Hilderic's reign is noteworthy for the kingdom's excellent relations with the Eastern Roman Empire.

Procopius writes that he was "a very particular friend and guest-friend of Justinian, who had not yet come to the throne", noting that Hilderic and Justinian exchanged large presents of money to each other.

Hilderic had allowed a new Catholic bishop to take office in the Vandal capital of Carthage, and many Vandals began to convert to Catholicism, to the alarm of the Vandal nobility.

By the time he assumed the crown, he was quite old, at least into his fifties and possibly over sixty.

For this reason, according to Procopius, he was uninterested in the military operations of the Vandals and left them to other family members, of whom Procopius singles out for mention his nephew Hoamer.

After seven years on the throne, Hilderic falls victim to a revolt led by his cousin twice removed, Gelimer, an Arian, who leads the people in a religious rebellion.

The staunchly anti-Roman Gelimer now becomes King of the Vandals and Alans, and restores Arianism as the official religion of the kingdom, greatly worsening relations between Constantinople and Carthage.

He imprisons Hilderic, along with Hoamer and his brother Euagees, but does not kill him.

Justinian protests Gelimer's actions, demanding that Gelimer return the kingdom to Hilderic.

Gelimer sends away the envoys who bring him this message, replying: “nothing is more desirable than that a monarch should mind his own business.” He blinds Hoamer and puts both Hilderic and Euagees under closer confinement, claiming that they had planned a coup against him.

Justinian sends a second embassy to Carthage protesting the developments in the Vandal kingdom, and Gelimer replies, in effect, that Justinian has no authority to make such demands.

Belisarius, general of the East Roman emperor Justinian based in Constantinople, lands in North Africa in 533 with sixteen thousand men and within a year destroys the Vandal kingdom.

Local opposition delays full imperial control of the region for twelve years, however, and when it comes it is but a shadow of the control exercised by Rome.

Although an impressive series of fortifications are built, imperial rule is compromised by official corruption, incompetence, military weakness, and lack of concern in Constantinople for African affairs.

As a result, many rural areas revert to Berber rule.

The Eastern Roman Empire’s reorganized Africa province now also includes the Balearic Islands, Sardinia, and Corsica.

Constantinople, warring successfully against the Vandal kingdom in present Tunisia, formally restores Africa to imperial rule as the praetorian prefecture of Africa.

The Moorish tribes of the interior prove unwilling to accept imperial rule and soon rise up in rebellion.

Emperor Justinian I issues an edict in 535 that excludes North African Jews from public office, prohibits Jewish practice, and results in the transformation of synagogues into churches.

Many flee inland to the Berber communities of the mountains and in the desert, and eight of the tribes abandon their shamanistic pagan concepts for Judaism.

Catholics in the Vandal kingdom of North Africa have been subject to frequent persecution.

The aged Vandal king Hilderic, who had been in alliance with Constantinople and had ceased persecution of the Catholics, had been deposed in favor of Gelimer in 530, but Hilderic’s faction disputes the succession at the same time the Moorish tribes of Mauretania and southern Numidia threaten the kingdom.

Soon after Gelimer's seizure of power, his domestic position had began to deteriorate, as he has persecuted his political enemies among the Vandal nobility, confiscating their property and executing many of them.

These actions had undermined his already doubtful legitimacy in the eyes of many, and have contributed to the outbreak of two revolts in remote provinces of the Vandal kingdom: in Sardinia, where the local governor, Godas, has declared himself an independent ruler, and shortly after in Tripolitania, where the native population, led by a certain Pudentius, has rebelled against Vandal rule.

Although Procopius' narrative makes both uprisings seem coincidental, Ian Hughes points out the fact that both rebellions broke out shortly before the commencement of the Roman expedition against the Vandals, and that both Godas and Pudentius immediately asked for assistance from Justinian, as evidence of an active diplomatic involvement by the Emperor in their preparation.

(Hughes, Ian (2009).

Belisarius: The Last Roman General.

Yardley, PA: Westholme Publishing, LLC) In response to Godas' emissaries, Justinian details Cyril, one of the officers of the foederati, with four hundred men, to accompany the invasion fleet and then sail on to Sardinia.

Gelimer reacts to Godas' rebellion by sending the bulk of his fleet, one hundred and twenty of his best vessels, and five thousand men under his own brother Tzazon, to suppress it.

The Vandal king's decision plays a crucial role in the outcome of the war, for it removes from the scene the Vandal navy, the main obstacle to a Roman landing in Africa, as well as a large part of his army.

Gelimer also chooses to ignore the revolt in Tripolitania for the moment, as it is both a lesser threat and more remote, while his lack of manpower constrains him to await Tzazon's return from Sardinia before undertaking further campaigns.

