Our archenemy of today is one of the greatest exponents of his time, a name that has transcended his time and was synonymous with terror for years. He was not as bad as he has come to us, he was a man of his time, cruel and pragmatic as his opponents were, and not given to the excesses or gratuitous violence attributed to him. Keep in mind that this ethnic group was still pagan in a recent Christian Roman Empire, perhaps for this reason it earned the nickname "Scourge of God ”. That's how it was according to Prisco :
Short in stature, broad-chested, and large-headed; his eyes were small, his beard fine and dotted with gray; and he had a flat nose and a swarthy complexion, showing evidence of his origin.
Attila , son of Munzuk, was a Hun, the warlike Xiongnu of the East, an Asian people, ranchers and nomads, who due to migratory and social problems ended up traveling thousands of kilometers between their native Mongolia to the limits of the Roman Empire in search of lands and tribes to which to squeeze and submit. As the inveterate nomads that they were, they never tried to create a formal Empire like China or Rome, their sedentary neighbors, but rather to live like homeless horsemen, under the starry sky, pillaging and living each day as if it were the last. Perhaps that is why Attila's achievements were as ephemeral as the wind that accompanied them...
The date of Attila's birth is not known with certainty, but it was at the end of the 4th or beginning of the 5th century of our era in an undetermined place on the Danubian plain, probably present-day Hungary. What is known is that in 432 the various Hun tribes were unified under a single leader, Rua Attila's uncle. Upon his death in 435, Bleda and Attila, the deceased leader's two nephews, remained as regents of that embryonic nation. It happened at a critical moment. An embassy of Theodosius II, the Eastern Emperor, was negotiating with the Huns for the return of the Roman hostages. The Huns took advantage of the Roman weakness, getting a tribute of 350 pounds of gold per year (about 115 K.) This balance lasted five years, time that Theodosius used to fortify the defenses of Constantinople. He was right.
In 440, after an unsuccessful campaign in Armenia conspired by the Persian kingdom, the two brothers stood in front of Constantinople adducing the vain excuse that the bishop of Margus (Požarevac, Servia) had crossed the Danube with the purpose of looting the tombs of the Huns. On their way they devastated Iliria and Moesia, taking Margus and Smirnium (Sremska Mitrovica, Servia) by assault. Faced with the impossibility of taking the capital of the East, they closed a new agreement with Theodosius. It was during the retreat when Bleda's death occurred, the sources being imprecise if Attila had something to do with it. The fact is that in 445 Attila remained as master and lord of the Huns. Two years later, Attila resumed the eastern campaign, plundering Moesia thoroughly. His terrifying fame began to overwhelm his actions. Here is a contemporary testimony:
The barbarian nation of the Huns, who lived in Thrace, became so great that more than a hundred cities were conquered and Constantinople became almost in danger and most men fled from it (…) And there was so much murder and spilling of blood that could not be counted to the dead. Alas, they even occupied churches and monasteries and slaughtered monks and maidens in great numbers!
Callinic , Life of Saint Hypatius
Attila claimed more gold and land across the Danube for his people, thus keeping the Eastern Empire trapped for nearly three years. The contemporary historian Jordanes Thus he described the strange court of Attila, with his Scythian jester and his Mauritanian dwarf…
A lavish meal, served on silver plates, had been prepared for us and our barbarian guests, but Attila ate nothing but meat on a wooden plate. In everything else he was also temperate; his goblet was made of wood, while the rest of our guests were offered goblets of gold and silver. His dress, likewise, was very simple, boasting only cleanliness. The sword he carried at his side, the laces on his Scythian shoes, and the bridle on his horse were unadorned, unlike the other Scythians, who wore gold or gems or anything else precious.
Attila pledged his youth to break the Eastern Empire, but after so many years of unsuccessful attempts he realized that behind the impregnable walls of Constantinople were the enormous resources of the Roman East, less affected than those of the western brother of the. Perhaps for this reason, around 450, Attila set his interest in the West, despite the fact that the one who held real control of the Empire was not the faint-hearted emperor Valentinian III , but Flavius Aetius , who has gone down in history as the “last of the Romans”. Aetius, a brilliant military man, had rubbed elbows among the Huns as a hostage and knew better than his contemporaries the customs, virtues and weaknesses of the Asians. Thanks to his Hun "auxiliaries" who fought the Goths and Burgundians, Aetius had achieved his position of Magister Militum, more honorary than practical. This delicate tactical balance was shattered when Honoria , Valentinian's sister, fleeing from an arranged marriage, sent her ring to Attila requesting his help. The Hun took this proposal as marriage and valid for his purposes and sent ambassadors to Ravenna to claim his modest dowry, half of the Western Empire . Valentiniano did not accept, and only the intervention of his mother, Gala Placidia , who acted as the true regent of the Empire, prevented her sister from having her throat cut.
Attila gathered his vassals and crossed the Rhine in 451 into Gaul. Jordanes speaks of more than 500,000 men including Huns, Gepids, Heruli, Alans, Ostrogoths, Scirians, Rugians and other vassal peoples. The appearance of such a common danger made Theodoric I , king of the Visigoths, accept Aetius' proposal to form a united front against Attila. The coalition of the most civilized barbarian peoples together with Rome against Attila's horde provoked one of the most decisive battles of all time:The Catalunic Fields
On June 20, 451, the Roman-Visigoth troops led by Flavio Aceio and King Theodoric clashed with the huge Hun coalition led by Attila. After hours of fighting, the Hun was defeated, although King Theodoric died during the battle. It was not a total victory, for Aetius did not complete his work… He allowed Attila to retreat. Thirty thousand men were spread out in Châlons as testimony to the battle that saved the West from falling to the Hunnic horde.
Attila recovered from that disaster and the following year set out to retake her dowry from him, pillaging northern Italy along the way. Aquileia was razed to the ground and the cowardly emperor Valentinian fled from Ravenna to Rome. But it was not the force of arms that stopped the Hun, but the embassy of Pope Leo I along with Trigecio and Avieno, two magistrates of the decrepit Western Empire. It is not known for sure what was said in that meeting, but what happened as a result of it is known. Attila headed back toward the Danube. Presumably, a people like the Hun would be very superstitious, therefore the admonitions of a high priest threatening the wrath of God, the diseases that were raging in them (poor hygiene added to the Mediterranean heat and humidity must have been lethal ), the sad fate of the goth Alaric after sacking Rome and the lack of supplies to maintain prolonged sieges may have convinced the Hun leader to change his plans.
And with that bitter retreat Attila's star went out. In 453, after a banquet in his palace on the banks of the Tisza River, he passed away after a copious banquet covered in blood. The historian Marcellinus held that his young Gothic wife, Ildico , she murdered him, but it is more legend than history. His men deeply lamented his death, even lacerating themselves deeply. According to Jordanes
The greatest of all warriors was not to be mourned with the laments of a woman or with tears, but with the blood of men.
With his death, Hunnic rule was extinguished. His son Elac He ended up facing his brothers Dengizik and Ernakh , losing control of his possessions after the Battle of Nedao to his former vassals. Attila was the first Asian to move old Europe, but he would not be the only one, as centuries later other extraordinary men such as Tamerlane or Genghis Khan they would emulate his deeds.
Eleventh installment of “Archienemies of Rome “. Collaboration of Gabriel Castelló.