Siege of Ravenna (539–540)
| Siege of Ravenna | |||||||||
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| Part of the Gothic War (535–554) | |||||||||
First five years of Belisarius's conquest of Italy | |||||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||||
| Byzantine Empire | Ostrogothic Kingdom | ||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
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Location within Italy Siege of Ravenna (539–540) (Mediterranean) | |||||||||
The siege of Ravenna took place in late 539 – May 540 AD during the Gothic War (535–554) between the Byzantine forces against the besieged Ostrogoths (Goths). The capture of Ravenna concluded the first phase of the Gothic War.
Since the start of the Gothic War, Byzantine general Belisarius had conquered the southern and central Italian peninsula, and his aim was to capture Ravenna, the capital of the Goths. After securing key strongholds, such as Auximus and Fiesole, he moved to isolate Ravenna by cutting off supplies by land and sea. Within the city, food shortages and declining morale weakened Gothic resistance under King Wittigis. Despite Frankish offer of assistance, the Goths were skeptical in view of the recent Frankish betrayals and preferred to negotiate surrender with the Byzantines. Byzantine Emperor Justinian offered a peace treaty on generous terms for the Goths, as the empire was under imminent Sasanian threat from the east. However, Belisarius refused to ratify the treaty. The Gothic aristocracy proposed in secret to make Belisarius the Western Roman emperor in exchange of their safety. He accepted these terms, except the crown, which he intended to do so in front of the Gothic nobles. In 540, Ravenna opened its gates to the Byzantine forces, but to the surprise of the Goths, Belisarius refused the crown and he immediately detained Wittigis and claimed the Ravenna's treasury on behalf of the emperor.