531 The Franks annex Thuringia.

533 Justinian's general Belisarius captures Carthage while the Vandal king is in Sardinia, then defeats the king when he returns.

534 The Franks subjugate Burgundy.

536 Surprised by the ease with which they recovered Sicily, Belisarius leads a small army up the peninsula to Rome and lays siege to the city. The Franks take Provence and the central Alps from the Ostrogoths.

540 The Ostrogothic king surrenders his crown and capital to Belisarius. Belisarius sails home, but the Goths north of the River Po fight back until the Romans are unable to keep much more than Ravenna.

552 Justinian sends another army with Narses through Dalmatia, where they are joined by 5,000 Lombards. The Mongolian empire of the Jouan-Jouan is defeated by Turkic tribes, and they head westward.

553 Narses annihilates the Ostrogoth army between Ravenna and Rome. The Bavarians and Lombards profit from this to expand their territory below the Danube, during which the Bavarians accept a measure of Frankish suzerainty.

554 A civil war in Iberia gives Justinian an opportunity to seize the south-east part of the Iberian peninsula.

557 The Turks defeat the White Huns in Transoxiana, and the latter join the remnants of the Jouan-Jouan north of the Caspian, from where the Turks inflict another defeat that sends the further west, where they are known as the Avars.

559-561 After incitement by Justinian to attach the Huns and Slavs of the Russian steppes, the Avars subjugate all the tribes between the Volga and the Danube.

562 The Avars attack Thuringia.