In 428, Genseric he was elected king of the Vandals. A year later, he organized the largest non-Roman naval operation in late antiquity, shipping 80,000 people – of whom only 15,000 were warriors – off the shores of Carteia (Algeciras) and transferring them to the beaches of Ceuta. In a very short time they occupied Roman Mauritania (modern Morocco) until you reach the strong walls of Hippo Regius (today Annaba, Algeria), a city that withstood the Vandal siege for fourteen months. During this siege, the bishop of the city, Aurelio Augustino (San Agustín), died.
Genseric
The weakness of the emperor Valentinian III he forced him to recognize Genseric as regent of the Diocese and, in addition, granted him the title of Rex Vandalorum et Alanorum . The reality is that the population was tired of their Roman masters whom they did not know and of the riots of the barbari from the desert (from which the Berber word derives) who plundered their lands. The Africans did not find it difficult to accept new strong and warlike masters living in such a precarious situation. Gaiseric's ambition was not dampened by this show of Imperial weakness. In 435 the king reached an agreement with the court of Ravenna, where the Emperor had retired, to include Numidia in his territory and later be recognized as foederati (federated) of Rome in Africa. It was not enough. Genseric takes Carthage without any reason or prior notice and seizes the imperial fleet that remained moored there. This was a serious setback to the deteriorated Roman navy and upset the balance of power in the Western Mediterranean. In a short time, the Vandals learned the trade of the sea and seized the islands of Corsica, Sardinia, Sicily and the Balearic Islands from Rome. In addition, it meant the cut of the supply of African cereal to the City, which from 439 had to buy it from the new lord of the fertile province of Africa.
In 455 Valentinian III was assassinated. Moment that Genserico takes advantage of to send his fleet to Rome. The new emperor, a usurping aristocrat named Petronius Maximus , he was lynched by the people as he fled from the Palatine laden with treasures before the Vandal attack was imminent. In a display of arrogance, and trying to repeat the success obtained with Attila, Pope Leo I He went out to meet the Vandals, unarmed and surrounded by his entourage, with the intention of negotiating an armistice with Genseric that would prevent him from entering Rome. The Supreme Pontiff could not avoid the inevitable. Leon failed in his attempt to intimidate the Vandal king and only managed to prevent the town from being excessively violent or the city and its basilicas from being set on fire. The city was plundered for two weeks. The looting was such that they came to dismantle the golden roof of the temple of Jupiter and did not leave a single work of art standing (note, they did not destroy them as Alaric's Goths did years ago, they took them to Carthage as a gift for the bishop).
With this pontifical disaster begins the black legend of the vandals , promoted since then by the Church and that made the Vandals synonymous with savage or heartless. I guess if Attila had sacked Rome, Hun would now be synonymous with savage or heartless.
Sack of Rome