large infantry force, he would easily be able to control this small force of cavalry, which was the main strength of the Byzantine army.When <mask> arrived at the battlefield, the first three stages of the battle had already taken place. The Byzantines sent ahead to scout and the Huns


title: Belisarius

texts:
 guarding the flank had routed the numerically superior forces opposing them. Before <mask> arrived at the field of battle, he encountered some units routed by Gelimer's army, who informed him of the situation in the third stage, when Gelimer himself arrived. As Belisarius arrived, Gelimer saw his brother Ammatus killed in combat. Mourning, he remained idle and allowed Belisarius to attack his force while it was in a disorganized state in the fourth and last stage of the battle. Carthage and Tricamarum
After this victory, <mask> marched on Carthage. He arrived at nightfall.He then camped outside the city as he was afraid of a Vandal ambush in its streets and of his troops sacking the city under the cover of darkness. When Calonymus heard of the victory, he used part of his fleet to rob a number of merchants. <mask> ordered him to give everything back, even though Calonymus secretly managed to keep it. The Vandals hiding in Carthage and the surrounding area were gathered in Carthage by <mask>, who guaranteed their safety. When Tzazo, the Vandal commander fighting the rebellion on Sardinia, sent a message of his victory to Carthage, the messenger was captured, providing <mask> with intelligence on the strategic situation. Belisarius also had Carthage's wall repaired. The news of the capture of Carthage had reached Iberia by then, and its king refused to make an alliance with the envoy Gelimer had sent earlier.Due to <mask>' benevolence, many cities of Africa changed sides, so it became impossible for Gelimer to fight a protracted campaign. Before making his next move, Gelimer had received reinforcements

masks: Belisarius Belisarius Belisarius Belisarius Belisarius Belisarius


title: Belisarius

texts: under Tzazo and tried to convince some of <mask>' forces to desert. Belisarius prevented their desertion, but for example, the Huns would not take part in the battle until after the winner had been practically decided. When a Carthaginian civilian was caught working for the Vandals, <mask> had him publicly executed. Later a second battle was fought at Tricamarum. In this battle, Belisarius played only an advisory role to John the Armenian as he arrived at the battlefield later on. After winning that battle, Belisarius sent John the Armenian to chase Gelimer.John was killed by accident and Gelimer managed to escape to Medeus, a town on Mount Papua (probably part of Mount Aurasius) The 400 Heruls under Pharis were to besiege it. Gelimer's treasure failed to depart and was captured and the king of the Visigoths, Theudis, refused an alliance with Gelimer. After a failed assault in which Pharis lost 110 men, Gelimer surrendered. Meanwhile, <mask> himself had been reorganizing the captured territory and had sent Cyril on a mission to capture Sardinia which would capture that island, and later also Corsica. The effort to locate and gather Vandal soldiers was still going on; in this way, the class on which the entire Vandal military and political systems were based could be wholly deported to the east and Vandal power forever broken. Jealous subordinates now contacted Justinian and claimed Belisarius wanted to rebel. Belisarius was presented with a choice by Justinian: he could either continue governing the new territory as its official governor or return to Constantinople and get a triumph.If he wanted to rebel


title: Belisarius

texts:
 he was sure to choose the governorship, but instead he chose the triumph, convincing Justinian of his loyalty once again. The entire war was over before the end of 534. While east, <mask> was not only awarded a triumph but also made consul. Mutiny
Sometime after <mask> left, a mutiny broke out in Africa. Soldiers angry about religious persecution by the Byzantines, and the inability of the empire to pay them rose up en masse and nearly broke Byzantine rule in the area. Belisarius would return for a short while, just before the Gothic War, to help fight the revolt. When the rebels heard of his arrival, they lifted the siege of Carthage, which at the beginning of the siege had numbered 9,000 plus many slaves.<mask> attacked them with just 2,000 troops, winning a victory in the Battle of the River Bagradas. During the battle, Stotzas, the rebel leader, tried to move his army into a new position in front of the Byzantine force. When the units moved, <mask> took advantage of their temporary disarray and launched a successful attack against them, which caused the entire rebel army to panic and flee. The rebels' power was broken and <mask> left for Italy. Gothic War

In 535, Justinian commissioned Belisarius to attack the Ostrogothic Kingdom in Italy. The Ostrogothic king Theodahad had gained the throne by marriage. Power had been held, however, by the pro-Byzantine queen Amalasuintha, until Theodahad had her imprisoned and then killed.Seeing internal division similar to that in Africa, Justinian expected the Goths to be weak. <mask> assembled 4,000 troops, which included regular troops and possibly foederati,


title: Belisarius

texts: 3,000 Isaurians, 300 Berbers and 200 Huns. In total, including his personal guards, his force numbered roughly 8,000. <mask> landed in Sicily and took the island in order to use it as a base against Italy, while Mundus recovered Dalmatia. Justinian wanted to pressure Theodahad into relinquishing his throne and to then annex his kingdom through diplomacy and limited military action. This worked at first, but the army in the Balkans retreated. and the war continued.Belisarius pushed on in Sicily. The only Ostrogothic resistance came at Panormus, which fell after a quick siege. Here <mask> used archer fire from the top of the masts of his ships to subdue the garrison. He made a triumphal entry to Syracuse on 31 December 535. The preparations for the invasion of the Italian mainland were interrupted in Easter 536 when <mask> sailed to Africa to counter an uprising of the local army (as described above). His reputation made the rebels abandon the siege of Carthage, and Belisarius pursued and defeated them at Membresa. Afterwards he returned to Sicily and then crossed into mainland Italy, where he captured Naples in November and Rome in December 536.Before reaching Naples, he had met no resistance as the troops in southern Italy were disgusted by Theodahad and switched sides. At Naples a strong Gothic garrison resisted the Byzantines using its strong fortifications. Belisarius could not operate safely at Rome with such a strong garrison in his rear. He could neither storm the strong fortifications nor conduct a lengthy siege which could be interrupted by Gothic reinforcements, while bribery and negotiation


title: Belisarius

texts:
 attempts also failed. He couldn't use his fleet either as there was artillery on the wall. Then Belisarius cut the aqueduct, but the city had enough wells, so he resorted to making many costly, failed assaults. After their failure, Belisarius planned on abandoning the siege and marching on Rome.By chance, however, an entrance to the city via an aqueduct was found and a small Byzantine force entered the city. When this force had entered the city, <mask> launched an all-out assault so the Goths couldn't concentrate against the intruders. Despite having taken the city by force, he showed leniency to the city and garrison, so as to entice as many other Goths to join his side or surrender later on; this way he would avoid costly action as much as possible and preserve his small force. The failure to reinforce the city caused Theodahad to be deposed. While the new Gothic king, Vitiges, had sent a garrison to Rome, the city was left undefended as the troops fled after noticing the pro-Byzantine attitude of the population. Much of Tuscany submitted willingly to Belisarius' troops at this point. Belisarius garrisoned towns on the supply lines from the Gothic heartland in the north to Rome, forcing Vitiges to besiege these towns before he could march on Rome.Siege of Rome

