HISTORY
OF HUNS
The
history of the Huns spans the time from before their first secure
recorded appearance in Europe around 370 AD to after the disintegration
of their empire around 469. The Huns likely entered Europe shortly
before 370 from Central Asia: they first conquered the Goths and
the Alans, pushing a number of tribes to seek refuge within the
Roman Empire. In the following years, the Huns conquered most of
the Germanic and Scythian barbarian tribes outside of the borders
of the Roman Empire. They also launched invasions of both the Asian
provinces of Rome and the Sasanian Empire in 375. Under Uldin, the
first Hunnic ruler named in contemporary sources, the Huns launched
a first unsuccessful large-scale raid into the Eastern Roman Empire
in Europe in 408. From the 420s, the Huns were led by the brothers
Octar and Ruga, who both cooperated with and threatened the Romans.
Upon Ruga's death in 435, his nephews Bleda and Attila became the
new rulers of the Huns, and launched a successful raid into the
Eastern Roman Empire before making peace and securing an annual
tribute and trading raids under the Treaty of Margus. Attila appears
to have killed his brother and became sole ruler of the Huns in
445. He would go on to rule for the next eight years, launching
a devastating raid on the Eastern Roman Empire in 447, followed
by an invasion of Gaul in 451. Attila is traditionally held to have
been defeated in Gaul at the Battle of the Catalaunian Fields, however
some scholars hold the battle to have been a draw or Hunnic victory.
The following year, the Huns invaded Italy and encountered no serious
resistance before turning back.
Hunnic
dominion over Barbarian Europe is traditionally held to have collapsed
suddenly after the death of Attila the year after the invasion of
Italy. The Huns themselves are usually thought to have disappeared
after the death of his son Dengizich in 469. However, some scholars
have argued that the Bulgars in particular show a high degree of
continuity with the Huns. Hyun Jin Kim has argued that the three
major Germanic tribes to emerge from the Hunnic empire, the Gepids,
the Ostrogoths, and the Scirii, were all heavily Hunnicized, and
may have had Hunnic rather than native rulers even after the end
of Hunnic dominion in Europe.
It
is possible that the Huns were directly or indirectly responsible
for the fall of the Western Roman Empire, and they have been directly
or indirectly linked to the dominance of Turkic tribes on the Eurasian
steppe following the fourth century.
Potential
history prior to 370 :
The 2nd century geographer Ptolemy mentioned a people called Khunnoi,
when listing the peoples of the west Eurasian steppe. (In the Koine
Greek used by Ptolemy, generally denoted a voiceless velar fricative
sound; hence contemporary Western Roman authors Latinised the name
as Chuni or Chunni.) The Khunnoi lived "between the Bastarnae
and the Roxolani", according to Ptolemy. However, modern scholars
such as E. A. Thompson have claimed that the similarity of the ethnonyms
Khunnoi and Hun were coincidental. Maenchen-Helfen and Denis Sinor
also dispute the association of the Khunnoi with Attila's Huns.
However, Maenchen-Helfen concedes that Ammianus Marcellinus referred
to Ptolemy's report of the Khunnoi, when stating that the Huns were
"mentioned only cursorily" by previous writers.
A
tribe called the Ourougoúndoi (or Urugundi) who, according
to Zosimus, invaded the Roman Empire from north of the Lower Danube
in 250 AD may have been synonymous with the Bourougoundoi, whom
Agathias (6th century) listed among the Hunnish tribes. Other scholars
have regarded both names as referring to a Germanic tribe, the Burgundi
(Burgundians), although this identification was rejected by Maenchen-Helfen
(who speculated that one or both names may have approximated an
early Turkic ethnonym, such as "Vurugundi").
Early
History :
First conquests :
A
suggested path of the Huns' movement westwards (labels in German)
The Huns' sudden appearance in the written sources suggests that
the Huns crossed the Volga River from the east not much earlier.
The reasons for the Huns' sudden attack on the neighboring peoples
are unknown. One possible reason may have been climate change, however,
Peter Heather notes that in the absence of reliable data this is
unprovable. As a second possibility, Heather suggests some other
nomadic group may have pushed them westward. Peter Golden suggests
that the Huns may have been pushed west by the Jou-jan. A third
possibility may have been a desire to increase their wealth by coming
closer to the wealthy Roman Empire.
The
Romans became aware of the Huns when the latter's invasion of the
Pontic steppes forced thousands of Goths to move to the Lower Danube
to seek refuge in the Roman Empire in 376, according to the contemporaneous
Ammianus Marcellinus. There are also some indications that the Huns
were already raiding Transcaucasia in the 360s and 370s. These raids
eventually forced the Eastern Roman Empire and Sasanian Empire to
jointly defend the passes through the Caucasus mountains.
