The Hun of Central Asia: society, military

Hun Society
Achievement of the Huns
Attila’ s Empire

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Maenchen-Helfen, Otto J. The

World of the Huns. Los Angeles, 1973
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Жумагулов К.ТЗавоевание Аттилой Северной Италии» (2000), «Ғұндардың Галлия (Франция) жеріндегі шайқасы» (2001), «Гуннский союз племен в Центральной Азии и Великое переселение народов на Евразийском континенте» (2002).

хищнический
Dignitary –сановник
Scourge – кара, бедствие

herdsmen, warlike people from the steppes of North Central Asia,

north of China (Mongolia) who terrorized and destroyed much of Asia and Europe from the 3rd through 5th centuries.

and different name. Contemporary literary sources do not provide a

clear understanding of Hun origins.
The Huns seem to "suddenly appear", first mentioned during an attack on the Alans, who are generally connected to the River Don (Tanais). Scholarship from the early 20th century literature connected the sudden and apparently devastating Hun appearance as a predatory migration from the more easterly parts of the Steppe, i.e. Central Asia

ongoing since the 18th century when Joseph de Guignes first

suggested that the Huns should be identified as the Hsiung-nu of Chinese sources.
Name Huns and barbarian by Romans

the Huns in the 3rd century (the Huns were then

led by Mao-tun, the first great leader and unite of the Huns). The Chinese started building their Great Wall to defend themselves against the Huns. The people of India, Persia (what is now Iran) were invaded by separate hordes of Hunnish warriors attacking on horseback.

eastern Europe, the Slavs, the Franks (French), the Roman Empire,

and many others. The Huns settled in the area that is now called Hungary.

words of the language of the Huns, which have been

studied for more than a century and a half. These words (medos, kamos, strava) do not seem to be Turkic, but probably a satem Indo-European language similar to Slavic and Dacian.( Pritsak 1982, "The Hunnic Language of the Attila Clan.“). He concluded, "It was not a Turkic language, but one between Turkic and Mongolian, probably closer to the former than the latter.

modern Chuvash, but also had some important connections, especially lexical

and morphological, to Ottoman and Yakut... The Turkic situation has no validity for Hunnic, which belonged to a separate Altaic group." On the basis of the existing name records, a number of scholars suggest that the Huns spoke a Turkic language.

the shan-yi. According to the Chinese historian Ssu-ma Chien, the

shan-yi transcribed into Chinese is Ch’eng-li-Ku-t’u Shan-yi, wich the Chinese translate as “Majesty son of Heaven”. In this words may be detected Turko-Mongols roots: Ch’eng-li- is the transcription of the Turkic and Mongol word Tangri, Heaven.

that is to say wish kings of right and left.

Next, moving down the scale of the Hunnic hierarchy, came the ku-t’u ”kings” of left and right, the army commanders , the great governors, then the chiefs of a thousand men, of a hundred , and of ten men. Huns organized as like an army. The same phenomenon is to be seen among the descendants of Turks of 6 century, as well as in the case of the Mongols of Jenghiz khan.

“short, with a stocky body and a very large round

head, broad face prominent cheek –bones, wide nostrils. The head usually shaved, except for a tuft on top”. These characteristics we find among Turkic and Mongols successors.

other sources of food consisted of wild game and the

roots of wild plants. For clothes they had round caps, trousers or leggings made from goat skin, and either linen or rodent skin tunics

Huns a technological advantage over other warriors of the time.

Stirrups are loops hung from a saddle that support a horse rider's feet; these let the Huns brace themselves on their horses while wielding swords or shooting arrows.
The Huns' contribution to the tactical mix was the well-armoured, mobile horse archer. Hun warriors fought exclusively as cavalry, and their warriors relied on the mobility of their horses and the penetration power of their composite bows.

-412 AD) Charato (411 AD-?) Octar (? - 431 AD) -

Shared power with Rua (?) Rua (? - 434 AD) - Sole ruler in 432 Bleda (434- 445 AD) Dual kingship with Attila Attila (434-453 AD) Ellac (453-455 AD) Dengizik (?-469 AD)

his older brother Bleda (nephews of Rugulas) became co-leaders of

the Huns. After killing his own brother in A.D. 445, Attila took control of the Huns. Attila the Hun was the most successful king of the Huns; Attila was often called the "Scourge of God."
Under Attila's rule, the Huns united and extended their territory greatly, reaching ever deeper into Europe. After a defeat at Chalons (in what is now northern France) in A.D. 451, the Huns invaded Italy (in 452), destroying much of northern Italy.

the night of his last wedding -- Attila had many

wives. He died from a serious nosebleed (a nasal hemorrhage), but some people say that he was poisoned. After Attila's death, Attila's sons fought over who would rule the Huns. The resulting chaos was exploited by the Ostrogoths and other Germanic tribes, who used the opportunity to revolt against the Huns. The Hunnish empire soon broke apart.

Defeats Alans and Ostrogoths along the way. 395 AD -

Mass raid into Armenia 400 AD - Attila is born 434 AD - Death of Rua and succession of Attila and Bleda 440 AD - Treaty of Margus with the Eastern Roman Empire 441 AD - Attila invades the Eastern Roman Empire

First Peace of Anatolius is signed. 436?-39? AD - Eastward

expansion of the Huns 445? AD - Bleda dies. Attila assumes total control over the Huns. 447 AD - Third Campaign against the Eastern Romans. Second Peace of Anatolius is signed. 449 AD - Roman attempt to assassinate Attila Fails. Thrid Peace of Anatolius is signed. 450 AD - Eastern Roman Emperor Theodosius dies, succeeded by Marcian. Marcian withdraws from the treaties with the Huns made during Theodosius's reign and terminates the annual tributes to the Huns set by the Peace of Anatolius.