From March 537 to March 538 Belisarius successfully defended Rome against the much larger army of Vitiges. He inflicted heavy casualties by launching many successful sorties. While the range of the horse archers Belisarius used has often been credited with the success of these raids in the terrain around Rome, this wouldn't make sense. Instead,


title: Belisarius

texts: it was the Gothic unpreparedness and the command expertise of Byzantine officers which made sure the Goths were unable to respond. When Vitiges tried to post units to prevent these raids, Belisarius sent out bigger units that encircled them; the Gothic officers proved unable to counter this. Eighteen days into the siege, the Goths launched an all-out assault, and Belisarius ordered a number of archers to shoot at the oxen pulling the siege equipment. As a result, the assault failed with heavy casualties.When the Goths retreated from a certain section of the wall, <mask> launched an attack on their rear, inflicting extra casualties. However, when he tried to end the siege by sallying out with a large force, Vitiges used his numbers to absorb the attack and then to counter-attack, winning the battle. Regardless, Vitiges was losing the siege, so he decided to make one last attempt on the wall which ran along the Tiber, where the wall was much less formidable. He bribed men to give the guards drugged wine, but the plot was revealed and Belisarius had a traitor tortured and mutilated as a punishment. An armistice had been signed shortly before, but with both the Goths and the Byzantines openly breaking it, the war continued. By then Byzantine forces had captured Ariminum (Rimini) and approached Ravenna, so Vitiges was forced to retreat. The siege had lasted from March 537 to March 538.Belisarius sent 1,000 men to support the population of Mediolanum (Milan) against the Goths. These forces captured much of Liguria, garrisoning the major towns in the region. Belisarius captured Urbinum (Urbino) in December 538,


title: Belisarius

texts:
 when the Gothic garrison ran out of water after a three-day siege. Deposition of Pope Silverius
During the siege of Rome, an incident occurred for which the general would be long condemned: <mask>, a Byzantine Rite Christian, was commanded by the monophysite Christian Empress Theodora to depose the reigning Pope, who had been installed by the Goths. This Pope was the former subdeacon Silverius, the son of Pope Hormisdas. <mask> was to replace him with the Deacon Vigilius, Apocrisarius of Pope John II in Constantinople. Vigilius had in fact been chosen in 531 by Pope Boniface II to be his successor, but this choice was strongly criticised by the Roman clergy and Boniface eventually reversed his decision.In 537, at the height of the siege, Silverius was accused of conspiring with the Gothic king and several Roman senators to secretly open the gates of the city. <mask> had him stripped of his vestments and exiled to Patara in Lycia in Asia Minor. Following the advocacy of his innocence by the bishop of Patara, he was ordered to return to Italy at the command of the Emperor Justinian, and if cleared by investigation, reinstated. however, Vigilius had already been installed in his place. Silverius was intercepted before he could reach Rome and exiled once more, this time on the island of Palmarola (Ponza), where by one account he is said to have starved to death, while others say he left for Constantinople. However that may be, he remains the patron saint of Ponza today. <mask>, for his part, built a small oratory on the site of the present church of Santa Maria in Trivio in Rome as a sign of his repentance.He


title: Belisarius

texts:
 also built two hospices for pilgrims and a monastery, which have since disappeared. <mask> and Narses
Belisarius ordered the cavalry garrison of Ariminum to be replaced by infantry. In this way the cavalry could join with other cavalry forces and use their mobility outside of the city, while the infantry under some obscure commander guarding the city would draw less attention to the city than a strong cavalry force under John. Vitiges sent a large army to retake Mediolanum while he moved to besiege Ariminum himself. Vitiges tried to hinder the Byzantine movement by garrisoning an important tunnel on the road to Ancona. This garrison was defeated, while Vitiges had to maneuver himself around a number of Byzantine garrisons to avoid losing time in fighting useless engagements. Ultimately, the Byzantines were successful in reinforcing Ariminum, however, John refused to leave the city.John managed to prevent the siege tower used by the Goths from reaching the walls which caused Vitiges to withdraw. John wanted to prevent this withdrawal and sallied out but was, like <mask> at Rome, defeated, which caused Vitiges to keep besieging the now weakened garrison. Needing fewer men, as no assault was to be made, Vitiges sent troops against Ancona and reinforced Auximus. <mask> could either take Auximus and move on Ariminum with a secure rear, or bypass Auximus to save time. If it took too long to get there, Ariminum might fall. The Byzantines were divided into two groups; one led by Narses wanted to move on Ariminum immediately, while the other wanted to first take Auximus. A message from John eventually convinced


title: Belisarius

texts: Belisarius to move to Ariminum.During this operation <mask> would station a part of his forces near Auximus to secure his rear. The arrival of a Byzantine relief force under <mask> and Narses compelled the Ostrogoths to give up the siege and retreat to their capital of Ravenna. The force had been too small to actually challenge the Goths, but through deception, <mask> had managed to convince the Goths otherwise. Belisarius had approached from multiple sides including over the sea, which convinced the Goths they faced a huge force. The troops were also ordered by <mask> to light more campfires than necessary to strengthen the deception. John made it a point to thank Narses for his rescue instead of <mask> or Ildiger, the first officer to reach the city. This might have been to insult <mask> or to avoid being indebted according to the Roman patronage tradition of which some remnants were probably still part of Byzantine culture.John (and Narses) might not have been convinced of <mask>' competence, as the Vandals and Goths were by then perceived as weak, while he had been relatively unsuccessful against the Persians. Narses' supporters tried to turn Narses against <mask>, claiming that a close confidant of the emperor should not take orders from a "mere general". <mask>, in turn, warned Narses that his followers were underestimating the Goths. He pointed out that their current position was surrounded by Gothic garrisons, and proposed to relieve Mediolanum and besiege Auximus simultaneously. Narses accepted the plan, with the provision that he and his troops would move into the region of Aemilia. This would

masks: Belisarius Belisarius Belisarius Belisarius Belisarius Belisarius Belisarius Belisarius Belisarius


title: Belisarius

texts: pin down the Goths at Ravenna, and as such put <mask>' forces in a secure position, as well as preventing the Goths from reclaiming Aemilia. Narses claimed that if this wasn't done, the rear of the troops besieging Auximus would be open to attack.Belisarius ultimately decided against this, as he was afraid this would spread his troops too thin. He showed a letter from Justinian that said that he had absolute authority in Italy to act "in the best interests of the state" to force Narses into accepting the decision. Narses replied that Belisarius wasn't acting in the best interests of the state. From the later part of the siege of Rome onwards, reinforcements had arrived in Italy; during the siege of Ariminum, another 5,000 reinforcements landed in Italy, close to the siege where they were needed, clearly by design. The last group of reinforcements was 7,000 strong and led by Narses. After these arrived, the Byzantines had around 20,000 troops in Italy in total. John claimed that about half of the troops were loyal to Narses instead of Belisarius.Belisarius gave up his original plan and instead of sending forces to besiege Urviventus (Orvieto) and himself besieging Urbinus. Narses refused to share a camp with <mask> and he and John claimed the city could not be taken by force and abandoned the siege. As <mask> sent the assault forwards, the garrison surrendered, as the well in the city stopped working. Narses reacted by sending John to take Caesena. While that attack failed miserably, John quickly moved to surprise the garrison at Forocornelius (Imola), and so secured Aemilia for the Byzantines. Shortly