Huns in battle with the Alans. An 1870s engraving after
a drawing by Johann Nepomuk Geiger (1805 – 1880)
The Huns first invaded the land of the Alans,
which was located to the east of the Don River, defeating them and
forcing the survivors to submit themselves to them or to flee across
the Don. Maenchen-Helfen believes that rather than a direct conquest,
the Huns instead allied themselves with groups of Alans. Writing
much later, the historian Jordanes mentioned that the Huns also
conquered "the Alpidzuri, the Alcildzuri, Itimari, Tuncarsi,
and Boisci" in a battle by the Maeotian Swamp. These were potentially
Turkic-speaking nomadic tribes who are later mentioned living under
the Huns along the Danube.
Jordanes
claimed that the Huns at this time were led by a king Balamber.
E. A. Thompson doubts that such a figure ever existed, but argues
that "they were operating [...] with a much larger force than
any one of their tribes could have put to the field". Hyun
Jin Kim argues that Jordanes has invented Balamber on the basis
of the 5th century figure Valamer. However, Maenchen-Helfen credits
that Balamber was a historic king, and Denis Sinor suggests that
"Balamber was merely the leader of a tribe or an ad hoc group
of warriors".
After
they subjugated the Alans, the Huns and their Alan auxiliaries started
plundering the wealthy settlements of the Greuthungi, or eastern
Goths, to the west of the Don. Maenchen-Helfen suggests that it
was as a result of their new alliance with these Alans that the
Huns were able to threaten the Goths. The Greuthungic king, Ermanaric,
resisted for a while, but finally "he found release from his
fears by taking his own life", according to Ammianus Marcellinus.
Marcellinus's report refers either to Ermanaric's suicide or to
his ritual sacrifice. His great-nephew, Vithimiris, succeeded him.
According to Ammianus, Vithimiris hired Huns to fight against the
Alans who invaded the Greuthungi's land, but he was killed in a
battle. Kim suggests that Ammianus has muddled events: the Alans,
fleeing the Huns, likely attacked the Goths, who then called upon
the Huns for aid. The Huns, having dealt with the Alans, "probably
then in Machiavellian fashion fell upon the weakened Greuthungi
Goths and conquered them as well".
Hun warriors. Colored engraving from 1890
After Vithimiris's death, most Greuthungi submitted themselves to
the Huns: they retained their own king, named Hunimund, whose name
means "protégé of the Huns". Those who decided
to resist marched to the Dniester River which was the border between
the lands of the Greuthungi and the Thervingi, or western Goths.
They were under the command of Alatheus and Saphrax, because Vithimiris's
son, Viderichus, was a child. Athanaric, the leader of the Thervingi,
met the refugees along the Dniester at the head of his troops. However,
a Hun army bypassed the Goths and attacked them from the rear, forcing
Athanaric to retreat towards the Carpathian Mountains. Athanaric
wanted to fortify the borders, but Hun raids into the land west
of the Dniester continued.
Most
Thervingi realized that they could not resist the Huns. They went
to the Lower Danube, requesting asylum in the Roman Empire. The
still resisting Greuthingi under the leadership of Alatheus and
Saphrax also marched to the river. Most Roman troops had been transferred
from the Balkan Peninsula to fight against the Sassanid Empire in
Armenia. Emperor Valens permitted the Thervingi to cross the Lower
Danube and to settle in the Roman Empire in the autumn of 376. The
Thervingi were followed by the Greuthingi, and also by the Taifali
and "other tribes that formerly dwelt with the Goths and Taifali"
to the north of the Lower Danube, according to Zosimus. Food shortage
and abuse stirred the Goths to revolt in early 377. The ensuing
war between the Goths and the Romans lasted for more than five years.
The Barbarian invasions of the 5th century were triggered by the
destruction of the Gothic kingdoms by the Huns in 372–375.
The city of Rome was captured and looted by the Visigoths in 410
and by the Vandals in 455.
First encounters with Rome :
During the Gothic War, the Goths appear to have allied with a group
of Huns and Alans, who crossed the Danube and forced the Romans
to allow the Goths to advance further into Thrace. The Huns are
mentioned intermittently among their allies until 380, after which
they apparently returned beyond the Danube. Additionally, in 381,
the Scirii and Carpi, together with at least some Huns, launched
an unsuccessful attack upon Pannonia. Once Eastern Roman Emperor
Theodosius I made peace with the Goths in 382, the historian Eunapius
claims that he gave them land and cattle in order to form "an
unconquerable bulwark against the inroads of the Huns." After
this, the Huns are recorded to have launched a raid into Scythia
Minor in 384 or 385. Soon afterwards, in 386, a group of Greuthungi
under Odotheus fled the Huns into Thrace, followed by several attempts
by the Sarmatians. This is the last serious migration into Roman
territory until after the end of Hun rule, and Kim suggests that
this indicates that the Huns were securely in control of the tribes
beyond Rome at this time.
