Genseric (Civ5)/Civilopedia

Genseric, born around 389 AD, assumed kingship of the Vandals upon the death of his half-brother Gunderic in 428. Beset by the Visigoths, Genseric quickly determined to lead his people out of Iberia to the less populous shores of Africa. Building a fleet at the straits, in 429 AD some 80,000 warriors, women and children crossed into Roman Africa.
Taking advantage of their squabbles, the Vandals quickly overwhelmed the divided Roman garrisons. Within months, they had conquered what is now Morocco and Algeria, and the Emperor Valentinian III signed a peace treaty recognizing Genseric's sovereignty. Genseric however, looked for more, and in 439 broke the treaty and invaded the lands around Roman Carthage. Taken unaware, the city, along with the massive fleet moored there, fell. With this fleet, the equivalent of Rome's and Byzantium's combined, the Vandals raided Roman commerce and coasts, and seized the islands in the western Mediterranean, including Sicily.
Now undisputed master of a vast kingdom, Genseric turned his attention to crafting a code of laws and to securing trade routes to and through Eastern Rome. This led to an arrangement with Valentinian to marry the emperor's daughter to Genseric's son. But in 455 Valentinian III was assassinated. Genseric believed this voided his treaty, landed in Italy, brushed aside the small forces that challenged him, and entered Rome. Pope Leo I implored him not to destroy the city, and Genseric withdrew ... but not before his men plundered Rome.
In 468 he was the target of the last combined campaign of the two halves of the old Roman Empire. Against all odds, Genseric defeated the larger Byzantine fleet off Cap Bon. Following the defeat, Genseric invaded Greece but the Vandals were driven back with heavy losses. Genseric negotiated peace with Byzantium in 474, and died peacefully in his palace in 477 AD.