title: Belisarius

texts:
 after <mask>' arrival, the Urviventus garrison ran out of supplies and surrendered. In late December, shortly after the siege of Urbanus and Urviventus, Belisarius sent troops to reinforce Mediolanum.Unsure of the Gothic numbers, they requested aid from John and other troops under Narses. John and the other commanders refused to follow <mask>' order to assist, stating that Narses was their commander. Narses repeated the order but John fell ill and they paused for him to recover. Meanwhile, the revolt at Mediolanum was bloodily suppressed by the Goths. The desperate garrison had been promised safety in return for abandoning the city, which they subsequently did. As the population had revolted, they were considered traitors and many were slaughtered. Subsequently, the other cities in Liguria surrendered to avoid the same fate.Narses was subsequently recalled. Finishing the conquest
In 539, Belisarius set up siege forces around Auximum and sent troops to Faesulae, starving both cities to submission by late 539. He led the siege of Auximum himself; knowing he couldn't storm the city, he tried to cut the water supply but this failed. When the captured leaders from the Faesulae garrison were paraded in front of the city, its garrison too surrendered. If he moved on Ravenna his rear would now be secure. Vitiges hadn't been able to reinforce these places, as there was a food shortage throughout Italy and he couldn't gather enough supplies for the march. Belisarius stationed his army around the Ostrogothic capital of Ravenna in late 539.The grain shipment to the city hadn't been able to proceed to the city, so


title: Belisarius

texts:
 when the Byzantines advanced on Ravenna, the grain was captured. Ravenna was cut off from help on its seaward side by the Byzantine navy patrolling the Adriatic Sea. When <mask> besieged Ravenna, the Gothic nobles, including Vitiges, had offered the throne of the "western empire" to him. Belisarius feigned acceptance and entered Ravenna via its sole point of entry, a causeway through the marshes, accompanied by a comitatus of bucellarii, his personal household regiment (guards). He also prepared a grain shipment to enter the city when it surrendered. Soon afterward, he proclaimed the capture of Ravenna in the name of the Emperor Justinian. The Goths' offer raised suspicions in Justinian's mind and Belisarius was recalled.He returned home with the Gothic treasure, king and warriors. Later campaigns

Against Persia

For his next assignment, <mask> went to the east to fight the Persians. Unlike during the Gothic and Vandalic wars, he wasn't accompanied by his wife. The Byzantines expected that Khosrow, like in the previous year, would move through Mesopotamia, but instead, Khosrow attacked Lazica, where the population was treated poorly by the Byzantines. The Lazicans had invited Khosrow, who concealed his movement by claiming he was going to fight the Huns in the north while instead, the Huns assisted Khosrow. When <mask> arrived in the east he sent spies to gather information. He was told that the Persians were moving north to fight the Huns.Meanwhile, Belisarius had trained and organized his troops who had been terrified of the Persians before his arrival. He decided he could attack Persia in relative


title: Belisarius

texts: safety. Some of <mask>' officers protested, as staging an offensive would leave the Lakhmids free to raid the eastern provinces. Belisarius pointed out that the Lakhmids would be filling the next months with religious celebrations and that he would be back within two months. With the same reasoning he used in Italy for the siege of Auximus and other sieges and the marching column in Africa, he determined that Nisibis had to be taken first to secure his rear if he moved further into Persia. Meanwhile, the war was going poorly for the Byzantines to the north, Lazica was taken and a significant Byzantine garrison changed sides, possibly not having been paid for years. When Belisarius approached Nisibis he ordered a camp to be set up at a significant distance from the city.His officers protested at this, but he explained to them that this was so that if the Persians sallied out and were defeated, the Byzantines would have more time to inflict casualties during the retreat. At the battle of Rome, during the siege of Rome, Belisarius had been defeated, but much of his army was able to retreat the short distance back to the city, something which he did not want to occur when the roles were reversed. Some of his officers disagreed so vehemently that they left the main force and camped close to the city. Belisarius warned them that the Persians would attack just before the first Byzantine meal, but the officers still sent their men to get food at this time and as a result, were caught in disorder by an attack. Belisarius observed what was going on and was already marching to their aid before messengers requesting


title: Belisarius

texts: aid even arrived. He turned the tide and won the battle. Having defeated the garrison but still being not being in a strong enough position to storm the fortifications, he moved past the city.He didn't fear being attacked from the rear by the garrison anymore, mostly because their confidence was broken. While he besieged Sisauranon, he sent troops to raid the rich lands beyond the Tigris. While <mask>' assaults on the city were repulsed by its 800-strong garrison and suffered heavy losses, the city ran out of supplies and the garrison changed sides. At this point, the troops raiding Persia returned home without informing <mask>. At this point, up to a third of <mask>' forces had caught a fever, and the Lakhmids were about to take up arms again. As he did with other major decisions, Belisarius asked his officers' opinions; they concluded they should retreat. Procopius heavily criticized this, claiming that Belisarius could have marched on and taken Ctesiphon.He disregarded the fact that no information on Persian dispositions was available and <mask> hadn't been able to take Sisauranon by force, making it unlikely he could have stormed Ctesiphon. In the campaign of 542, <mask> got the Persians to call off their invasion using trickery. Khosrow had wanted to raid Byzantine territory again but Belisarius moved to the area. When Khosrow sent an ambassador, Belisarius took 6,000 of his best men with him for a meeting. Taking only hunting equipment with them, it seemed like it was a hunting party from a larger equally high-quality force. Fooled by the deception, the Persians, knowing that if they were defeated

masks: Belisarius Belisarius Belisarius Belisarius Belisarius


title: Belisarius

texts:
 they would be trapped in Byzantine territory, retreated. Belisarius also sent 1,000 cavalry into the Persian retreat route; if an engagement was fought this might have pointed out Byzantine weakness.During the retreat, <mask> constantly kept the pressure on, preventing Khosrow from raiding. In return for the Persian withdrawal from imperial lands, the Byzantines sent ambassadors, as the Persian ambassador had requested from <mask> at their meeting. The meeting had been just a ruse to spy on the Byzantine troops, and as such, when <mask> took the pressure off, Khosrow attacked some Byzantine towns. Sacking Callinicum, Khosrow could claim success. Some claimed that by not harassing Khosrow, <mask> had made a serious error, but this view was not brought up in court. Despite Callinicum, <mask> was acclaimed throughout the East for his success in repelling the Persians. Crucial to the success of <mask>' deception had been Khosrow's fear of catching the plague if he remained in Byzantine territory for too long, which made maintaining a tactical position in Byzantine territory highly dangerous.By showing his best troops in the open, Belisarius made clear that his army was not weakened by the plague and seemingly not afraid to catch it. Return to Italy

