Huns: A Visual History

The Huns were a nomadic people of unknown origin, possibly related to the Xiongnu, who crossed the Volga around 370 and within a decade had shattered the Alans and the Gothic kingdoms of the Ukrainian steppe. Their pressure pushed Goths, Vandals and others into the Roman Empire and triggered its western collapse. They served Rome as mercenaries and terrorised it as enemies, reaching their peak under Attila (434-453). After his death their empire dissolved by 469 and the Huns disappeared as a distinct people, absorbed into Bulgars and other groups.

When it existed: the era ribbon

The bold bar is Huns. The lighter bars are empires and wars from the same era and the same part of the world. Click any bar to jump to its page.

Hunnic territory

Timeline of the Huns

1. 370
   Huns cross the Volga
2. 376
   Goths seek refuge in Rome
3. 378
   AdrianopleGothic victory over Rome.
4. 395
   Huns raid the Caucasus and Syria
5. 434
   Attila and Bleda
6. 451
   Catalaunian Plains
7. 453
   Attila dies
8. 454
   Nedao
9. 469
   Dengizich killed

Origins

Ammianus Marcellinus described the Huns as beardless, squat and glued to their horses, eating half-raw meat warmed under their saddles. Their language, physical type and origins are all uncertain; a link with the Xiongnu who vanished from Chinese records around 155 AD is plausible but unproven. Their bows, stronger and longer-ranged than any in Europe, and their mobility made them irresistible on the steppe.

The great migration

Around 370 the Huns defeated the Alans and destroyed Ermanaric's Ostrogothic kingdom; the Visigoths begged for asylum in the Roman Empire in 376. Two years later they destroyed the eastern Roman army at Adrianople. Hunnic pressure and Hunnic mercenaries reshaped Europe over the next 60 years while the Huns themselves settled the Hungarian plain and extracted subsidies from Rome.

Attila and after

Attila and Bleda (434) forced the tribute to 700 pounds of gold; Attila alone (445-453) raised it to 2,100, devastated the Balkans, invaded Gaul (halted at the Catalaunian Plains, 451) and Italy (452), and died in 453. The Gepid-led revolt at the Nedao in 454 ended Hunnic dominance; Attila's sons Ellac and Dengizich died fighting, and the last, Ernak, settled in the Dobruja. Hunnic remnants merged with the Bulgars, whose khans later claimed Attila's descent.

Related empires and wars

Chosen automatically by overlap in time and geography, plus a few hand picked connections.

Empires of the same era and region

• Hunnic Empire (370 to 469)
• Xiongnu Empire (209 BC to 93)
• Northern Xiongnu (48 to 155)
• Western Roman Empire (395 to 476)
• Byzantine Empire (395 to 1453)
• Visigothic Kingdom (418 to 720)
• Bulgarian Empire (681 to 1396)

Wars of the same era and region

• Roman-Germanic wars (113 BC to 476)

8 surprising things about the Huns

1. The Huns practised artificial cranial deformation, binding infants' skulls into elongated shapes; such skulls mark their spread across Europe.
2. The Hun bow was asymmetric, with a longer upper limb, so it could be shot from horseback.
3. The Huns did not have a written language; not a single Hunnic text survives, and only a few dozen words are known.
4. The Gothic historian Jordanes claimed the Huns were born of witches expelled by the Goths who mated with unclean spirits.
5. 'Hun' became a British and American slur for Germans in the First World War after Kaiser Wilhelm told his troops to behave like Huns in China in 1900.
6. The Huns first appear in Roman sources in the 370s and are gone by 470, a century of European history.
7. The Volga Bulgars and Danube Bulgars both had ruling clans that claimed Hunnic and Attilid descent.
8. Hungary is named after the Onogur Bulgars, not the Huns, though Hungarian legend links the two.

Sources

• Hun (people) Encyclopaedia Britannica
• Huns Wikipedia
• Huns World History Encyclopedia
• Hyun Jin Kim, The Huns (2016) Routledge

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