Gelimer in the context of "Belisarius"

The Vandalic War (533–534) was a conflict fought in North Africa between the forces of the Byzantine Empire (also known as the Eastern Roman Empire) and the Germanic Vandal Kingdom. It was the first war of Emperor Justinian I's Renovatio imperii Romanorum, wherein the Byzantines attempted to reassert Roman sovereignty over territory formerly controlled by the Western Roman Empire.

The Vandals occupied Roman North Africa in the early 5th century and established an independent kingdom there. Under their king, Geiseric, the Vandal navy carried out pirate attacks across the Mediterranean, sacked Rome in 455, and defeated a Roman invasion in 468. After Geiseric's death in 477, relations with the Eastern Roman Empire were normalized, although tensions flared up occasionally due to the Vandals' adherence to Arianism and their persecution of the Nicene native population. In 530, a palace coup occurred in Carthage due to a defeat against the Moorish war chief of the Frexes tribe Antalas, for which Gelimer blamed Hilderic, and the Vandals overthrew the pro-Roman Hilderic and replaced him with his cousin Gelimer. The Eastern Roman emperor Justinian took this as a pretext to intervene in Vandal affairs, and after securing the eastern frontier with Sassanid Persia in 532, he began preparing an expedition under general Belisarius, whose secretary Procopius wrote the main historical narrative of the war. Justinian took advantage of rebellions in the remote Vandal provinces of Sardinia and Tripolitania. These not only distracted Gelimer from Justinian's preparations but significantly weakened Vandal defenses through the dispatch of the bulk of the Vandal navy and army under Gelimer's brother Tzazo to Sardinia.

The Battle of Ad Decimum took place on September 13, 533 between the armies of the Vandals, commanded by King Gelimer, and the Byzantine Empire, under the command of General Belisarius. This event and events in the following year are sometimes jointly referred to as the Battle of Carthage, one of several battles to bear that name. The Byzantine victory marked the beginning of the end for the Vandals and began the reconquest of the west under the Emperor Justinian I.

The Battle of Tricamarum took place on December 15, 533 between the armies of the Byzantine Empire, under Belisarius, and the Vandal Kingdom, commanded by King Gelimer, and his brother Tzazo. It followed the Byzantine victory at the Battle of Ad Decimum, and eliminated the power of the Vandals for good, completing the reconquest of North Africa under the Byzantine Emperor Justinian I. The main contemporary source for the battle is Procopius, De Bello Vandalico, which occupies Books III and IV of his magisterial Wars of Justinian.

Tzazo (also known as Tzazon or Zano) was the brother to King Gelimer (530–534), the last Vandal ruler of North Africa. Tzazo died on 15 December 533 during the Battle of Tricamarum, which finally brought to an end the Vandal Kingdom in North Africa.

Tzazo had not been involved in the earlier Battle of Ad Decimum because Godas, likely instigated by the Byzantine Emperor Justinian, had declared the Vandal province on the island of Sardinia independent from Carthage. King Gelimer was unaware that the Byzantines were planning an invasion and sent Tzazo to repress the rebellion, which he did.

Godas (died 533) was a Gothic nobleman of the Vandal kingdom in North Africa. King Gelimer of the Vandals made him governor of the Vandalic province of Sardinia, but Godas stopped forwarding the taxes he collected and declared himself ruler of Sardinia.

In 533, he began communicating with Justinian I, Byzantine emperor, as an independent sovereign, clearly with the intent of creating his own principality out of the island of Sardinia. In reaction, Gelimer sent a large army composed of most of the available soldiers in Africa to Sardinia under his brother Tzazo to put down the rebellion. According to Procopius, Tzazo landed at Cagliari and immediately captured the city, killing Godas and the soldiers with him. A military expedition sent to support him by Justinian failed to reach Godas in time.