At the same time, both rulers try to win over allies: Gelimer contacts the new Visigoth king Theudis and proposes an alliance, while Justinian secures the benevolent neutrality and support of the Ostrogothic Kingdom of Italy, which has strained relations with the Vandals over the ill treatment of the Ostrogoth princess Amalafrida, the wife of Thrasamund.

The Ostrogoth court readily agrees to allow the Roman invasion fleet to use the harbor of Syracuse in Sicily and establish a market for the provisioning of the Roman troops there.

The picture is less clear on the Vandal side.

The Vandal army is not a professional and mostly volunteer force like the East Roman army, but comprises every able-bodied male of the Vandal people.

Hence, modern estimates on the available forces vary along with estimates on the total Vandal population, from a high of between thirty thousand and forty thousand men out of a total Vandal population of at most two hundred thousand people (Diehl and Bury), to as few as twenty-five thousand men—or even twenty thousand, if their losses against the Moors are taken into account—for a population base of one hundred thousand (Hughes).

Despite their martial reputation, the Vandals have grown less warlike over time, having come to lead a luxurious life amid the riches of Africa.

In addition, their mode of fighting is ill suited to confronting Belisarius' veterans: the Vandal army is composed exclusively of cavalry, lightly armored and armed only for hand-to-hand combat, to the point of neglecting entirely the use of bows or javelins, in stark contrast to Belisarius' heavily armored cataphracts and horse archers.

The Vandals are also weakened by the hostility of its Roman subjects, the continued existence among the Vandals of a faction loyal to Hilderic, and by the ambivalent position of the Moorish tribes, who watch the oncoming conflict from the sidelines, ready to join the victor and seize the spoils.

The Vandal army approaching the city cuts the aqueduct supplying it with water, and attempts to prevent provisions from arriving in the city.

Gelimer also dispatches agents to the city to undermine the loyalty of the inhabitants and the imperial army.

Belisarius, who is alert to the possibility of treachery, sets an example by impaling a citizen of Carthage who had intended to join the Vandals.

The greatest danger for defection comes from the Huns, who are disgruntled because they had been ferried to Africa against their will and fear being left here as a garrison.

Indeed, Vandal agents have already made contact with them, but Belisarius manages to maintain their allegiance—at least for the moment—by making a solemn promise that after the final victory they will be richly rewarded and allowed to return to their homes.

Their loyalty however remains suspect, and, like the Moors, the Huns probably await to see who will emerge as the victor and rally to him.

Belisarius, after securing the loyalty of the populace and the army, and completing the repairs to the walls, resolves to meet Gelimer in battle, and in mid-December marches out of Carthage in the direction of the fortified Vandal camp at Tricamarum, some twenty-eight kilometers from Carthage.

As at Ad Decimum, the Roman cavalry proceeds in advance of the infantry, and the ensuing Battle of Tricamarum is a purely cavalry affair, with Belisarius' army considerably outnumbered.

Both armies keep their most untrustworthy elements—the Moors and Huns—in reserve.

John the Armenian plays the most important role on the Roman side, and Tzazon on the Vandal.

John leads repeated charges at the Vandal center, culminating in the death of Tzazon.

This is followed by a general Roman attack across the front and the collapse of the Vandal army, which retreats to its camp.

Gelimer, seeing that all is lost, flees with a few attendants into the wilds of Numidia, whereupon the remaining Vandals give up all thoughts of resistance and abandon their camp to be plundered by the Romans.

Like the previous battle at Ad Decimum, it is again notable that Belisarius failed to keep his forces together, and was forced to fight with a considerable numerical disadvantage.

The dispersal of his army after the battle, looting heedlessly and leaving themselves vulnerable to a potential Vandal counterattack, is also an indication of the poor discipline in the Roman army and the command difficulties Belisarius faced.

As Bury comments, the expedition's fate might have been quite different "if Belisarius had been opposed to a commander of some ability and experience in warfare", and points out that Procopius himself "expresses amazement at the issue of the war, and does not hesitate to regard it not as a feat of superior strategy but as a paradox of fortune".

(Bury, John Bagnell (1923).

History of the Later Roman Empire: From the Death of Theodosius I to the Death of Justinian.

London: MacMillan & Co. Vol.

II, p. 137)

The old Roman provincial division along with the full apparatus of Roman administration is restored by April 534, under a praetorian prefect rather than under a diocesal vicarius, since the original parent prefecture of Africa, Italy, is still under Ostrogoth rule.

The emperor is determined to restore the African province to its former extent and prosperity.

To this end, the Vandals are barred from holding office or even property, which is returned to its former owners; most Vandal men are enslaved, while the victorious Roman soldiers take their wives; and the Chalcedonian Church is restored to its former position while the Arian Church is dispossessed and persecuted.

As a result of these measures, the Vandal population is diminished and emasculated, and will gradually disappear entirely, absorbed into the provincial population.