Military History of Late Rome 457–518

Between 457 and 518, imperial rule disappeared from the western Roman Empire while the eastern court survived war, political upheaval and costly military failures. An expedition against the Vandals in 468 ended disastrously, yet the eastern empire retained resources and institutions that the West could no longer command.

This military history considers the campaigns, generals and tactical changes of those decades, including the growing importance of cavalry. It asks why the two halves of the Roman world faced such different outcomes and examines battles within the political conditions that shaped them. By 518 the eastern empire had survived the western collapse and would become the base for later attempts to recover Roman territory.