While <mask> was in the east, the situation in Italy had vastly deteriorated. The governor sent to the area, a man named Alexander, was corrupt. He trimmed the edges of coins and kept the trimmings of precious metal to increase his own wealth. He charged many soldiers with corruption and demanded they pay fines, and he decreased military spending and demanded

masks: Belisarius Belisarius Belisarius Belisarius Belisarius Belisarius Belisarius


title: Belisarius

texts: that tax withheld from the Goths would be instead paid to the Byzantines. As a result, many Byzantine soldiers defected or mutinied. The command of the troops in Italy was divided by Justinian to prevent any commander from becoming too powerful.Most of the time these commanders refused to work together as Justinian's plague made it dangerous to leave the base. Meanwhile, the Goths under the brilliant and energetic leadership of Ildibad and Totila went on the offensive and recaptured all of northern Italy and parts of the south. Apparently Totila considered the opportunity to win an easy victory greater than the risk of losing his force due to plague. As a result, they won many engagements against the uncoordinated Byzantines including the Battle of Treviso, the siege of Verona, the Battle of Faventia, the Battle of Mucellium and the siege of Naples. But by now they weren't powerful enough to capture Rome. In 544, <mask> was reappointed to hold command in Italy. Before going to Italy, Belisarius had to recruit troops.When he finished his force numbered roughly 4,000 men. Justinian wasn't able to allocate significant resources, as most troops were still needed in the east and the plague had devastated the empire. During the upcoming campaign, Totila mostly wanted to avoid sieges. The Byzantines had proven themselves adept at sieges, but he had proven multiple times he could defeat them in open battle. Therefore, he razed the walls of towns he took; he wanted neither to be besieged there nor to have to besiege them later. <mask>, on the other hand, wanted to avoid battle; he had entirely avoided battle after


title: Belisarius

texts: the battle of Rome. With forces as small as his, he wanted to avoid losing too many men and instead avoid the Goths from making progress through other means.In Italy, many soldiers were mutinous or changed sides, which <mask> hoped would stop when he was reappointed; it didn't. The Byzantine garrison at Dryus were running out of supplies and made plans to surrender, but when <mask> arrived, he quickly arranged for supplies to be sent by ship. The Goths failed to notice the ships until it was too late and abandoned the siege. Now <mask> himself sailed to Italy, landing at Pola. Totila quickly heard of this and sent spies pretending to be Byzantine messengers. <mask> fell for the ruse, so Totila immediately knew the state of his army; he wouldn't be deceived like Khosrow. <mask> himself didn't remain idle and went to Ravenna to recruit extra troops.While people respected <mask>, they were smart enough to notice that a fair deal made with <mask> would be ruined by his often corrupt and incompetent successors. As a result, not a single man enlisted. This also meant that Belisarius' normal strategy of winning over the people through benevolence wouldn't work. Not wanting to remain idle, Belisarius sent troops into Aemilia. This was successful until the Illyrian troops went home to deal with a Hunnish incursion. The remaining Byzantines successfully ambushed a significant Gothic force, and the incursion ended in a victory. Next, Belisarius sent some men to assist the besieged Auximus, they succeeded but they were defeated while moving back.Still wanting to retain some initiative, Belisarius sent men to rebuild


title: Belisarius

texts: some nearby forts. Belisarius undertook no other operations, so despite winter arriving, Totila started the sieges of some towns, secure from the Byzantine threat. When requesting reinforcement, Belisarius asked for barbarian horse archers, as he knew the Goths were unable to counter these. Justinian was fighting wars on many fronts and the plague was devastating Constantinople for a second time; he was thus unable to provide even the equipment and money needed to re-equip and pay the forces already in Italy. Totila was enjoying great success in his recent sieges. Herodian, commander of a garrison, surrendered very quickly to the Goths, having seen the unfavorable treatment Justinian had given Belisarius after his recent Persian campaign. By now the Goths had acquired enough strength to move on Rome.Like Herodian, the commander of the Roman garrison, Bessas, was afraid of poor treatment or even being prosecuted after the siege was lifted. As a result, he remained idle when <mask> ordered him to assist in the relief of the city. When <mask> attempted to assist the city with supplies, he came up against a blockade on the Tiber. He overcame this using a siege tower with a boat on top. The boat was filled with burnable materials, so when it was thrown into one of the Gothic towers in the middle of the blockade, the entire garrison died either on impact or because of the fire. <mask> had left a force under Isaac the Armenian to guard Portus with orders not to leave the city under any circumstances. Now <mask> heard he had been captured and rushed back to Portus.Isaac had left the city and was captured outside


title: Belisarius

texts: well assured of this, that one of two things must necessarily take place: either you will be defeated by the emperor in this struggle, or, should it so fall out, you will triumph over him.Now, in the first place, supposing you are victorious, if you should dismantle Rome, you would not have destroyed the possession of some other man, but your own city, excellent Sir, and, on the other hand, if you preserve it, you will naturally enrich yourself by a possession the fairest of all; but if in the second place, it should perchance fall to your lotto experience the worse fortune, in saving Rome you would be assured of abundant gratitude on the part of the victor, but by destroying the city you will make it certain that no plea for mercy will any longer be left to you, and in addition to this you will have reaped no benefit from the deed. Furthermore, a reputation that corresponds with your conduct will be your portion among all men, and it stands to wait for you according to you decide either way. For the quality of the acts of rulers determines, of necessity, the quality of the repute which they win from their acts. "Meanwhile, Totila had also been very successful in his other efforts. Famine had spread throughout much of Italy and as he did not have to fear Belisarius sending aid to besieged towns, he could take full advantage. <mask> had spent the winter in Epidamnus and when he sailed back (before attempting to relieve Rome) to Italy, he did so with reinforcements from Justinian. He split his force in two, one part successfully campaigning in Calabria under John nephew of Vitalianus, the other part, under


title: Belisarius

texts:
 <mask>' command, tried to lift the siege of Rome but failed.A force sent by Totila prevented John from leaving Calabria. After capturing Rome, Totila sought peace, sending a message to Justinian. He received the reply that <mask> was in charge of Italy. <mask> decided to march on Rome himself after Totila left the area. On the way, however, he marched into an ambush. Despite successfully ambushing <mask>, the fighting eventually turned in favor of the Byzantines. <mask> retreated, as it was obvious he wouldn't be able to surprise the city, but later marched on Rome again and took it.Totila marched on the city again but quickly abandoned the siege. Rome remained in Byzantine hands until after <mask> left. Following this disappointing campaign, mitigated by <mask>' success in preventing the total destruction of Rome, in 548–49, Justinian relieved him. In 551, after economic recovery (from the effects of the plague) the eunuch Narses led a large army to bring the campaign to a successful conclusion; Belisarius retired from military affairs. At the Second Ecumenical Council of Constantinople (553), Belisarius was one of the Emperor's envoys to Pope Vigilius in their controversy over The Three Chapters. The Patriarch Eutychius, who presided over this council in place of Pope Vigilius, was the son of one of Belisarius' generals. Last battle
The retirement of <mask> came to an end in 559, when an army of Kutrigur Bulgars under Khan Zabergan crossed the Danube River to invade Roman territory and approached Constantinople.Zabergan wanted to cross into Asia Minor as it was richer than the often ravaged Balkans.

