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The Huns were nomadic people from Central
Asia with a fearsome reputation. These
skilled horsemen, terrorized the ancient
Chinese using spears and bows.
For hundreds of years, they invaded
villages in China, slaughtering most of
the inhabitants so they could steel their
possessions. After China became a strong
military empire, and the Great Wall of
China began being effective at keeping
the Huns at bay, the Huns were forced to
look to the west for new conquests.
In the third century AD, the Huns
started migrating west with their herds
of horses and domesticated animals. They
annihilated everything in their path,
only avoiding the heavily fortified
Constantinople and the eastern provinces
of the Roman Empire. They finally settled
in the vast Hungarian plain at the city
of Szeged on the Tisza River.
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After the Huns had settled in
there new lands, a fragile peace
was attained with the Romans.
Attila’s mother died when he
was born and his father was killed
when he was young.
Attila and his brother, Bleda,
were raised by their uncle King
Roas. By 432, the Hun Empire had
stretched east into parts of
Russia. The Hun king was receiving
large annual payments from Rome to
help keep the peace between the two
empires. When King Roas died in
433, Attila and Bleda shared the
throne.
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By that time, the Huns were no longer
nomadic horsemen. They had a much smaller
cavalry, but a huge army. In 442, they
led a campaign south into the Balkans to
plunder the Roman Eastern Empire. In 445,
Bleda died, it is thought he was murdered
by Attila.
By 447, Attila had devastated the
whole region between the Black Sea and
Mediterranean Sea, only the city of
Constantinople was saved by its strong
defenses. When they reached Thermopylae
in the east of Greece, the Eastern Roman
Emperor, Theodosius II, offered Attila
terms of an annual payment of gold, along
with territory south of the Danube, if he
left Roman lands.
The death of Theodosius saw his
successor, Marcian, refuse to pay the
Huns the agreed amount. As the Western
Roman Empire was week and in decline by
then, Attila decided to invade the west
rather than attempt another attack on the
stronger eastern empire.
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Attila crossed the Rhine into
Gaul in 451 meeting the Roman Army
at Chalons. The battle ended with
the Huns retreating back over the
Rhine, leaving the battlefield
littered with many thousands of
dead.
The following year, Attila lead
his army into Italy while the Roman
Army was still in Gaul. He
decimated every city in his path,
leaving them littered with dead.
Fortunately, the intervention of
Pope Leo I was enough to save Rome,
as he persuaded Attila to return
home.
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When Attila was preparing to invade
Italy in 453, he took a new young wife.
The wedding day was spent drinking and
partying. The following morning, Attila
was discovered dead, he had died by
chocking in his own blood after a
nosebleed.
As his sons squabbled over how to
maintain their Empire, they were defeated
by Germanic tribes. The Huns scattered at
that time, never to be heard of
again.
Attila the Hun is thought to have been
responsible for more deaths than anyone
else in history.
It is said, many of the Hun children
were born with a diamond shaped birthmark
on their lower back. Today, there are
children born throughout the world with
the same mark, it is thought they could
be descendants of the Huns.
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