Otto
Maenchen-Helfen and E. A. Thompson argue that the Huns appear to
have already been in possession of large parts of Pannonia (the
Hungarian plain) as early as 384. Denis Sinor suggests that they
may have been settled there are foederati of the Romans rather than
as invaders, dating their presence to 380. In 384, the Roman-Frankish
general Flavius Bauto employed Hunnic mercenaries to defeat the
Juthungi tribe attacking from Rhaetia. However, the Huns, rather
than return to their own country, began to ride to Gaul: Bauto was
forced to bribe them to turn back. They then attacked the Alamanni.
Pacatus
Drepanius reports that the Huns then fought with Theodosius against
the usurper Magnus Maximus in 388. In 392, however, the Huns were
again involved in raids in the Balkans, together with various other
tribes. Some of the Huns seem to have settled in Thrace, and these
Huns were then used as auxiliaries by Theodosius in 394; Maenchen-Helfen
argues that the Romans may have hoped to use the Huns against the
Goths. Kim believes that these mercenaries were not really Huns,
but rather non-Hunnic groups capitalizing on the Huns' fearsome
reputation as warriors. These Huns were eventually wiped up by the
Romans in 401 after they began plundering the territory.
First
large scale attack on Rome and Persia :
In 395 the Huns began their first large-scale attacks on the Romans.
In the summer of that year, the Huns crossed over the Caucasus Mountains,
while in the winter of 395, another Hunnic invasion force crossed
the frozen Danube, pillaged Thrace, and threatened Dalmatia. Sinor
argues that these two events were likely not coordinated, but Kim
believes they were. The forces in Asia invaded Armenia, Persia,
and the Roman provinces in Asia. One group crossed the Euphrates
and was defeated by a Roman army, while two armies, recorded in
later sources as under the leadership of Basich and Kursich, rode
down the Euphrates and threatened the Persian capital of Ctesiphon.
One of these armies was defeated by the Persians, while the other
successfully retreated by Derbend Pass. A final group of Huns ravaged
Asia Minor. The Huns devastated parts of Syria and Cappadocia, threatening
Antioch. The devastation was worse because most Roman forces had
been moved to the West due to Roman power struggles there. In 398
Eutropius finally succeeded in gathering an army and restoring order
in the province. It seems likely, however, that the Huns left of
their own accord without Eutropius having defeated them in battle.
Sinor
argues that the much larger scale of the attacks on Asia Minor and
Persia indicates that the bulk of the Huns had remained on the Pontic
steppes rather than moving into Europe at this time. It seems clear
that the Huns did not intend to conquer or settle the territories
they attacked, but rather to plunder the provinces, taking, among
other things, cattle. Priscus, writing much later, reports hearing
from the Huns at Attila's camp that the raid was launched due to
a famine on the steppes. This may also have been the reason for
the raids into Thrace. Maenchen-Helfen suggests that Basich and
Kursich, the Hun leaders responsible for the invasion of Persia,
may have come to Rome in 404 or 407 as mercenaries: Priscus records
that they came to Rome to make an alliance.
Hunnic
attacks against Armenia would continue after this raid, with Armenian
sources noting a Hunnic tribe known as the Xailandur as the perpetrators.
Uldin
:
Campaigns
of Uldin
Uldin, the first Hun identified by name in contemporary sources,
is identified as the leader of the Huns in Muntenia (modern Romania
east of the Olt River) in 400. It is unclear how much territory
or how many tribes of Huns Uldin actually controlled, although he
clearly controlled parts of Hungary as well as Muntenia. The Romans
referred to him as a regulus (sub-king): he himself boasted of immense
power.
In
400, Gainas, rebellious former Roman magister militum fled into
Uldin's territory with an army of Goths, and Uldin defeated and
killed him, likely near Novae: he sent Gainas's head to Constantinople.
Kim suggests that Uldin was interested in cooperating with the Romans
while he expanded his control over Germanic tribes in the West.
In 406, Hunnic pressure seems to have caused groups of Vandals,
Suebi, and Alans to cross the Rhine into Gaul. Uldin's Huns raided
Thrace in 404–405, likely in winter.
Also
in 405, a group of Goths under Radagaisus invaded Italy, with Kim
arguing that these Goths originated from Uldin's territory and that
they were likely fleeing from some action of his. Stilicho, the
Roman magister militum responded by asking for Uldin's aid: Uldin's
Huns then destroyed Radagaisus's army near Faesulae in modern Tuscany
in 406. Kim suggests Uldin acted in order to demonstrate his ability
to destroy any groups of barbarians who might flee Hunnic rule.
