Attila was a fierce warrior who led the most feared barbarian tribe of them all: the Huns. He helped finish off the Roman Empire for ever.
THE HUNS ARE COMING!
By the 400s, things weren’t looking good for the Roman Empire. Some of the Romans’ biggest problems came in the shape of ferocious barbarian tribes – among them the Huns, the most terrifying barbarians of the lot. They were horse-riding nomads from Central Asia, fearsome warriors and excellent archers.
HUNS VS ROMANS
Attila was born around AD 406. He and his brother Bleda became joint kings of the Huns in 434, when their uncle, the King of the Huns, died. By this time there was a huge Hun empire. The Western Roman Empire had weakened and broken up. The stronger Eastern Roman Empire had its capital city in Constantinople (modern-day Istanbul). Attila and his brother demanded gold from the Romans – loads of it – in return for not destroying the Eastern Empire. But in the 440s the Huns attacked and conquered big chunks of the empire anyway. They stopped before attacking Constantinople, demanding even more gold from the Romans. By this time, Attila was the only king of the Huns: he’d had his brother murdered in 445.
A WEDDING PRESENT
Honoria, the Western Roman emperor’s sister, wrote to Attila asking him to get her out of an arranged marriage, and sent him a ring. Attila interpreted this as a proposal of marriage (which may or may not have been the case) and promptly demanded half of the Western Roman Empire as a dowry. When he didn’t get it, he invaded Gaul. Honoria disappeared – she was probably murdered. The Romans joined forces with the Visigoths (a German tribe) and managed to drive the Huns out of Gaul, which made Attila very angry…
ATTILA STOPS RAMPAGING
In 452 Attila led the Huns on a rampage across the north of Italy, destroying the cities of Milan, Padua and Verona and lots more. The following year he had plans for further destruction, but something stopped him: he died. The story goes that he died of a nosebleed on his wedding night (Attila had lots of wives), but it’s possible he was murdered.
Find out about Genghis Khan – leader of the Mongol tribes here.