masks: Belisarius Belisarius Belisarius Belisarius Belisarius Belisarius Belisarius Belisarius


title: Belisarius

texts:
 Justinian recalled <mask> to command the Byzantine army. <mask> got only 300 heavily armed veterans from the Italian campaign and a host of civilians, including or entirely consisting of 1,000 conscripted refugees fleeing from the Huns, to stop the 7,000 Huns. These were probably retired soldiers living in the region. Belisarius camped close to the Huns and had the civilians dig a trench for protection, and lit many torches to exaggerate their numbers. Determining the path the Hunnish advance would take, he stationed 100 veterans on each side and another 100 to block their advance. In the narrow defile the Huns wouldn't be able to maneuver, exploit their greater numbers.and use their arrow fire effectively. When 2,000 Huns attacked, Belisarius had his 100 veterans who were blocking the path charge, while the civilians made a lot of noise behind him. This confused the Huns, and when he struck their rear they were pressed together so tightly that they could not draw their bows. The Huns fled in disorder, and <mask> applied so much pressure to them during the retreat that they didn't even use the Parthian shot to harass their pursuers. After the defeat the Huns fled back over the Danube. In Constantinople Belisarius was once again referred to as a hero. Later life

In 562, Belisarius stood trial in Constantinople, having been accused of participating in a conspiracy against Justinian.His case was judged by the prefect of Constantinople, named Prokopius, and this may have been his former secretary Procopius of Caesarea. <mask> was found guilty and imprisoned but not long after, Justinian pardoned him, ordered


title: Belisarius

texts:
 his release, and restored him to favor at the imperial court, contrary to a later legend that Belisarius had been blinded. In the first five chapters of his Secret History, Procopius characterizes <mask> as a cuckolded husband, who was emotionally dependent on his debauched wife, Antonina. According to the historian, Antonina cheated on Belisarius with their adopted son, the young Theodosius. Procopius claims that the love affair was well known in the imperial court and the general was regarded as weak and ridiculous; this view is often considered biased, as Procopius nursed a longstanding hatred of <mask> and Antonina. Empress Theodora reportedly saved Antonina when Belisarius tried to charge his wife at last. <mask> and Justinian, whose partnership had increased the size of the empire by 45 percent, died within a few months of each other in 565.<mask> owned the estate of Rufinianae on the Asiatic side of the Constantinople suburbs. He may have died there and been buried near one of the two churches in the area, perhaps Saints Peter and Paul. Assessment

Tactics
During his first Persian campaign, <mask> was on the winning side once, at Dara. In his first few battles he didn't hold overall command and as he was promoted soon after these defeats, his performance was probably positive. At Dara, he won a resounding victory by predicting and influencing enemy movement. When the enemy concentrated and broke through, he moved against their rear and defeated them. At the next battle at Callinicum, he probably tried to copy his own success at Dara.However, he positioned himself at the low ground and was not able


title: Belisarius

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 to see it when the enemy concentrated to breakthrough. He had created no reserve at all, so he wasn't able to plug the gap, despite superior numbers. <mask>' failure to position himself properly, make a cohesive plan, take advantage of the terrain and his failure to plug the created gap caused a disastrous defeat. Once the Persians had concentrated for a decisive attack, they held numerical superiority at the point of pressure, despite inferior numbers overall. In Africa, he walked accidentally into the battle of Ad Decimum. His ability to see an opportunity to gain the advantage and to take it, contrast positively with Gelimer's inactivity. As such, Hughes judges his generalship during that battle to be superior.In Italy, he mostly relied on sieges to defeat the Goths. At this he was so efficient that Totila refused to engage in them until <mask> was unable to take the initiative due to supply shortages. Strategies
In Italy, to deal with a changing situation, he made multiple strategies inside the span of a year. Meanwhile, his opponent Vitiges had no coherent strategy after the failure of the siege of Rome. <mask> tried to keep his strategic rear secure, besieging, for example, Auximus so he could safely move on Ravenna. When he saw fit, he sometimes did operate with a force in his strategic rear, like at the siege of Ariminum, or when he planned to move on Rome without having taken Naples. In the east, he understood that the Persian garrison of Nisibis would be afraid to give the battle a second time after being defeated in the open earlier.Here too, <mask> operated with a force in his strategic rear.


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 He wanted not to split his forces into two small contingents, like Gelimer had been forced to do at Ad Decimum, so when Narses proposed a plan to operate with a secure strategic rear, Belisarius refused it with the reason that he would divide his forces too much. In Belisarius' campaigns, Brogna sees the overarching theme of the strategic offensive then tactical defense followed by offense. This forced his enemy to attack strong defensive positions, like the walls of Rome, suffering horrendous losses. Belisarius could then finish off the enemy with the main strength of his force, his cavalry, which contained horse archers to which the Goths and Vandals had no effective response. Helmuth von Moltke the Elder would come up with the idea to use so-called offensive-defensive campaigns in to defend Germany centuries later. In these he would also go on a strategic offensive, take up defensive positions on enemy supply lines, and have the larger Russian and French forces attack his strong position.In both cases, the purpose of this kind of strategy was to defeat larger enemy forces effectively. When using such tactics, the higher quality of Byzantine troops, compared to the "barbarians", was exploited to the fullest, as wave after wave of Goths, relying on brute force to win, was defeated, In the case of the [imperial] Germans this was also the goal, as they, like the Byzantines, could muster superior firepower because of their higher quality troops. In his assessment of the commander, Hughes concludes that <mask>' strategic abilities were unrivaled. Character
At both Thannuris and Callinicum, he fled before the


title: Belisarius

texts: battle was over. While not improving the battlefield situation, this did prevent his own troops from being destroyed. At the battle of Dara, he refused to duel with a Persian champion, and instead sent a champion of his own. At Rome, however, he fought at the frontline with his soldiers.While he was not willing to take an unnecessary risk in the form of a duel, he wanted, and was able, to inspire his men in combat, and seems not to have lacked bravery. Procopius' portrayal of Belisarius being weak-willed can often also be explained with a good understanding of politics; taking action against his wife, for example, would not have been appreciated by empress Theodora at all. Just like the weak-mindedness in relation to his wife, the influence his soldiers had on him was probably not enough to convince him to move out of Rome. Instead, it was probably overconfidence on his own part. For the rest of his career, he became a cautious commander, which is in line with the notion that Belisarius knew his limits and tried to act within them. He often moved out with only a small force, with which he would have no control and communication problems. Another example of this is when at the battle of Tricamerum he merely advised John, not taking full command.He recognized John was competent and knew more about the situation, and as such John remained in overall command, winning a great victory. One of the attributes of <mask>' campaigns was his benevolence towards soldiers and civilians alike. This caused the local population to support him, which was vital to winning, for example, the battle of Ad Decimum. Many enemy


