Modern Leadership Lessons from the Battle of Mons Lactarius
- 8 hours ago
- 3 min read
What Modern Business and Political Leaders Can Learn from the Legacy of Byzantine General Narses
Historical Commentary and Analysis by Jett James Pruitt
In 552 A.D., Emperor Justinian I was on the verge of achieving a Herculean task: reclaiming Italy, the eternal heartland of the Roman Empire, under the dominion of Constantinople.
Following the abdication of Romulus Augustulus in 476 and the subsequent deposition of King Odoacer in 493, Italy was controlled by the Germanic Ostrogoths (who largely preserved the sociopolitical customs, institutions, and royal titles of the late Western Roman Empire) throughout the early 6th century. In 535, Justinian launched an invasion of the peninsula as part of his ambitious Renovatio imperri Romanorum, which aimed to reintegrate all provinces of the Western Roman Empire into his realm. He initially entrusted high military command to Flavius Belisarius, who triumphed over the Vandal Kingdom and reconquered North Africa the previous year.
After a grueling 5-year campaign, Belisarius successfully subdued the Ostrogoths by securing control of Ravenna, capital of the Germanic kingdom, in 540. This proved to be a fleeting victory, however, as King Totila led a resurgence against the Romans and recovered virtually all Italian territory gained by Belisarius by 543. In a compact summary of events, Belisarius was ultimately relieved of his command by 548 due to Justinian viewing him as a threat to his reign. For the next few years, the Italian Peninsula remained under the firm control of the Ostrogoths.
In late 551, Justinian renewed his attempt to conquer Italy by sending a formidable army under the direction of Narses, a 70-year-old imperial bureaucrat and eunuch who served as head of the empire’s treasury. Despite his lack of military experience before arriving in Italy, Narses quickly emerged as a skilled, competent general who captured Ravenna and killed Totila at the Battle of Taginae in summer 552.
Following Totila's death, Narses’ army besieged the town of Cumae (modern-day Cuma) in order to strain the Ostrogoths of provisions and weaponry. When Teia, the new Ostrogothic King, attempted to thwart the Roman siege, Narses intercepted the Ostrogoths near Mount Vesuvius. Both armies refused to engage for two months.
During this time, Narses was relying on a Byzantine fleet blocking an Ostrogothic flotilla from providing food and provisions to Teia’s force. When it became clear battle was inevitable, Teia launched a surprise attack on the Byzantines.
The battle itself was an intense, man-to-man contest devoid of skilled maneuver or tactical agility. Brute force alone allowed the Byzantines to withstand the Ostrogothic attack. Eventually, Teias was killed during the fighting, and the Ostrogoths were outmatched by the Byzantines’ martial discipline.
Despite the battle’s relative lack of insightful military strategy, there is one vital lesson that can be drawn from the engagement and applied by modern business and political leaders: battles are never won in isolation.
Narses’ military skill did not merely rest with battlefield tactics. Instead, he carefully cultivated the conditions that would ensure the Byzantines would withstand the Ostrogoths’ frenzied attack. He accomplished this by engaging Teias in a stalemate for weeks (thus draining the Ostrogoths of morale and momentum), giving no room for maneuver or escape to the Ostrogoths, and waiting until the Byzantine fleet forced the capitulation of the Ostrogothic flotilla (thus cutting off Teias’ army from supplies).
Put simply, Narses controlled the dynamics of the battle before it even began.
Following the Battle of Mons Lactarius, the Ostrogoths lost their hold on Italy, although the Byzantines were forced to ward off invasions from other Germanic tribes over the next decade. By 568, Italy was completely lost to the Byzantine Empire and controlled by the Lombards.
Nevertheless, Narses’ victory at Mons Lactarius demonstrates that the victor of any battle, whether in business, politics, or war, ensures the engagement is fought on their terms.
What are your thoughts? Please share this article with your comments.
Jett James Pruitt is a Native American, Pulitzer Prize-nominated author of the bestselling book THROUGH THE EYES OF A YOUNG AMERICAN. He is the founder and editor-in-chief of TheGenZPost.com and a political strategist specializing in Generation Z voter trends. He is currently a B.A. International Politics student at The University of London Institute in Paris. His next book, THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE: What America's Political Parties Must Do To Win Over Generation Z, will be released in major bookstores worldwide early 2027.
Comments