Battle of Taginae
The Battle of Taginae or Battle of Busta Gallorum took place in July of 552 AD, where the Byzantine forces under general Narses defeated the Ostrogoths under King Totila. The Byzantine victory paved the way for the Byzantine reconquest of the Italian Peninsula and the dissolution of the Gothic kingdom.
Narses assembled his army at Salona, Dalmatia, and from there marched along the coast of Adriatic sea to Italy.
Despite obstacles by the Goths, the Byzantines were able to cross the river Po and reach Ravenna. After a nine-day break, Narses continued south Via Flaminia toward Rome. Totila, realizing that a defensive strategy is not viable, marched to intercept the Byzantines at Taginae.
On the battlefield and despite having numerical superiority, Narses placed his troops in a strong defensive position, with archers at the flanks protected by natural terrain. Totila employed different delay tactics until reinforcements under Teia arrived. He then attempted a surprise attack by withdrawing his troops for lunch, hoping to tempt the Byzantines to pursue and abandon their position. However, Narses anticipated potential ruses prevented this by keeping his army in the original defensive position. Totila then reformed his army for a concentrated cavarly charge into the Byzantine center, composed of foreign mercenaries. However, the Gothic attack faltered after several volleys of arrows from Byzantine archers fired from both sides, inflicting heavy losses. The Byzantine center repelled the Gothic assault, and the cavalry retreat caused the Gothic infantry at the rear to panic and flee as well. Totila himself was mortally wounded during the battle. The Byzantine victory opened the way for Narses to advance on Rome, which fell with little resistance. The Gothic defeat shattered the Gothic military resistance and paved the way for the Byzantine control of Italy.
Background
Following the fall of Ravenna in May 540 AD, Belisarius restored Sicily and most of the Italian peninsula to Byzantine rule. His stratagem of inducing the Goths to surrender by offering him the Western imperial crown alarmed Emperor Justinian, who recalled him to Constantinople with Ravenna’s treasury and the captive king Vitiges but denied him a triumph and reassigned him to the eastern front in advance of the Lazic War. Belisarius was replaced by three coequal commanders, whose rivalry and corruption led to indiscipline and plundering of the Italian countryside. Justinian's harsh tax audit to recover alleged Gothic-era arrears, combined with reduced rewards for wounded and distinguished soldiers, further alienated troops and civilians, collapsing morale and eroding Italian loyalty.Byzantine misrule strengthened the Goths under Ildibad, who defeated a Byzantine force at the Battle of Treviso and recovered much of the Po Valley. However, his reign was short-lived because he was assassinated before consolidating his power. The reign of Eraric followed, but it ended with his murder in late 541, because he secretly offered to abdicate and offer the kingdom to the Byzantines in exchange for the rank of patrician and a large payment. Through the turmoil among the Gothic aristocracy, Ildibad's nephew Totila became king. Reprimanded by Justinian for inaction to exploit Gothic disunity, the Byzantine commanders failed to capture of Verona. Totila took the initiative and pursued them and defeated a larger Byzantine army at the Battle of Faventia in spring 542. Advancing on Florence, Totila again routed Byzantine relief forces at the Battle of Mucellium. The Byzantines withdrew into fortified cities, while Totila bypassed central Italy and advanced to rapidly capture territories in southern Italy with the fall of Naples in March 543.
Totila steadily expanded his control over Italy by combining military success with conciliatory policies toward the Italian population, presenting himself as a liberator from Byzantine exactions. In the meantime, a plague weakened the Byzantine empire's ability to field armies, and one third of its population was killed. By 543–544, much of southern and central Italy had fallen under Gothic control, leaving Byzantine control confined to a few fortified cities. Rome, poorly supplied and neglected by imperial authorities, was blockaded and captured by Totila in December 546, following famine and internal betrayal. Although the city was partially depopulated and its defenses deteriorated, Totila refrained from destroying it completely, seeking to leverage its symbolic value in negotiations. He offered peace to Justinian on moderate terms, proposing recognition of Gothic rule in Italy in exchange for nominal imperial suzerainty, however, Justinian rejected these overtures. With diplomacy exhausted and Byzantine relief efforts faltering, Totila reoccupied Rome in 549 and consolidated Gothic dominance over most of the Italian peninsula and Sicily, prolonging the war until the Byzantine counteroffensive launched in 552 AD.