An army of 1000 of Uldin's Huns were also employed by the Eastern
Roman Empire to fight against the Goths under Alaric. After Stilicho's
death in 408, however, Uldin switched sides and began aiding Alaric
under an army under the command of Alaric's brother-in-law Athaulf.
Also
in 408, the Huns, under Uldin's command, crossed the Danube and
captured the important fortress Castra Martis in Moesia. The Roman
commander in Thrace attempted to make peace with Uldin, but Uldin
refused his offers and demanded an extremely high tribute. However,
many of Uldin's commanders subsequently defected to the Romans,
bribed by the Romans. It appears that most of his army was actually
composed by Scirii and Germanic tribes, whom the Romans subsequently
sold into slavery. Uldin himself escaped back across the Danube,
after which he is not mentioned again. The Romans responded to Uldin's
invasions by attempting to strengthen the fortifications at the
border, increasing the defenses at Constantinople, and taking other
measures to strengthen their defences.
Hunnic
mercenaries had also formed Stilicho's bodyguard: Kim suggests they
were a gift from Uldin. The guard was either killed with Stilicho,
or is the same as an elite unit of 300 Huns who continued to fight
for the Romans against Alaric even after Uldin's invasion.
During
this same time, probably between 405 and 408, the future Roman magister
militum and opponent of Attila Flavius Aetius was a hostage living
among the Huns.
410s
:
Sources on the Huns after Uldin are scarce. In 412 or 413, the Roman
statesman and writer Olympiodorus of Thebes was sent on an embassy
to "the first of the kings" of the Huns, Charaton. Olympiodorus
wrote an account of this event, which exists now only fragmentarily.
Olympiodorus had been dispatched to appease Charaton after the death
of a certain Donatus, who "was unlawfully put to death".
Historians such as E. A. Thompson have assumed that Donatus was
a king of the Huns. Denis Sinor, however, argues that given his
obviously Roman name Donatus was likely a Roman refugee living among
the Huns. Where Olympiodorus met Charaton is also unclear: due to
Olympiodorus's traveling by sea, they may have met somewhere on
the Pontic steppe. Maenchen-Helfen and Sinor, however, believe it
more likely that Charaton was located in Pannonia. Also in 412,
the Huns launched a new raid into Thrace.
Period
of unified Hunnic rule :
Ruga and Octar :
The Huns again raided in 422, apparently under the command of a
leader named Ruga. They reached as far as the walls of Constantinople.
They appear to have forced the Eastern Empire to pay an annual tribute.
In 424, they are noted as fighting for the Romans in North Africa,
indicating friendly relations with the Western Roman Empire.In 425,
magister militum Aetius marched into Italy with a large army of
Huns to fight against forces of the Eastern Empire. The campaign
ended with reconciliation, and the Huns received gold and returned
to their lands. In 427, however, the Romans broke their alliance
with the Huns and attacked Pannonia, perhaps reconquerring part
of it.
It
is unclear when Ruga and his brother Octar became the supreme rulers
of the Huns: Ruga appears to have ruled the land East of the Carpathians
while Octar ruled the territory to the north and west of the Carpathians.
Kim argues that Octar was a "deputy" king in his territory
while Ruga was the supreme king. Octar died around 430 while fighting
the Burgundians, who at the time lived on the right bank of the
Rhine. Denis Sinor argues that his nephew Attila likely succeeded
him as ruler of the eastern portion of the Huns' empire in this
year. Maenchen-Helfen, however, argues that Ruga simply became sole
ruler.
In
432, Ruga aided Aetius, who had fallen into disfavor, in reobtaining
his old office of magister militum: Ruga either sent or threatened
to send an army into Italy. In 433, Aetius surrendered Pannonia
Prima to Ruga, perhaps as a reward for aid that Ruga's Huns had
given him in securing his position. Either the previous year, in
432, or 434, Ruga sent an emissary to Constantinople announcing
that he intended to attack some tribes whom he considered under
his authority but who had fled into Roman territory; however, he
died after the beginning of this campaign and the Huns left Roman
territory.
Under
Attila and Bleda :
A
nineteenth century depiction of Attila. Certosa di Pavia –
Medallion at the base of the facade. The Latin inscription tells
that this is Attila, the scourge of God
After Ruga's death, his nephews Attila and Bleda became the rulers
of the Huns: Bleda appears to have ruled in the eastern portion
of the empire, while Attila ruled the west. Kim believes that Bleda
was the supreme king of the two. In 435, Bleda and Attila forced
the Eastern Roman Empire to sign the Treaty of Margus, giving the
Huns trade rights and increasing the annual tribute from the Romans.
