Cuāuhtemōc
Banned
Stotzas served as a bodyguard to the general Martinus in the Eastern Roman army under Belisarius which had reconquered much of North Africa from the Vandals in 533-534. In the year 536, a military mutiny broke out and the rebels chose Stotzas to lead them. Their ultimate aims were to expel the loyalists and establish Africa as a separate state independent from the emperor in Constantinople, ruled by themselves. He marched against Carthage and besieged the city with eight thousand soldiers, joined by at least one thousand surviving Vandals and several escaped slaves.
The city was at the verge of surrending to Stotzas when Belisarius returned from Sicily and defeated the rebel army where they would flee into neighboring Numidia where most of the Eastern Roman garrisons decided to turn to the rebel side after the officers had been murdered by Stotzas and his men. Belisarius later returned to Italy to continue the more important conflict with the Ostrogoths but he was replaced by Justinian's cousin Germanus.
Germanus won over the rebels by promising pardons, leaving the majority of the rebels to abandon Stotzas. He decided to fight against Germanus in the spring of 537, meeting at Cellae Veteres, where he and his army was defeated easily. He left for Mauretania where he married the daughter of a local prince and was alleged to became a local leader. He and the Mauri attacked Byzantine Africa once more in 544 and in the following year, was attacked by the general John. In this battle, John inflicted a mortal wound on Stotzas, killing him though he died soon after as well.
What if Belisarius and his army is delayed by a storm of some kind and is unable to relieve Carthage from the rebel forces? It's likely that the city falls to Stotzas and the rebel army. What happens afterwards? Is it one of those events that are too insignificant to make too much of a difference in the long run?
The city was at the verge of surrending to Stotzas when Belisarius returned from Sicily and defeated the rebel army where they would flee into neighboring Numidia where most of the Eastern Roman garrisons decided to turn to the rebel side after the officers had been murdered by Stotzas and his men. Belisarius later returned to Italy to continue the more important conflict with the Ostrogoths but he was replaced by Justinian's cousin Germanus.
Germanus won over the rebels by promising pardons, leaving the majority of the rebels to abandon Stotzas. He decided to fight against Germanus in the spring of 537, meeting at Cellae Veteres, where he and his army was defeated easily. He left for Mauretania where he married the daughter of a local prince and was alleged to became a local leader. He and the Mauri attacked Byzantine Africa once more in 544 and in the following year, was attacked by the general John. In this battle, John inflicted a mortal wound on Stotzas, killing him though he died soon after as well.
What if Belisarius and his army is delayed by a storm of some kind and is unable to relieve Carthage from the rebel forces? It's likely that the city falls to Stotzas and the rebel army. What happens afterwards? Is it one of those events that are too insignificant to make too much of a difference in the long run?
