Who are the Huns and how they affect the roman empire?

Answer 1

The Huns were a group of nomadic people. They have been liked to an ethnic group in northern China (north of the territory of the Chinese Han dynasty), Mongolia and surrounding areas. It is not clear whether they were Mongols or Turkic speakers. They formed a confederation, and expanded from the Caspian Sea to the Volga river. They also moved to the area of the Caucasus Mountains. They then moved across Ukraine and reached Eastern Europe where they formed an empire centred around the great Hungarian plain. They turned peoples in these areas, including Ostrogoths (Goths of the east), Gepids, Vandals Alans and Suevi and into vassals. They also attacked Roman territories south of the river Danube, causing great devastation and forcing the Romans to cede the province of Pannonia to them.

The main impact on the Roman Empire was the fact that they accelerated the Great migration, the movement of peoples north of the Roman empire due to population growth. They caused the Germanic invasions of Gaul, which were a key contributory factors in the fall of the Roman empire of the west. Hun pressure caused the Vandals, Alans, Sueves and Burgundians to invade Gaul in 406 BC. The Burgundians settled in the Rhone valley area of Gaul. The others, after pillaging Gaul, moved to Spain. The Vandals moved on to Africa and from there they later attacked Rome and other Mediterranean areas of the empire. The Alemanni of southern Germany took advantage of this invasion to invade northwest Gaul and Switzerland.

Even before this, the Visigoths (Goths of the West) asked emperor Valens to be allowed to settle in Roman territory south of the lower Danube to escape the Huns. This was granted, but war broke out because the Romans failed to give them the land and food they had promised due to a famine. This lead to the Roman's defeat at the battle of Adrianople when a Roman army was defeated and the myth of invincibility of the Roman infantry was crushed. After this, the Roman army became dependent of recruiting Germanic soldiers. A Peace with the Visigoths was struck and they became major suppliers of soldiers for the Roman army. However, king Alaric I was aggrieved because he had not been appointed as a general of the Roman army as he had expected. He besieged Rome three times and on the third occasion he sacked it. His successor decided to move to southwest Gaul. He helped the emperor to defeat a usurper in Gaul and was granted the land in the area he had settled as an ally.

A force made of Romans, Visigoths and Franks defeated Attila in battle in Gaul and halted the attempted Hun invasion of Gaul. The Huns went back to Hungary and soon after that Attila died. This led to the fall of the Hun Empire. The Gepids and Ostrogoths (Goths of the east) defeated Attila's sons. The Ostrogoths moved to Pannonia. They got involved in the politics of the empire of the east and were at time friends and at others enemies of the emperor. Eventually, Zeno I, emperor of the east, sent king Theodoric the Great to Italy to depose an usurper. Theodoric established an Ostrogoth kingdom in Italy and much if the former Yugoslavia. He sought to revive the empire, did not interfere with the politics and administration of the Latins in Italy and acted as an emissary of emperor Zeno.

Answer 2

The Huns were a nomadic people from Central Asia who migrated towards Europe in the 4th century AD. Under the leadership of Attila, they posed a significant threat to the Roman Empire during the 5th century. The Huns launched numerous military campaigns, causing immense destruction and instability in the Roman territories. Their invasions weakened the Roman Empire and pushed various Germanic tribes to seek refuge within Roman borders, ultimately contributing to its collapse.