The Romans also agreed to hand over Hunnic refugees and fugitive
tribes.
Ruga
appears to have made a commitment to aid Aetius in Gaul before his
death, and Attila and Bleda kept this commitment. In 437, Huns,
under the direction of Aetius and possibly with the involvement
of Attila, destroyed the Burgundian kingdom on the Rhine under king
Gundahar, an event memorialized in medieval Germanic legend.It is
possible that the Huns' destruction of the Burgundians was motivated
by revenge for the death of Octar in 430. Also in 437, the Huns
helped Aetius capture Tibatto, the leader of the Bagaudae, a group
of rebellious peasants and slaves. In 438, an army of Huns aided
the Roman general Litorius in an unsuccessful siege of the Visigothic
capital of Toulouse. Priscus also mentions that the Huns extended
their rule in "Scythia" and fought against an otherwise
unknown people called the Sorosgi.
In
440, the Huns attacked the Romans during one of the annual trading
fairs stipulated by the Treaty of Margus: the Huns justified this
action by alleging that the bishop of Margus had crossed into Hunnic
territory and plundered the Hunnic royal tombs and that the Romans
themselves had breached the treaty by sheltering refugees from the
Hunnic empire. When the Romans failed to turn over either the bishop
of Margus or the refugees by 441, the Huns sacked a number of towns
and captured the city of Viminacium, razing it to the ground. The
bishop of Margus, terrified that he would be handed over to the
Huns, made a deal to betray the city to the Huns, which was likewise
razed. The Huns also captured the fortress of Constantia on the
Danube, as well as capturing and razing the cities of Singidunum
and Sirmium. After this the Huns agreed to a truce. Maenchen-Helfen
supposes that their army may have been hit by a disease, or that
a rival tribe may have attacked Hunnic territory, necessitating
a withdrawal. Thompson dates a further large campaign against the
Eastern Roman Empire to 443; however Maenchen-Helfen, Kim, and Heather
date it to around 447, after Attila had become sole ruler of the
Huns.
In
444, tensions rose between the Huns and the Western Empire, and
the Romans made preparations for war; however, the tensions appear
to have resolved the following year through the diplomacy of Cassiodorus.
The terms seem to have involved the Romans handing over some territory
to the Huns on the Sava River and may also have been when Attila
was made magister militum to draw a salary.
Unified
rule under Attila :
A
map of Europe in 450 AD, showing the Hunnic Empire under Attila
in orange, and the Roman Empire in yellow
Bleda died some time between 442 and 447, with the most likely years
being 444 or 445. He appears to have been murdered by Attila. Following
Bleda's death, a tribe known as the Akatziri either rebelled against
Attila or had never been under Attila's rule. Kim suggests that
they rebelled specifically because of Bleda's death, as they were
more likely to have been under Bleda's control than Attila's. The
rebellion was actively encouraged by the Romans, who sent gifts
to the Akatziri; however, the Romans offended the supreme chief,
Buridach, by giving him gifts second rather than first. He subsequently
appealed to Attila for help against the other rebellious leaders.Attila's
forces then defeated the tribe after several battles: Buridach was
allowed to rule his own tribe, but Attila placed his son Ellac in
command of the remaining Akatziri.
Maenchen-Helfen
argues that the Huns likely fought a war against the Longobards,
living in modern Moravia, in 446, in which the Longobards successfully
resisted Hunnic domination.
Some
time after Bleda's death, while the Huns were busy with internal
affairs, the Theodosius had ceased paying the stipulated tribute
to the Huns. In 447, Attila sent an embassy to complain, threatening
war and noting that his people were dissatisfied and that some had
even begun raiding Roman territory. The Romans, however, refused
to resume the tribute payments or hand over any refugees, and Attila
began a full-scale attack by capturing the forts along the Danube.
His forces included not only Huns, but also his subject peoples
the Gepids, led by their king Ardaric, and the Goths under their
king Valamer, as well as others. After they had cleared the Danube
of Roman defences, the Huns then marched westward and defeated a
large Roman army under the command of Arnegisclus at the Battle
of the Utus. The Huns then sacked and razed Marcianople. The Huns
then set out for Constantinople itself, whose walls had been partially
destroyed by an earthquake earlier in the year. While the Constantinoplitans
were able to rebuild the walls before Attila's army was able to
approach, the Romans suffered another major defeat on the Gallipoli
peninsula. The Huns proceeded to raid as far south as Thermopylae
and captured most of the major towns in the Balkans except for Hadrianople
and Heracleia. Theodosius was forced to sue for peace: in addition
to the tribute the Romans had failed to pay before, the amount of
yearly tribute was raised, and the Romans were forced to evacuate
a large swath of territory south of the Danube to the Huns, thus
leaving the border defenseless.
