Greek
historian Herodotus, born in 484 BC, described savage Scythians north of the Black Sea who skinned opponents to make coats, sawed off
the top of their skulls to make drinking cups and drank the blood of their victims.
Wild Goths swept south from Sweden,
and in AD 410 sacked Rome
in a six-day orgy of rape and killing. Vicious Vandals reached the city less
than 50 years later after storming Germany,
Gaul, Spain
and North Africa, leaving deaths and
destruction in their wake. Saxons, Franks and Vikings were other warlike and
unmerciful raiders. But of all the brutal barbarians who terrorized Europe,
none struck greater fear in men’s heart than a tribe whose roots were in the
harsh steppes of Mongolia.
The Huns were wild horsemen driven out of
their homeland by the Chinese in the second century AD. They rode west,
congquering and cold-bloodedly massacring any tribe that stood in their way.
Eventually they settled north of the river Danube, between the Volga and the Don, and established uneasy détente with
neighboring Romans, even helping the legions subdue troublesome tribes. Rome paid the Huns’ king
Ruas an annual tribute of 350 pounds of gold but in return took hostages as a
guarantee of good behavior. The king’s nephew, Attila, born in AD 406, spent
part of his youth as a hostage in Italy. It was invaluable experience
for t leader whose bloodthirsty campaigns were to earn him the title ‘Scourge of
God’. Attila the Hun was 27 when King Ruas died. At first he ruled jointly with
his brother Bleda, Strengthening the kingdom by defeating Teutonic tribes like
the Ostrogoths Gepidae. By AD 444 he had complete control of territory known
today as Hungary and Romania. And he
was absolute ruler after his brother murdered. Now his ruthless ambition was
ready to take on the Romans. The plaintive plea of a damsel in distress gave
him the pretext for war.
Honoria, sister of Roman emperor
Valentinian III, caused a scandal by having an affair with a court of chamberlain
and getting pregnant. Valentinian had her sent off to Constantinople,
where she lived with religious relatives virtually a prisoner. Frustrated and
bored, she smuggled her ring together with a message of help to Attila at his
camp near Budapest,
offering herself as his bride if rescued her. The Hun chieftain already had as
many wives as he needed, but he made the most requests. He asked Valentinian
for Honoria’s hand –and half the Roman Empire
as dowry. Rejected, he unleashed a furious onslaught.
His hordes swept south, through Macedonia –now mostly part of Greece to the gates of Constantinople
in AD 447. The Romans bought him off, increasing their yearly tribute to 2,100
pounds of gold, and paying a heavy indemnity for withdrawal. Attila went home
with his booty, but four year later he led a vast army of Huns, Franks and
Vandals across the Rhine into Gaul. Town after
town was ravaged and razed, but the unscrupulous barbarians were about to storm
the city of Orleans,
the city was saved by the arrival of Roman legions allied to an army of
Visigoths. Attila withdrew to the plains near Chalon-sur-Marne and prepared for
battle. It lasted all day, with appalling carnage on both sides. One eye
witness later described the hand-to-hand fighting as ruthless, immense, and
obstinate.’ The Visigoth king was just one of the thousand slaughtered. But
Attila was forced to retreat back beyond the Rhine.
Historian described the battle as one of the most crucial ever. Had the Romans
not won, they say Europeans might today have slant-eyed, Mongol-like features.
Attila was blooded but unbowed. A year
later his men again swarmed south to Italy. Aquileia,
the major city in province
of Venetia, was
completely destroyed after appalling atrocities against its inhabitants. The Hun
hordes swept on to Adriatic Sea, slaughtering the civilians of Concordia,
Altinum and Padua
before burning their properties frightened refugees fled to the island and
lagoons where horsemen could not follow. There they established the city we
know as Venice.
The power crazed heathen turned his army
towards the Lombardy plain and Milan, plundering and pillaging until northern
Italy was devastated. As Rome itself was
threatened, Pope Leo I courageously left the Vatican for a personal interview
with the irresistible invader. Attila his fury subdued by such a bold move,
agreed to lead his men home, though he talked menacingly of returning if
Honoria’s wrongs were not righted.
But there were to be no more atrocities
from the most ruthless despot the world had then known. On 15 March AD 453, he
hosted a gigantic banquet to celebrate the taking of yet another wife, the
beautiful virgin Ildico. That night as he tried to consummate the marriage, an
artery burst and bloodthirsty Attila bled to death.
