ARMY OF BISANZIO IN ITALY (535-1071): Justinian's Reconquest to the Fall of Bari

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From the new capital at Constantinople, Justinian I organized an Imperial military expedition to reconquer lost lands in the Western half of the Roman Empire. This 'Gothic War' lasted almost 20 years and while it re-united some provinces, it destroyed the Italian peninsula.

The Lombards came to Italy in 569, putting the Empire on the defensive for nearly two centuries, losing most of the territories. Emperor Constans II tried a more active defense, but that failed and Ravenna fell to the Lombards in 751.

The Imperials sent Nicephorus Phocas ('the old man'), who managed to win between 885 and 886 large part of Puglia, Calabria, and part of Benevento. Imperial control remained strong for the next two centuries, eventually regaining Sicily in 1038 with a military expedition organized by Giorgio Maniace. With the arrival of Robert Guiscard in 1050, the Normans made a rapid conquest of different portions of Imperial territory, including the political capital, Bari, in 1071.