In
450, Attila negotiated a new treaty with the Romans and agreed to
withdraw from Roman lands; Heather believes that this was in order
for him to plan an invasion of the Western Roman Empire. According
to Priscus, Attila contemplated an invasion of Persia at this time
as well. The treaty with Constantinople was abrogated shortly afterward
by the new emperor Marcian, however, Attila was already occupied
with his plans for the Western Empire and did not respond.
Invasion
of Gaul :
Attila
in Gaul, 451 CE
In spring of 451, Attila invaded Gaul. Relations with the Western
Roman Empire appear to have deteriorated already by 449. One of
the leaders of the Bagaudae, Eudoxius, had also fled to the Huns
in 448. Aetius and Attila had also backed different candidates to
be king of the Ripuarian Franks in 450. Attila claimed to the East
Roman ambassadors in 450 that he intended to attack the Visigoths
at Toulouse as an ally of the Western Emperor Valentinian III. According
to one source, Honoria, the sister of Valentinian III, sent Attila
a ring and asked for his aid in escaping imprisonment at the hands
of her brother. Attila then demanded half of Western Roman territory
as his dowry and invaded. Kim dismisses this story as of doubtful
authenticity and a "ridiculous stor[y]". Heather is similarly
skeptical that Attila would invade for this reason, noting that
Attila invaded Gaul while Honoria was in Italy. Jordanes claims
that Geiseric, king of the Vandals in North Africa, encouraged Attila
to attack. Thompson suggests that Attila intended to remove Aetius
and actually take up his honorary office as magister militum.Kim
believes that it is unlikely that Attila actually intended to conquer
Gaul, but rather to secure his control over Germanic tribes living
on the Rhine.
The
Hunnic army set out from the Hungarian Plain and likely crossed
the Rhine near Koblenz. The Hunnic army included, besides Huns,
the Gepids, Rugii, Sciri, Thuringi, Ostrogoths. Thompson suggests
that Attila's first objection was the Ripuarian Franks, whom he
summarily conquered and drafted into his army. They then captured
Metz and Trier, before heading to besiege Orléans, with another
detachment unsuccessfully attacking Paris. The approach of Aetius'
army, consisting of Romans and allies such as the Visigoths under
their king Theodoric I, Burgundians, the Alans, and some Franks,
forced the Huns to break the siege of Orléans. Somewhere
near Troyes, the two armies met and fought in the Battle of the
Catalaunian Fields. In the standard scholarly view of the battle,
despite the death of Theodoric, Attila's army was defeated and forced
to retreat from Gaul. Kim argues that the battle was actually a
Hunnic victory: the Huns had already been leaving Gaul after a successful
campaign and simply continued to do so after the battle.
Invasion
of Italy :
Raphael's
The Meeting between Leo the Great and Attila depicts Pope Leo I,
escorted by Saint Peter and Saint Paul, meeting with the Hun emperor
outside Rome
Upon his return to Pannonia, Attila ordered the launching of raids
into Illyricum to encourage the Eastern Roman Empire to resume its
tribute. Rather than attacking the Eastern Empire, however, in 452
he invaded Italy. The precise reasons for this are unclear: the
Chronicle of 452 claims that it was due to his anger at his defeat
in Gaul the previous year. The Huns crossed the Julian Alps and
then besieged the heavily defended city of Aquileia, eventually
capturing and razing it after a long siege. They then entered the
Po Valley, sacking Padua, Mantua, Vicentia, Verona, Brescia, and
Bergamo, before besieging and capturing Milan. The Huns made no
attempt to capture Ravenna, and were either stopped or did not try
to take Rome. Aetius was unable to offer an meaningful resistance
and his authority was greatly damaged. The Huns received a peace
embassy led by Pope Leo I and in the end turned back. However, Heather
argues that it was a combination of disease and an attack by Eastern
Roman troops on the Hunnic homeland in Pannonia that led to the
Huns' withdrawal. Kim argues that the attacks by the Eastern Romans
are a fiction, as the Eastern Empire was in a worse state than the
West. Kim believes that the campaign had been a success and that
the Huns simply withdrew after acquiring enough booty to satisfy
them.
After
Attila :
Disintegration of Hunnic rule in the West :
"The
Death of Attila" by Ferenc Paczka
In 453, Attila was reportedly planning a major campaign against
the Eastern Romans to force them to resume paying tribute. However,
he died unexpectedly, reportedly of a hemorrhage during his wedding
to a new bride. He may also have been planning an invasion of the
Sasanian Empire; Martin Schottky claims that "Attila’s
death in 453 C.E. saved the Sasanians from an armed encounter with
the Huns while they were at the height of their military power".
