Byzantine Empire, The crisis of midcentury

At last the menace of simultaneous war on two fronts threatened Justinian's plans. During the 550s, his armies were to prove equal to the challenge, but a major disaster prevented them from so doing between 541 and about 548. The disaster was the bubonic plague of 541–543, the first of those shocks, or traumas, mentioned earlier, that would eventually transform East Rome into the medieval