Who Was Attila the Hun?
“Attila the Hun” reigned King and Commander of the Huns from A.D. 434-453. For the first twelve years he co-reigned with his brother, Bleda, who died in 446, leaving Attila solely in command. Historians speculate Attila may have killed his brother. Upon his brother’s death, Attila began an aggressive military campaign that conquered lands stretching from the Rhine to the Black and Caspian Seas. Having extended Hun rule he began pressuring the Roman Empire, engaging in negations with Constantinople and Ravenna. In 451 he made good on a long-time threat to invade Western Europe. Laying waste to city after city, he was nearly victorious in taking Orleans, but the combined armies of Rome and Visigoth defeated him. Attila was forced to retreat; however, the battle for Western Europe was not over. Forces clashed yet again at Chalons with Attila narrowly defeated. He was forced back across the Rhine, sparing Western Europe a changed course of history. The following year, 452, Attila waged ano
ATTILA The Hun (406–453) King and general of the Huns; died 453. Succeeding in 433 to the kingship of Scythian hordes disorganized and enfeebled by internal discords, Attila soon made of his subjects a compact and formidable people, the terror of Europe and Asia. An unsuccessful campaign in Persia was followed in 441 by an invasion of the Eastern Roman Empire, the success of which emboldened Attila to invade the West. He passed unhindered through Austria and Germany, across the Rhine into Gaul, plundering and devastating all in his path with a ferocity unparalleled in the records of barbarian invasions and compelling those he overcame to augment his mighty army. In 451 he was met on the Plains of Chalons by the allied Romans under Actius and the Visigoths under Theodoric and Thorismond, who overcame the Huns and averted the peril that menaced Western civilization. Turning then to Italy, Attila, in the spring of 452, laid waste Aquileia and many Lombard cities, and was approaching Rome,
Attila the Hun (405–453), also sometimes known with the nickname as Attila the Scourge of God (Flagellum Dei) or simply Attila was the most powerful king of the Huns. He reigned over what was then Europe’s largest empire, from 434 until his death. His empire stretched from Germany and the Netherlands to the Ural river and from the Danube River to Poland and Estonia. During his rule, he was among the most dire of the Western and Eastern Roman Empire’s enemies: he invaded the Balkans twice and besieged Constantinople in the second invasion; he marched through Gaul (modern day France) as far as Orleans before being defeated at the Battle of Chalons; and he drove the western emperor Valentinian III from his capital at Ravenna in 452. He was regarded as sacker of cities.
Attila (406 453), also known as Attila the Hun or the Scourge of God, was leader of the Huns from 434 until his death. He was leader of the Hunnic Empire which stretched from Germany to the Ural River and from the River Danube to the Baltic Sea (see map below). During his rule he was one of the most fearsome of the Western and Eastern Roman Empires’ enemies: he invaded the Balkans twice, he marched through Gaul (modern France) as far as Orleans before being defeated at the Battle of Chalons. He refrained from attacking either Constantinople or Rome. In much of Western Europe, he is remembered as the epitome of cruelty and rapacity. In contrast, some histories and Chronicles lionize him as a great and noble king, and he plays major roles in three Norse sagas.