Peter Heather, however, finds it unlikely that the Huns would have
actually attacked Persia.
According
to Jordanes, Attila's death precipitated a power struggle between
his sons – it is unknown how many there were in total, but
ancient sources mention three by name: Ellac, Dengizich and Ernak.
The brothers began fighting one another, and this caused the Gepids
under Ardaric to rebel. The Huns under Ellac then fought the Gepids
and were defeated, resulting in Ellac's death. According to Jordanes,
this occurred at the Battle of Nedao in 454, however, Heather speculates
that there may have been more than just a single battle. Some tribes,
such as the Scirii, fought on the Huns' side against the Gepids.
He also notes that, while 454 may have been a significant turning
point, it by no means ended Hunnic rule over most of their subject
peoples. According to Heather, rather than an immediate collapse,
the end of Hunnic rule was a slow process whereby the Huns gradually
lost control over their subject peoples.
The
Huns continued to exist under Attila's sons Dengizich and Ernak.
Kim argues that Dengizich had successfully reestablished Hunnic
rule over the western part of their empire in 464. In 466, Dengizich
demanded that Constantinople resume paying tribute to the Huns and
reestablish of the Huns' trading rights with the Romans. The Romans
refused, however. Dengizich then decided to invade the Roman empire,
with Ernak declining to join him to focus on other wars. Kim suggests
that Ernak was distracted by the invasion of the Saragurs and other
Oghurs, who had defeated the Akatziri in 463. Without his brother,
Dengizich was forced to rely on the recently conquered Ostrogoths
and the "unreliable" Bittigur tribe. His forces also included
the Hunnic tribes of the Ultzinzures, Angiscires, and Bardores.
The Romans were able to encourage the Goths in his army to revolt,
forcing Dengizich to retreat. He died in 469, with Kim believing
he was murdered, and his head was sent to the Romans. Anagastes,
the son of Arnegisclus who was slain by Attila, brought Dengzich's
head to Constantinople and paraded it through the streets before
mounting it on a stake in the Hippodrome. This was the end of Hunnic
rule in the West.
Germanic
tribes as successors to the Huns in the West :
Kim argues that the war after the death of Attila was actually a
rebellion of the western half of the Hunnic empire, led by Ardaric,
against the eastern half, led by Ellac as leader of the Akatziri
Huns. He further argues that Ardaric, in common with the other leaders
of the Gepids, was actually a Hun and not of Germanic origin; he
notes that bones from the Gepid period frequently show Asiatic features
among the ruling elite. He also notes that Gepid rule in the Carpathian
Basin appears to have differed little from that of the Huns. Ardaric's
grandson Mundo is identified in sources both as a Hun and as a Gepid.
Kim explains the fact that Ardaric's kingdom was identified as a
Gepid rather than a Hunnic kingdom from the fact that the western
part of the Hunnic empire had been almost entirely Germanic in population.
The
Scirii also emerged from Attila's empire with a potentially Hunnic
King: Edeko is first encountered in sources as Attila's envoy, and
is variously identified as having a Hunnic or Thuringian mother.
While Heather believes that the latter is more likely, Kim argues
that Edeco was in fact a Hun and that Thuringian in the source is
a mistake for Torcilingi. Accordingly, his sons Hunoulph ("Hun-wolf")
and Odoacer, who would go on to conquer Italy, would also be Huns
ethnically, though the armies they led were certainly mostly Germanic.
Odoacer would also conquer the Rogii, a tribe typically identified
with the Rugii found in Tacitus' Germania, but whom Kim holds far
more likely to be a newly formed tribe that was named after the
Hunnic king Ruga.
The
Goths led by the Amali dynasty under their king Valamir also became
independent some time after 454. This did not include all Goths,
however, some of whom are recorded as continuing to fight with the
Huns as late as 468. Kim argues that even the Amali-led Goths remained
loyal to the Huns until 459, when Valamir's nephew Theoderic was
sent as a hostage to Constantinople, or even 461, when Valimir made
an alliance with the Romans.Heather argues that the Amali united
various groups of Goths sometime after Attila's death, though Jordanes
claims that he did it while Attila was still alive. As he has for
Ardaric and Ediko, Kim argues that Valimir, who is first attested
as a confidant of Attila, was actually a Hun. Around 464, Valamir's
Goths fought the Scirii, resulting in Valamir's death – this
in turn caused the Goths to virtually destroy the Scirii. Dengizich
then intervened – Kim supposes that the Scirii appealed to
him for help, and that they together defeated the Goths. In a battle
dated by Jordanes to 465, but by Kim to 470 after the death of Dengizich,
the Scirii led an alliance of various tribes, including the Suebi,
Rogii, Gepids, and Sarmatians against the Goths at the Battle of
Bolia. The Gothic victory confirmed their independence and the end
of Hunnic rule in the West.
