Page 58 - All About History 58 - 2017 UK

What if…

Attila the Hun

had survived his

wedding night?

While not the bloodthirsty conqueror the Romans painted

him as, the Hunnic emperor’s enduring presence would have

shifted the balance of power and redrawn Europe

Written by Jonathan O’Callaghan

How important was Attila the Hun in the territory the Huns regarded as quintessential
history of the Hunnic Empire? to their empire, then you come to more distant
INTERVIEW WITH…
Some say he was the only thing that held the regions where the levying of tribute was
enough. The Romans fell into that category.
whole creaky structure of the Hunnic Empire DR HYUN JIM KIM
together in the middle of the 5th century. But A senior lecturer In 447 CE, Attila invaded the Eastern
my view is a little bit different. in Classics at the Roman Empire and annexed a huge chunk
I think the Huns inherited quite a University of of the Balkans. But then immediately
Melbourne, Dr
sophisticated political model — even before Hyun Jim Kim is afterwards, he negotiated to give it back
Attila came to the throne, it was already in an expert on all because he wasn’t interested in territory. What
place — so he was the last powerful king of a things Attila. He he was interested in was getting a steady flow
is the author of
united Hunnic states, who inherited political The Huns, Rome and the Birth of of tributes, which would enhance his prestige
powers from his predecessor. He was more of a Europe and other books examining among the Hunnic elite. The objective wasn’t
the Hunnic Empire and Asia’s role
cautious leader, not that aggressive despite the in the fall of Rome. to bleed the Romans dry — it was to gain
literature that portrays him as a megalomaniac prestige. This was necessary because Attila
seeking world conquest. was a usurper [he had killed his brother to become the sole
In fact, if you look carefully at what he does, he is very ruler of the Huns].
cautious in battle. Instead of seeking to conquer the Roman
Empire and create a huge territory like the Mongols, for Was he trying to conquer Europe?
example, he tried to levy tribute from the Eastern and Priscus, one of the primary sources on Attila’s reign, says
Western Romans. He was a very traditional Hunnic king, in his objective was nothing less than the conquest of half of
my opinion. His invasions were designed not to conquer the the Roman Empire. Of course the Romans would have felt
Roman Empire, but to subject the Romans to the payment of it like that — they wouldn’t have thought an invasion of that
tribute in order to build an inner Asian tributary empire. magnitude could be anything but an outright conquest. But
what’s curious is that when the Huns invaded, they would
Was Attila’s rule different to his predecessors? sack cities, try to extract tribute from them and then just
The Huns had two kings, who ruled over the two halves of withdraw again after a major battle or great siege.
the empire. The Eastern King was normally superior of the I would say Attila’s motivation was to force the Romans into
Western king. But Attila staged a coup and overthrew his a tributary system as he understood it. In fact, at the time of
brother in the East, and the power equation was reversed. his death, he was planning another invasion of the Eastern
That caused all kinds of problems later, and it was part of the Roman Empire because the incumbent Roman emperor of
reason the Hunnic state imploded after Attila died, because the East, Marcian, had refused to pay the tribute that his
the East refused to accept subordination to the West, and it predecessor had promised.
started a civil war.
What do we know about Attila’s death around 453 CE?
What was his plan leading up to his death? Well this comes solely from Priscus. Attila had many wives
He wanted to force the Romans, the Eastern and Western and he took another one [named Ildico]. After cavorting during
half, to pay tribute to him. What the Huns would do was his wedding night and drinking too much, he burst a vein and
The Romans feared
conquer outright states close to them, so the Germanic tribes choked on his own blood. In the morning when the Hunnic that Attila would
were directly ruled by the Huns. But once you go beyond the nobles realised something was wrong, they rushed in and not rest until he had
conquered Europe

58