Totila, military and political leader of the Ostrogoths, was attempting to re-conquer the whole of Italy from Justinian and his great general, Belisarius. Belisarius, under Justinian, wanted to conquer all of Italy and restore Italy to its former glory. After Belisarius conquered much of Italy, including the Ostrogoths' capital, Ravenna, the Ostrogoths appointed Totila to power and took much of Italy back over as soon as Belisarius returned to Constantinople. The Gothic Wars laid waste to much of Italy.