Attila the Hun never invaded Rome itself, and his empire fell apart around A. Greek historian Jordanes, writing in the sixth century A. The fearsome reputation of the Huns has played a part in modern conflict as well. After German emperor Wilhelm II encouraged his soldiers to be as merciless as the Huns during a speech in , the term became associated with Germany. Today, it still implies a barbaric people—but one that may have had much less might than their name might imply.
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Go Further. Animals Wild Cities This wild African cat has adapted to life in a big city. He was defeated at Chalons in by Aetius, who had banded together with the Visigoths. Dubbed "Flagellum Dei," Attila invaded northern Italy in but spared the city of Rome due to the diplomacy of Pope Leo I and the rough shape of his own troops.
Legend has it that St. Peter and St. Paul appeared to Attila, threatening to strike him dead if he did not settle with Pope Leo I. Attila died the following year, in , before he could try once again to take Italy. Attila left behind a divided family. His appointed successor, his oldest son Ellac, fought with his other sons, Dengizich and Ernakh, over control of their father's empire, which was ultimately divided among them. Among many memorable quotes, Attila the Hun is remembered for saying of his powerful reign, "There, where I have passed, the grass will never grow gain.
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Charlemagne was the founder of the Carolingian Empire, best known for uniting Western Europe for the first time since the fall of the Roman Empire. Constantine I was a Roman emperor who ruled early in the 4th century. He was the first Christian emperor and saw the empire begin to become a Christian state.
They also used battering rams to break through Roman defense walls. The Huns killed men, women and children alike and decimated almost everything and everyone in their path. They looted and plundered and seldom took prisoners; however, when they did, they enslaved them. The Huns came on the historical scene in Europe during the late 4th century A.
D when, in A. Two years later, they attacked the Ostrogoths, an eastern tribe of Germanic Goths who harassed the Roman Empire by frequently attacking their territories. By , the Huns had attacked the Visigoths the western tribe of Goths , and forced them to seek sanctuary within the Roman Empire.
Some of the Alans, Goths and Visigoths were conscripted into the Hunnic infantry. As the Huns dominated Goth and Visigoth lands, they earned a reputation as the new barbarians in town and seemed unstoppable. By A. Some Roman Christians believed they were devils arrived straight from hell.
But by , Octar had been killed in battle and Rugila ruled alone. In the 5th century, the Huns changed from a group of nomadic warrior tribes to a somewhat settled civilization living in the Great Hungarian Plain in eastern Europe.
They had amassed an enormous army made up of cavalry and infantry troops from various backgrounds. King Rugila died in and was succeeded by his two nephews—brothers Attila and Bleda. Attila was described as a short man with a large head and thin beard who knew both Latin and Goth and was a master negotiator.
Shortly after starting his reign, he negotiated a peace treaty with the Eastern Roman Empire in which the Romans paid him gold in exchange for peace. But eventually the Romans reneged on the deal and in , Attila and his army stormed their way through the Balkans and the Danubian frontier.
Unable to break through the walls of the city, Attila formed another peace agreement: he would leave Constantinople alone in exchange for an annual tribute of 2, pounds of gold, a staggering sum. In , Attila murdered Bleda—supposedly to prevent Bleda from murdering him first—and became sole ruler of the Huns. He then launched another campaign against the Eastern Roman Empire and thundered his way through the Balkans.
Attila invaded Gaul, which included modern-day France, northern Italy and western Germany, in But the Romans had wised up and allied with the Visigoths and other barbarian tribes to finally stop the Huns in their tracks.
According to legend, the night before the battle Attila consulted sacrificed bones and saw that thousands of his army would fall in the fight. The next day, his premonition came true. The foes met on the battlefield in the Catalaunian Plains of eastern France. The Romans and Visigoths had learned much from previous encounters with the Huns and fought them hand-to-hand and on horseback.
After hours of ferocious fighting that lasted well into the dark of night, tens of thousands of soldiers were dead, and the Roman alliance had forced the Hun army to retreat. Attila and his army returned to Italy and continued ravaging cities. Paul and St. Whether because of his fear of the Pope and his saintly allies, or simply because his troops were stretched too thin and weakened by malaria, Attila decided to pull out of Italy and return to the Great Hungarian Plain.
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