What geographic feature helped ostrogoths to hold Italy?

Answer 1

No particular geographical feature helped the Ostrogoths' hold on Italy. In fact they settled in an area of the north which was flat. This did not facilitate the defence of their area in case of attack.

The Ostrogoths' hold on Italy was due more the failure of the eastern Romans (also called Byzantines) to capitalise on their victory, rather than geographical factors. The eastern Roman emperor Justinian I decided to recover Italy for the empire. This led to the Gothic War, which lasted 17 years. The eastern Romans (also called Byzantines), led by the General Belisarius won the first phase of the war (535-40). Belisarius then left Italy to fight a war against the Persians. However, he did not appoint a commander-in-chief for Italy and the troops left in Italy were undisciplined and committed acts of plundering. It was this that enabled the Ostrogoths to restart the war. Their success in the second phase (541-550) was helped by three factors: The incompetence and lack of unity of the eastern Roman military commanders in Italy, the fact that the eastern Romans were engaged in the war with the Persians and an outbreak of an epidemic called the Plague of Justinian (542-42), which was one of the worse in history, which killed up to a quieter of the population of the empire. A pandemic of this scale did not occur again until the Black Death 800 years alter. The last two factors meant that they could not send reinforcements to Italy. When the eastern Romans organised a proper campaign in Italy, the Visigoths were defeated in one year.

Answer 2

No particular geographical feature helped the Ostrogoths' hold on Italy. In fact they settled in an area of the north which was flat. This did not facilitate the defence of their area in case of attack.

The Ostrogoths' hold on Italy was due more the failure of the eastern Romans (also called Byzantines) to capitalise on their victory, rather than geographical factors. The eastern Roman emperor Justinian I decided to recover Italy for the empire. This led to the Gothic War, which lasted 17 years. The eastern Romans (also called Byzantines), led by the General Belisarius won the first phase of the war (535-40). Belisarius then left Italy to fight a war against the Persians. However, he did not appoint a commander-in-chief for Italy and the troops left in Italy were undisciplined and committed acts of plundering. It was this that enabled the Ostrogoths to restart the war. Their success in the second phase (541-550) was helped by three factors: The incompetence and lack of unity of the eastern Roman military commanders in Italy, the fact that the eastern Romans were engaged in the war with the Persians and an outbreak of an epidemic called the Plague of Justinian (542-42), which was one of the worse in history, which killed up to a quieter of the population of the empire. A pandemic of this scale did not occur again until the Black Death 800 years alter. The last two factors meant that they could not send reinforcements to Italy. When the eastern Romans organised a proper campaign in Italy, the Visigoths were defeated in one year.