title: Belisarius

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 garrisons also changed sides, as they could expect leniency. It also put Gelimer under time constraints, and as such forced him to fight the battle of Tricamerum. He is also noted for his calmness in danger. At Rome, when a rumor spread that the Goths were already in the city, and his men begged him to flee, he instead sent men to verify whether the claim was true and made clear to the officers that it was his job and his alone to deal with such a situation.Overall performance
<mask> is generally held in extremely high regard among historians. This is mostly because of the victories at Dara, Ad Decimum and Tricamarum. Little attention has been paid to his defeats in the east and at the Battle of Rome. Brogna puts him among the best commanders in history, Hughes says of him that he remains behind Alexander the Great and Caesar, but not by much. Battle record

Timeline

Legend as a blind beggar

According to a story that gained popularity during the Middle Ages, Justinian is said to have ordered Belisarius' eyes to be put out, and reduced him to the status of a homeless beggar near the Pincian Gate of Rome, condemned to asking passers-by to "give an obolus to <mask>" (), before pardoning him. Most modern scholars believe the story to be apocryphal, though Philip Stanhope, a 19th-century British philologist who wrote Life of Belisarius believed the story to be true, based on his review of the available primary sources. After the publication of Jean-François Marmontel's novel Bélisaire (1767), this account became a popular subject for progressive painters and their patrons in the later 18th century, who saw


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 parallels between the actions of Justinian and the repression imposed by contemporary rulers.For such subtexts, Marmontel's novel received a public censure by Louis Legrand of the Sorbonne, which contemporary theologians regarded as a model exposition of theological knowledge and clear thinking. Marmontel and the painters and sculptors depicted <mask> as a kind of secular saint, sharing the suffering of the downtrodden poor—for example, the bust of Belisarius by the French sculptor Jean-Baptiste Stouf. The most famous of these paintings, by Jacques-Louis David, combines the themes of charity (the alms giver), injustice (Belisarius), and the radical reversal of power (the soldier who recognizes his old commander). Others portray him being helped by the poor after his rejection by the powerful. In art and popular culture
Belisarius was featured in several works of art before the 20th century. The oldest of them is the historical treatise by his secretary, Procopius. The Anecdota, commonly referred to as the Arcana Historia or Secret History, is an extended attack on <mask> and Antonina, and on Justinian and Theodora, indicting <mask> as a love-blind fool and his wife as unfaithful and duplicitous.Other works include:

Belisarius as a character

Painting
 Belisarius: (late 1650s) by Salvator Rosa (1615–1673). Given to Lord Townshend in 1726 by King Friedrich William 1st of Prussia, and hung in the 'Belisarius Chamber' at Raynham Hall, Norfolk. Valued at 10,000 guineas in 1854 (2019 – £1.7m); sold for £273 (2019 – £33,500) in the 'Townshend Heritage Sale' at Christies in 1904 to Sir George Sitwell of Renishaw


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 Hippodrome politics of the Constantinople chariot races, which regularly escalated to open street battles between fans of opposing factions, and the intrigues of the emperor Justinian and the empress Theodora. Lest Darkness Fall: a 1939 alternative history novel by L. Sprague de Camp. Belisarius appears first as the Roman opponent of the time traveler Martin Padway who tries to spread modern science and inventions in Gothic Italy. Eventually, Belisarius becomes a general in Padway's army and secures Italy for him. The Belisarius series: six books by Eric Flint and David Drake (1998–2006). Science Fiction/Alternative History. The character "Bel Riose" in Foundation and Empire by Isaac Asimov is based on Belisarius (1952)
 A Flame in Byzantium: a historical horror fiction novel by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro (1987)
The Last Dying Light (2020) by William Havelock, Book 1 of The Last of the Romans.Told from the perspective of Pharas (Varus) the Herulian, and recounts the chaos of the early-6th-century Roman Empire. Under Justinian's patronage, <mask> becomes one of the foremost generals of the Roman Army. The Last Dying Light discusses Belisarius' earliest years of generalship, while The Last of the Romans covers each of Belisarius' wars in turn. Belisarius: Military Master of the West: Book One: Nika: historical novel by Peter Keating Vanguard Press (2021) – written from the view point of Belisarius as he recounts his life after being discharged from the service of Justinian—it paints a different portrait of the man loyal to his emperor, but under the sway of the two most powerful women, the Empress Theodora and


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 his wife Antonina. This work covers his rise to prominence in the service of Justinian, his initial military campaigns in the East, then dealing with the Nika riot and finally becoming the first Roman to completely defeat the Vandals in North Africa and then capture Sicily. Opera
 Belisario: tragedia lirica by Gaetano Donizetti, libretto by Salvatore Cammarano after Luigi Marchionni's adaptation of Eduard von Schenl's Belisarius (1820), scenography by Francesco Bagnara, premiered during the Stagione di Carnevale, 4 February 1836, Venezia, Teatro La Fenice. Music
 Let There Be Nothing: a 2020 album by Power Metal band Judicator following Belisarius' life

Films
 Belisarius was portrayed by Lang Jeffries in the 1968 German movie Kampf um Rom, directed by Robert Siodmak.Gaming
 The Archmagos <mask> Cawl of Warhammer 40,000 also draws his namesake and inspiration from Flavius Belisarius. <mask> appears as the playable main protagonist in the Last Roman campaign DLC for Total War: Attila as well as the Historical Battle of Dara, The player receives missions of historical context. Starting at the beginning of the Vandal Wars, he leads the Roman Expedition to reconquer the West (North Africa, Italy, Gaul, Spain), officially for Justinian, but there's always the option to Declare Independence and turn Belisarius himself the Emperor of the West and what he conquers. His name is mentioned, and his "ancient palace"/"sunken city" ruins—below a Mosque in Istanbul—are a playable level in Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb. See also

 Anastasian War
 Asinarius
 Aspar
 Battle of Taginae
 Byzantine Empire under the


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 Justinian dynasty
 Byzantine Empire under the Leonid dynasty
 Conon (general under Justinian I)
 Constantinianus
 Cyprian (Byzantine commander)
 Flavius Aetius
 Liberius (praetorian prefect)
 Military deception
 Ostrogothic Kingdom
 Stilicho
 Strategikon of Maurice
 Teia
 Theodoric the Great
 Tribonian
 Uraias
 Vacis
 Vandal Kingdom
 Widin

Notes

References

Sources

Primary sources
 Procopius, The Secret History of the Court of Justinian, online at Gutenberg Project

