The Huns are a people of horsemen of the steppes.
The Huns are an Asian Turko-Mongolian people, speaking Turkic. It is the first people mentioned as such by historians.
References to a people called Xiongnu (Hsiung-nu ) exist in Chinese sources since -1200, alluding to the ancestors of the Huns. This ancient people of Central Asia, already flourished from the Bronze Age in the second millennium following the decline of the Scythians and established their first empire in the northern regions of Mongolia (near Lake Baikal and in the Selenga valley which today corresponds to the current Buryatia, between 209 BC and 93 AD to migrate thereafter to Central Europe, where they mingle with the Franco-Germanic populations.
A group called European Huns and led by Attila is considered to be the western extension of the Huns. The establishment of the first Hun state was one of the first well-documented aspects of this type of migration on horseback . Sculpture of a Hun archer on horseback (Siberia)
These nomadic tribes surpassed the others in the mastery of the horse, thanks to their promptness and their astonishing mobility, as well as the dexterity of their riders, trained from an early age. This skill, coupled with the short bow that can be used from the back of the mount, was an advantage in the many battles fought by the Huns. [edit]
Cultural aspects
The Western Huns are described by the Romans and Goths as stocky, short-built men with broad heads, thick necks and broad shoulders, bulging torsos and thick trunks on short legs. Their features are described as Mongoloid and their complexion brown, with an absence of beards. According to our current knowledge, 20 to 25% of the Huns found in the tombs were of the Mongoloid type, the majority being of the European type. The Huns and Alans spread the use of cranial deformation among the eastern Germans, especially among women. The latter will abandon this practice after the defeat of the Huns. The Hunnic language, never written, is little known to us. The names of the Hun kings roughly transcribed by the Greeks and Romans testify to a Turkish language (related to Proto-Bulgarian and Mongolian).
They practiced female infanticide and gerontocide.
The Huns were breeders consuming mainly meat (in abundance, which they eat raw and which they also dry) and dairy products. Hunting was also of great importance in their economy, especially the hunting of the great kings for the supply of the army (this royal hunt is a kind of great preliminary maneuver to war).
Their cattle also provided leather, wool and bones. Leather was used to make boots, harness, quivers; the wool to that of the felt of tents, capes and perhaps carpets.
Archeology bears witness to the arrival and progression of the Huns in Europe in the 4th century. Important Hunnic vestiges were discovered in several centers:in the area of Saratov and that of Volgograd, on the two banks of an important ford of the Volga; in the central region of the North Caucasus; near the Caspian, in Dagestan; in the lower Dnieper region in the Crimea (Dniepropetrovsk, Zaporozhe, Kherson); also on the peninsula of Crimea, between the southern Bug and the Prout, on the banks of the Dniester and the Prout in Moldavia and in Romania, in the Buzăul valley which connects the Carpathians of the south-east and the bend of the Danube in Dobroudja, finally in Oltenia. [edit]
Military art
"The Huns in battle against the Alans":Illustration (1873) by Johann Nepomuk Geiger (1805-1880)
Dominant aspect among the Huns, their military efficiency was due to the excellence of their mounted archers, to the resistance and the number of their horses, and to their qualities as horsemen, facilitated by the use of saddles with high arches. The Hunnic cavalry was operational summer and winter. His speed allowed him to take his opponents by surprise. The Huns' tactic was to attack in groups of 500 to 1000 cavalry, converging from various directions. They opened the battle from afar with swarms of precise-firing arrows. When their adversary retaliated, they moved aside, as if fleeing, and drew him close to other groups waiting in ambush. In other cases, reserve troops attacked the enemy camp while his army pursued the others. The enemy thus disorganized, the Huns turned around, and attacked the adversary from several directions at the same time, slaughtering him with their long swords. The Huns used terror to break down all resistance, by burning and slaughtering civilian populations.
The Huns used asymmetrical "reflex" bows with bone stiffeners, birchbark or leather quivers, and different types of arrowheads:three-winged iron points (the most widely used), diamond-shaped flats and solid shape of nails, and those made of bone used for hunting.
The long and relatively thin sword, double-edged and often fitted with an iron hilt, was the principal offensive weapon of the Hun horsemen along with the bow and arrows. She was accompanied by a single-edged cutlass, specifically Hunnic, and spears.