Therefore,
despite the collapse of the Western Hunnic Empire, Kim argues that
the most important Barbarian leaders in Europe after Attila were
all themselves Huns or were closely associated with Attila's empire.
Potential
continuation of Hunnic rule in the East :
It is unclear what happened to Attila's youngest son Ernak. Heather
states that Ernak and a group of Huns were settled, with Roman permission,
in northern Dobruja. Maenchen-Helfen notes that Ernak seems to have
left this territory at some time before Dengizich's invasion of
the Eastern Roman Empire. The rulers of the Bulgars, a Turkic nomadic
people who first appear in historical sources around 480, may have
claimed to be descended from Attila via Ernak, as recorded in the
Nominalia of the Bulgarian khans. Kim and Denis Sinor argue that
Ernak combined the remaining Huns with new Oghur-speaking Turkic
tribes that had been pushed east from the steppe to form the Bulgars.
Kim also argues that the Kutrigurs and Utigurs, often considered
a separate people, were in fact simply part of the Hunno-Bulgar
state. While many scholars dismiss medieval sources that refer to
people after Dengizich's demise as Huns, Kim argues that these designations
accurately describe the identity of the people in question, at least
during the sixth century.
Ancient
sources appear to indicate that not all Hunnic peoples were incorporated
into Ernak's Bulgar state.Huns continue to appear as mercenaries
and allies of both the Persians and Romans in the sixth century
as well. The Hunnic Altziagiri tribes continued to inhabit the Crimea
near Cherson. Jordanes mentions two groups descended from Dengizich's
Huns living on Roman territory, the Fossatisii and Sacromontisi.
Kim, however, argues that we can distinguish just four large tribal
groupings of Huns after the death of Dengizich; he argues that these
were likely all ruled by members of Attila's dynasty. These groups
often fought each other, however, and Kim argues that this allowed
the Avars to conquer them and "recreat[e] the old Hunnic Empire
in its entirety". He argues that Avars themselves had Hunnic,
but not European Hunnic, elements prior to their invasion.
The
tribe of Sabirs is sometimes identified in Byzantine sources as
Huns, and Denis Sinor argues that they may have contained some Hunnic
elements as well. Kim, however, identifies them with the Xianbei.
A
final possible survival of the Huns are the North Caucasian Huns,
who lived in what is now Dagestan. It is unclear whether these Huns
were ever under Attila's rule. Kim argues that they are a group
of Huns who were separated from the main confederation by the intruding
Sabirs. In 503 they raided Persia, and they are recorded raiding
Armenia, Cappadocia, and Lycaonia in 515. The Romans hired mercenaries
from this group, including a king named Askoum. At some point, the
North Caucasian Huns became a vassal state of the Khazar Khaganate.
They are recorded to have converted to Christianity in 681. The
North Caucasian Huns are last attested in the seventh century, but
Kim argues that they may have persisted within the Khazar empire.
Historical
impact :
Peter Golden argues that the Huns, and the migrations that are associated
with them, resulted in the transformation of the Western Eurasian
steppe from the territory of primarily Iranian-speaking nomads to
Turkic-speaking ones, as Turkic speakers moved west from modern
Mongolia.
Within
Europe, the Huns are typically held responsible for the beginning
of the Migration period, in which mostly Germanic tribes increasingly
moved into the space of the late Roman Empire. Peter Heather has
argued that Huns were thereby responsible for the eventual disintegration
of the Western Roman Empire, while E. A. Thompson argued that the
Huns accelerated Germanic incursions both before and after their
own presence on the Roman frontier. Walter Pohl, meanwhile notes
that "[w]hat the Huns had achieved was a massive transfer of
resources from the Roman empire to the barbaricum". Due to
his differing opinions on the organization of the Huns, Hyun Jin
Kim argues that, rather than by causing migrations of Germanic peoples,
the Huns were responsible for the destruction of the Western Roman
Empire by the force of their armies and their efficient imperial
administration, leading to a collapse of the Roman military.
Other
scholars have seen the Huns as less important in the end of Rome.
J. Otto Maenchen-Helfen described the Hun's under Attila as "for
a few years more than a nuisance to the Romans, though at no time
a real danger". Other scholars such as J. B. Bury have in fact
argued that the Huns held the Germanic tribes back and thus gave
the empire a few more years of life.
Source
:
https://en.wikipedia.org/
wiki/History_of_the_Huns