Secondary sources
 "Belisarius" Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 27 Apr 2009

 R. Boss, R. Chapman, P. Garriock, Justinian's War: <mask>, Narses and the Reconquest of the West, Montvert Publications, 1993,

 Glanville Downey, Belisarius: Young general of Byzantium, Dutton, 1960
 Edward Gibbon has much to say on Belisarius in The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Chapter 41 online. Lillington-Martin, Christopher 2006–2013:
 2006, "Pilot Field-Walking Survey near Ambar & Dara, SE Turkey", British Institute of Archaeology at Ankara: Travel Grant Report, Bulletin of British Byzantine Studies, 32 (2006), pp.40–45
 2007, "Archaeological and Ancient Literary Evidence for a Battle near Dara Gap, Turkey, AD 530: Topography, Texts and Trenches" in: BAR –S1717, 2007 The Late Roman Army in the Near East from Diocletian to the Arab Conquest Proceedings of a colloquium held at Potenza, Acerenza and Matera, Italy edited by Ariel S. Lewin and Pietrina Pellegrini, pp. 299–311
 2008, "Roman tactics defeat Persian pride" in Ancient Warfare edited by Jasper Oorthuys, Vol. II, Issue 1 (February 2008), pp. 36–40
 2009, "Procopius,


title: Edwin S. Porter

texts:
<mask> (April 21, 1870 – April 30, 1941) was an American film pioneer, most famous as a producer, director, studio manager and cinematographer with the Edison Manufacturing Company and the Famous Players Film Company. Of over 250 films created by <mask>, his most important include: What Happened on Twenty-third Street, New York City, (1901), (the 72-seconds long footage depicting the skirt-raising scene later used in The Seven Year Itch); Jack and the Beanstalk (1902); Life of an American Fireman (1903); The Great Train Robbery (1903); The European Rest Cure (1904); The Kleptomaniac (1905); Life of a Cowboy (1906); Rescued from an Eagle's Nest (1908); and The Prisoner of Zenda (1913). Birth and education
<mask> was born and raised in Connelsville, Pennsylvania, to <mask>, a merchant, and Mary (Clark<mask>; he was the fourth of seven children with four brothers (Chales W., Frank, John, and Everett Melbourne) and two sisters (Mary and Ada). Named Edward at birth, he later changed his name to <mask>, after <mask>, the Democratic politician from Ohio who had served as Abraham Lincoln's Secretary of War. After attending public schools in Connellsville, <mask> worked, among other odd jobs, as an exhibition skater, a sign painter, and a telegraph operator. He developed an interest in electricity at a young age, and shared a patent at age 21 for a lamp regulator. Eventually becoming a merchant tailor, <mask> was battered by the Panic of 1893.He filed for bankruptcy on June 15 and enlisted in the United States Navy four days later on June 19. He served three years as a gunner's mate, serving on the USS New York (ACR-2) and at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Career

Early career
He was employed initially in the electrical department of William Cramp & Sons, a Philadelphia ship and engine building company. During his three years' service he showed aptitude as an inventor of electrical devices to improve communications.

masks:
Edwin Stanton Porter
Porter
Porter
Thomas Richard Porter
) Porter
Edwin Stanton
Edwin Stanton
Porter
Porter


title: Edwin S. Porter

texts: <mask> entered motion picture work in 1896, the first year movies were commercially projected on large screens in the United States. He was briefly employed in New York City by Raff & Gammon, agents for the films and viewing equipment made by Thomas Edison, and then left to become a touring projectionist with a competing machine, Kuhn & Webster's Projectorscope. He traveled through the West Indies and South America, showing films at fairgrounds and in open fields.He later made a second tour through Canada and the United States. Returning to New York City in early 1898, <mask> found work at the Eden Musée, a Manhattan wax museum and amusement hall  which had become a center for motion picture exhibition and production and licensee of the Edison Manufacturing Company. While at Eden Musée, <mask> worked assembling programs of Edison films, most particularly exhibitions of films of the Spanish–American War, Edison productions which helped stir an outbreak of patriotic fever in New York City. As an exhibitor, <mask> had tremendous creative control over these programs, presenting a slate of films accompanied by a selection of music and live narration. <mask> joined the Edison Manufacturing Company in November 1900. Soon afterward he took charge of motion picture production at Edison's New York studios, operating the camera, directing the actors, and assembling the final print. He collaborated with several other filmmakers, including George S. Fleming.During the next decade <mask> became the most influential filmmaker in the United States. From his experience as a touring projectionist, <mask> knew what pleased crowds, and he began by making trick films and comedies for Edison. One of his early films was Terrible Teddy, the Grizzly King, a satire made in February 1901 about the then Vice President-elect, Theodore Roosevelt. Like all early filmmakers, he took ideas from others, but rather than simply copying

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Edison Porter
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title: Edwin S. Porter

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 films he tried to improve on what he borrowed. In his Jack and the Beanstalk (1902) and Life of an American Fireman (1903) he followed earlier films by France's Georges Méliès and members of England's Brighton School, such as James Williamson. Instead of using abrupt splices or cuts between shots, however, <mask> created dissolves, gradual transitions from one image to another. In Life of an American Fireman particularly, the technique helped audiences follow complex outdoor movement.Uncle Tom's Cabin, was the first American film to use intertitles which helped the audience follow the story by identifying the scenes and some of the principal characters. The Great Train Robbery and after
<mask>'s next film, The Great Train Robbery (1903) took the archetypal American Western story, already familiar to audiences from dime novels and stage melodrama, and made it an entirely new visual experience. The one-reel film, with a running time of twelve minutes, was assembled in twenty separate shots, along with a startling close-up of a bandit firing at the camera. It used as many as ten different indoor and outdoor locations and was groundbreaking in its use of "cross-cutting" in film editing to show simultaneous action in different places. No earlier film had created such swift movement or variety of scene. The Great Train Robbery was enormously popular. For several years it toured throughout the United States, and in 1905 it was the premier attraction at the first nickelodeon.Its success firmly established motion pictures as commercial entertainment in the United States. After The Great Train Robbery Porter continued to try out new techniques. He presented two parallel stories in The Kleptomaniac (1905), a film of social commentary like his technically more conventional film of 1904, The Ex-Convict. In The Seven Ages (1905) he used side lighting, close-ups, and changed shots within a scene, one of the earliest

masks: Porter Porter


title: Edwin S. Porter

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 examples of a filmmaker departing from the theatrical analogy of a single shot for each scene. He also directed trick films such as Dream of a Rarebit Fiend (1906), based on the comic strip by Winsor McCay. Between 1903 and 1907 he successfully demonstrated most of the techniques that were to become the basic modes of visual communication through film. For instance, he helped to develop the modern concept of continuity editing, notably in The Trainer's Daughter or A Race for Love (1907), and is often credited with discovering that the basic unit of structure in film was the "shot" rather than the scene (the basic unit on the stage), paving the way for D. W. Griffith's advances in editing and screen storytelling.Yet he seemed to regard them only as separate experiments and never brought them together in a unified filmmaking style. <mask> directed future filmmaker Griffith in Rescued from an Eagle's Nest (1908). Defender and Rex Film Companies