The third player in the Gothic–Byzantine struggle was the Franks, who sought to expand in northern Italy by exploiting the weakening of both Byzantine and Gothic authorities. They offered limited diplomatic and material support to the Goths while avoiding a formal alliance, aiming to block a lasting Byzantine restoration in Italy. In 538, the Frankish King Theodebert I send of force of Burgundians to assist the Goths in the fall and destruction of Milan, while claiming to Justinian that they were not under his authority. The following year, a Frankish army invaded northern Italy, attacking both the Goths and the Byzantine forces, but retreated due to disease. During Totila's reign, the Franks found the opportunity to occupy provinces at the Cottian Alps and the Venetia, since most of the Gothic forces were in the south fighting against the Byzantines. Totila entered into an agreement with the Franks for a provisional occupation of the seized territories, which would become permanent in case of a Gothic victory. After 547 and the loss of Rome to the Byzantines, Totila proposed marriage to an unnamed Merovingian princess, probably a daughter of Theudebert, but the offer was refused on the prediction that he would fail to secure lasting control of Italy after losing Rome. This rejection underscored for Totila the political importance of holding Rome.
Prelude
As early as 549, the Emperor Justinian I planned to dispatch an army to Italy to conclude the war with the Goths.It started with the cousin of Justinian, Germanus, who had started recruiting an army for this purpose. However, Germanus's sudden death in 550 resulted in a temporary postponement as Justinian delayed in selecting a replacement for the commander-in-chief for the campaign. During the 550–551 period, an expeditionary force strong enough to remove the Goths from Italy was gradually assembled at Salona at Dalmatia, comprising regular Byzantine units and several contingents of foreign allies, notably Lombards, Heruls, and Bulgars. The Byzantine chamberlain Narses was appointed to command in mid–551. The reasons of this choice by Justinian were unclear. Narses had limited military experience, however, he had the strength of character to unify the fractured Byzantine leadership in Italy. Narses avoided crossing the sea to Italy due to the threat posed by the Gothic fleet in the southern Adriatic sea. The following spring, he led the Byzantine army around the coast of the Adriatic sea.
File:Via Flaminia.jpg|thumb|right|Route of the Via Flaminia; the purple route indicates the Via Flaminia Nova. The orange route indicates the variant that crosses the central part of Marche and reaches the Adriatic Sea in Ancona
The Franks controlled the land route through Venetia, but Narses failed to get permission to pass on the grounds that the Lombard troops in the Byzantine army were bitter enemies of the Franks. He also faced the threat posed by the Gothic commander Teias, who held Verona. Teias with the best Gothic troops hindered a Byzantine crossing of the river Po, positioning himself to strike any attempted passage. To bypass these dangers, Narses adopted a plan proposed by John the Sanguinary, the nephew of consul Vitalian, who knew the region well: the army would march along the river coast while a fleet sailed alongside, ferrying troops across river mouths as needed. Though slow, this strategy allowed the Byzantine army to reach Ravenna safely.
By the early summer of 552, Narses was in Italy, aiming to march down the Via Flaminia to Rome. At Ravenna, Narses and his army rested for nine days and they were joined by the remnants of the Byzantine forces under Valerianus and Justinus. He left Justinus with a garrison there and then advanced toward Ariminum. Narses planned to march directly against Totila, who was at Rome, and force a decisive battle with all his available forces. So when the Gothic commander of Ariminum, Usdrilas, taunted and insulted Narses, he avoided him and continued his path to Rome. Historian J. B. Bury noted that the usual coastal route from Ariminum to Rome through Fanum Fortunae and then Via Flaminia was blocked by Gothic control of Petra Pertusa. Narses therefore joined the Via Flaminia west of the gorge of Petra Pertusa, probably near modern Acqualagna, though it is unclear whether he left the coast near Ariminum or Pisaurum.
Upon hearing the news that Narses was at Ravenna, Totila assembled his troops, and moved to intercept the Byzantine forces. Totila was in a bind because he could not protect Rome and other strongholds without splitting his forces, diminishing the strength of his field army.