There is no record, written or archaeological, of the use of shields. Iron-scaled breastplates are already found in the Central Asian Hunnic period Kurgan tumuli of Ketmentöbe-Aktchikarassou; fragments of chainmail (at Fiodorovka) and cuirass (at Pokrovsk-Voskhod) were found. The only known Eastern Hunnic helmet, of a composite type made of iron plate, was found in a tomb in Kishpek. [edit]
Oriental and Chinese point of view
In Chinese sources, the earliest references to a people called Xiongnu (Hsiung-nu ), dating from the 12th century BC. J.-C., are found in the writings of the campaign of King Wuding (武丁) of the Shang dynasty against the tribe of Gui Fang (鬼方), which is considered another name for the Huns. This is somewhat confirmed by a few vague archaeological sources but has yet to be proven. The existence of the countryside is proven by bronze inscriptions but it is not certain that the Gui Fang were the Huns.
Many historians believe that the Xiongnu and the Huns were the same people due to similarities in describing their appearance and lifestyle. Others argue that this aspect and these habits may also correspond to other tribes residing in the Mongolian steppes and are therefore not characteristic of the Xiongnu or the Huns. Nevertheless, everyone agrees that there are similarities between these two peoples. [edit]
India and the White Huns or Hephthalites
Today however, the majority of the scientific community (historians, archaeologists and linguists) believe that the Huns of Europe, the Huns of Asia (Xiongnu) and the White Huns (Hephthalites) were the same people due to the latest discoveries :a letter in Sogdian from the 3rd century recounts the attack of the Xiongnus against a caravan in Chinese Turkestan. In this letter, the Xiongnu are referred to as "xwn"; the Chinese annals speak of the attack of the Xiongnus against the Alans. Roman historians have also related this event, but in the Latin version it is the Huns who destroy the Alain kingdom; archaeologists have discovered coins in the Hunnic tombs of central Europe. These pieces, of Sassanian, Sogdian, Kushan and Indian origin, testify in favor of the fact that the White Huns who fought in Central Asia were the same as the Huns of Europe.
Byzantine authors (such as Procopius in the 6th century) report that the Hephthalites did not resemble the Huns of Attila (5th century). This could be due to the fact that the first were Hindus and the last of the shamanic religion. [edit]
Timeline
The empire of the Huns extended from the steppes of Central Asia to present-day Germany, and from the Danube to the Baltic Sea 73-91:war of the Huns in China. 316:The Hsiung-nu invade northern China. 350:The Huns invade Persia and India. 352-354:war of the Huns against the Alans. 357:the Alans join the army of the Huns in Western Asia. 371:the Ostrogothic empire is in the hands of the Huns. 375:strong thrust of the Huns who destroy the Ostrogothic kingdom in southern Russia. 376:the Visigoths, who had occupied part of Dacia for 150 years, asked the Romans, under pressure from the Huns, for permission to cross the lower Danube. Permission is granted. 378:invasion of Thrace, with many other peoples (including the Taifales) 400:capture and execution of the gothic general Gaïnas by the Hun king Uldin. 410:birth of Attila, king of the Huns. 422:Emperor Theodosius II agrees to pay tribute to the Huns in exchange for peace. 423:40,000 Huns are incorporated as mercenaries in the Roman army. 423:Rome cedes the province of Savie to the Huns. 430:the Hephthalite Huns, established in Central Asia, attack Persia. 430:Byzantium pays an annual tribute of 113 kg of gold to the Huns. 434:beginning of the reign of Attila, king of the Huns (end in 453). 434:Ruga divides the empire of the Huns between his two nephews Attila and his brother Bleda before dying. 434:the Huns double the tribute from Rome (226 kg of gold). 434:the armies of Theodosius II are defeated by the Huns in Thrace. 436:the Burgundians are beaten at Worms by the Huns mercenaries of the Roman Empire. 441:Attila dismisses his brother Bleda and becomes the sole monarch of the Huns. 447:the Huns led by Attila cross the Danube, invade Thrace. 447:the Huns force the Romans to pay a heavy tribute (triple the previous one) 447:the Huns force the Romans to withdraw from a large strip of land on the banks of the river. 451:Attila, king of the Huns, invades Gaul. He was defeated in the Catalaunian fields (near Troyes) by the Roman general Aetius, aided by the Franks and the Visigoths. 451:the Huns bypass Paris. This miracle is attributed to Saint Geneviève. 452:the city of Venice is founded by refugees from Padua and Aquileia fleeing the Huns. 452:The Huns invade Italy and sack several towns in northern Italy, including Padua and Verona. 455:end of the Empire of the Huns in Europe. 455:Skandagupta defeats invading Huns and becomes Emperor of India. 465:the Huns conquer the plain of Gandhara in northern India. 475:the Huns defeat the armies of the Gupta Empire and put an end to this empire. 477:Sakala becomes the capital of the Huns in northern India. 484:the Huns defeat the Persians commanded by King Péroz. 565:the Persians and the Turks fight together against the Huns Hephtalites and share Bactria conquered in common. 800:the stirrup, already known to the Huns, appears in the West. [edit]