In 1909 after tiring of the industrial system set up to feed the booming nickelodeon business, <mask> left Edison and founded a company to manufacture Simplex motion picture projectors. In 1910 he founded Defender Film Company, which folded after one year. In 1911 he joined with others in organizing the Rex Motion Picture Company. In 1912 he sold out and accepted an offer from Adolph Zukor to become chief director of the new Famous Players Film Company, the first American company that regularly produced feature-length films. He directed stage actor James K. Hackett in their first feature film, The Prisoner of Zenda (1913).He also directed Mary Pickford in her first feature film, A Good Little Devil (1913), also directing Pauline Frederick and John Barrymore. 3D movie pioneer
But his directorial skills had not kept pace with rapid changes in motion picture art, although his technical skills were piqued by 3D. <mask>'s last film premiered on June 10, 1915, Niagara

masks: Porter Porter Porter


title: Edwin S. Porter

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 Falls, the first
anaglyph 3D movie. In 1916 he left Famous Players during a reorganization. Precision Machine Company
From 1917 to 1925 <mask> served as president of the Precision Machine Company, manufacturers of the Simplex projectors. After his retirement in 1925 he continued to work on his own as an inventor and designer, securing several patents for still cameras and projector devices. During the 1930s he was employed by an appliance corporation.Death

Aged 71, he died in 1941 at the Hotel Taft in New York City and was buried in Husband Cemetery, Somerset, Pennsylvania. He was survived by his wife, Caroline Ridinger, whom he had married on June 5, 1893; they had no children. Legacy

<mask> remains an enigmatic figure in motion picture history. Though his significance as director of The Great Train Robbery and other innovative early films is undeniable, he rarely repeated an innovation after he had used it successfully, never developed a consistent directorial style, and in later years never protested when others rediscovered his techniques and claimed them as their own. He was a modest, quiet, cautious man who felt uncomfortable working with the famous stars he directed starting in 1912. Zukor said of <mask> that he was more an artistic mechanic than a dramatic artist, a man who liked to deal with machines better than with people. See also
<mask><mask> filmography

References

External links

 Musser, Charles.Before the Nickelodeon: <mask><mask> and the Edison Manufacturing Company. Berkeley:  University of California Press,  c1991 1991. Free Online - UC Press E-Books Collection

1870 births
1941 deaths
19th-century American inventors
20th-century American inventors
Cinema pioneers
Edison Pioneers
People from Connellsville, Pennsylvania
Silent film directors
Western (genre) film directors
Fantasy film directors
Film directors from Pennsylvania
United States Navy sailors
Articles containing

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Porter
Porter
Porter
Edwin S
. Porter
Edwin S
. Porter


title: Richard Larn

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<mask>, OBE (born 1931) is a retired Chief Petty Officer in the Royal Navy, a businessman and maritime history writer who is widely regarded as one of Britain's leading historic shipwreck experts. Life

Career at Sea
Born in Norfolk and raised in Great Yarmouth before being evacuated to Oxford during the Second World War, he went to a sea training school (TS. Mercury, Hamble) at the age of 14. <mask> taught himself to dive in 1947, using a German-made Dräger U-boat escape set in the River Thames. He then joined the Merchant Navy where he served his apprenticeship as a deck-officer with the South American Saint Line and eventually became 2nd Mate. In 1950 he transferred to the Royal Navy where he stayed for 22 years. As a Chief Petty Officer Mechanician/diver he served in Korea and initiated diving from Dragonfly helicopters to recover ram-jet un-manned gunnery target drone aircraft off Malta, being dropped into the sea wearing diving equipment with Petty Officer John Guppy, up to five miles offshore, to assist a rescue tug in recovering the targets intact.They were possibly the first divers in the Royal Navy to operate using diving apparatus from helicopters, long before SAR divers. He also participated in diving expeditions all over the world. <mask> then specialised in air-launched weapons, Firestreak, Redtop, Sidewinder, Bullpup, Mk.43 and 44 homing torpedoes, and the 2000lb HEMC nuclear bomb, and

masks:
Richard James Vincent Larn
Larn
Larn


title: Richard Larn

texts: was Chief Petty Officer i/c the Guided Weapons Section on board HMS Hermes for three years, which required Positive Security Vetting to Top Secret - Atomic. In 1957 he became a BSAC member, and served as BSAC Deputy Diving Officer in 1961 and 1962. <mask> was also among the instigating members of the Naval Air Command Sub Aqua Club (NATSAC), the Royal Navy Sub-Aqua Club, which was established in the early 1960s with Lieutenant Roy Graham as its first chairman, and <mask> as its Diving Officer. One of the club's first major projects, initiated by Larn's extensive research into the Scilly naval disaster of 1707, was to send a team of Royal Navy divers, based on board the minesweeper HM/XSV Puttenham, to the Isles of Scilly off the coast of Cornwall to find an historic fleet of sunken Royal Navy ships, led by HMS Association, a 90-gun Second Rate Ship of the Line lost in the 1707 disaster. In 1964 about ten NACSAC members, including <mask>, arrived on Scilly – thought at that time to be only the second group of divers ever to come there.Their initial dives sparked off a long chain of navy visits that continued for four years. The annual expedition in 1966 was announced as a search for the wreck of the Association. Plans to find it had existed before, but until then the dives in the Isles of Scilly had largely discovered modern wrecks. The divers could only get out to the Western Rocks, but hardly around

masks: Larn Larn Larn


title: Richard Larn

texts:
 the Gilstone Ledge, where a later expedition managed to locate the wreck of the Association in 1967; <mask> was not present in 1967 having been given a "pier-head jump" at the last minute to HMS Bulwark in Singapore. However, on his return he led NACSAC for its 1969, 1970 and 1971 expeditions to the islands, before leaving the Royal Navy. After the Navy
In 1972 <mask> left the Royal Navy as a Chief Petty Officer/ Weapons Electrical Mechanician to pursue a career in private business. After two years as Works Director for Partech Electronics International Ltd, Charlestown, helping the Company to move to Cornwall from Wellyn Garden City, he then founded a commercial diving training centre Prodive Ltd. initially in the Long Store, Charlestoiwn, then in Falmouth Docks, Cornwall, which aimed at improving the training standard of professional commercial deep sea divers in the oil and gas offshore industry.Prodive Ltd became one of only three diver training establishments in the UK approved to operate training to HSE Standards, and train Government sponsored students. In 1976 he established the Charlestown Shipwreck and Heritage Centre which grew out of his own collection of shipwreck artifacts which he ran until 1998 with his second wife, Bridget,. Living in Charlestown for 31 years, he was joint owner and curator of one of the largest collections of shipwreck artifacts on public display in Europe. <mask> and