Attila in battle
There are many conflicting opinions about this ethnos, which rarely intersect in one point of view. Ancient Western European historians say one thing, Chinese historians say something else, Persian historians say something else. The Huns, the tribal union of the ancient Turks, are the descendants of the great Huns, and this is a fact that, unfortunately, not everyone wants to accept.
The Huns created their own state in the 3rd century. BC e., when he came to power son of Shanyu Tumany - Mode. The father did not love his eldest son and tried to get rid of him by any means. Tuman gave him hostage to the Yuechjam, and then attacked them to kill their son. But Mode was able to escape. Fog did not dare to kill his son after his return. His father put him in charge of 10,000 families. And Mode, in turn, created strict discipline in his army, after which he made a coup, followed by the death of Tuman, his wife and younger brother, and he himself became a Chanyu. The formidable Mode did not stand on ceremony with his subordinates, he chopped off heads even for minor offenses. He created such a tough system of warfare, the Huns began to defeat the Chinese, who had a twenty-fold superiority in the armed forces!
A state like the Han Empire was by no means weak. I wrote about it Chinese historian 1st c. Sima Qian. We will not dwell on a detailed description of the history of the Hunnu state, but simply conduct a short excursion, and then move on to the main topic, where we are already interested in the Huns, to whom, in fact, I dedicated this topic. The Huns waged wars with the eastern Donghu tribes, then with the Yuezhi, but the most frequent were the wars with China. In the period from 202 BC. e. until the middle of the 1st century. they restrained aggression first by the Qin Empire and then by the Han Empire. But the Chinese, who were defeated by the "whistling arrows" of the brave Huns (the Huns made arrows with holes at the tip, as a result of which the arrow flew with a whistle and acted on the psyche of the enemy), began to use their skillful diplomats, who raised the neighboring tribes against the Huns and were able to engage the state in an internecine war. The situation was very dire. Civil strife split the Hunnu state. Then, as historians say, an age-old drought began in the steppe, the Gobi desert expanded. That is, not only the political situation, but also the natural factor has strongly influenced here. Now the eastern neighbors and ancestors of the Mongols, the Syanbi, began to gradually gain influence in the Great Steppe, and they decided to put an end to the Huns (2nd century).
The events described above divided the Huns into four branches. The southern Huns began to live in the northernmost part of China - Ordos and were considered the core of Chinese military power; the Yueban Huns left for Central Asia, dividing into tribes: Chuyue, Chumi, Chumugun, Chuban; The northern Huns continued to resist the warlike Xianbei, but they could no longer drag out the war. Exhausted by the drought, they fled west to new lands. The last, fourth, weakest and subpassionarians voluntarily submitted to Xianbi.
Northern Huns
The path to the West was extremely difficult, since behind the surviving Huns were the Xianbei, who pursued the fugitives. Great historian L.N. Gumilyov writes that women could not withstand this transition. Only physically and spiritually strong people survived, that is, mainly men. But how many were there? The answer to this question is contained in Gumilyov's book “A Millennium Around the Caspian”: “Let's return to the demographic problem, which, despite all the approximation of digital data, provides us with the necessary solution. It was stated above that the Huns in the 1st century. BC e. there were 300 thousand people. For 1-2 centuries. n. e. there was an increase, but very small, since the Huns fought all the time, they were joined only by the Chinese emigrants - the Kuls ”. I emphasize that the Kuls are emigrants who fled from the tyranny of Chinese officials and the emperor, who believed that they would find peace with the Huns. "Kulami", that is, slaves, they were nicknamed by the Huns. Having merged into the system of the Hunnu state, the Kuls became a Hunnic subethnos. In the 3rd century. in China, there were 30 thousand families, that is, about 150 thousand Huns, and "weak" in Central Asia about 200 thousand (Huns-Yueban). So how much could have gone to the West? In the best case - 20-30 thousand soldiers, without wives, children and old people, unable to endure a retreat in a foreign country without respite, because the Xianbei pursued the Huns and killed the rest.
These energetic, passionate people have covered 2,600 km in 1,000 days. They stopped only on the territory of the Ural-Volga interfluve, where, having found refuge and a quiet life, the Huns literally made friends with the Finno-Ugric tribes. It is known that many Finno-Ugric people left the steppe zone and sailed to the north along the Ob, where in the northern part of the Urals they met with a little-known tribe - Siirta, belonging to a certain Ust-Poluy culture. It was believed that Siirta is a very dangerous and merciless people who suddenly attacks aliens.
It is very interesting how the Huns could interact with the Ugrians and Finns over such a huge distance, or rather across the entire taiga zone from south to north? “Note that all the listed ethnic groups (first, the peoples of the Volga region are listed. Ugric: Moksha, meadow cheremis, Chud Zavolotskaya; Finns: Erzya, mountain cheremis, Chud white-eyed. Chuvash-descendants of the Huns, since the Chuvash language belongs to the most archaic Turkic languages ) live near the Volga and its tributaries or near them. This means that the Volga, which freezes in winter, was the road of the Ugrians and Huns to the north, ”writes L. N. Gumilyov.
The Huns who came to the new lands did not fight with anyone for 200 years, they lived peacefully, forming a Hunno-Ugro-Finnish symbiosis. As mentioned above, the Huns did not have enough women, and they made up for the shortage thanks to the Ugrians. There is no need to talk about complete assimilation, there was only symbiosis and nothing more. The ethnos of the Huns was formed, that is, those very "savages" terrible for Europeans. Although, judging by the fact that for such a period of time from 160 to 360 AD. the Huns did not wage wars, it can be judged that the Roman-Germanic historians exaggerated. One of them - historian Ammianus Marcellinus, who, according to his spy, who was frightened by the "terrible nomadic barbarians", reported to his master about the unknown newcomers.
A look at Europe
Period of great massacre of peoples. There is a gradual collapse of the Western Roman Empire, the Eastern Roman Empire is rising, and so on. Let's start, perhaps, with the Eastern part of Europe. Here, in the Black Sea steppes, the last Scythians defend their independence and life from the Alans (Sarmatians). The Sarmatians cruelly dealt with the Scythians, exterminating some and driving others to the Crimea. The poor Scythians considered that Crimea would become an impregnable natural fortress for enemies, but, unfortunately, events rolled not in favor of the Scythians. Three detachments of the warlike tribe of the Goths landed at the mouth of the Vistula. The Goths were divided into Visigoths, Gepids and Ostrogoths.
The Ostrogoths became the conquerors of the East European Plain. Here they conquered the tribes of Antes (ancestors of the Polyans), Wends (also Slavs, like the Antes, but they are the most warlike of the Slavic tribes and equally passionate with many Germanic tribes). In the future, the Wends will be divided into Lyutichi and Bodriches, who will be destroyed by the Swabian emperors in the Middle Ages), Rugs (a Germanic tribe that lived before the defeat from the Goths on the banks of the Vistula.), Heruli (a Germanic tribe), and then completely destroyed the last Scythians in the Crimea and here created their own fleet, borrowing it from the Greeks. The Ostrogoths created their own strong kingdom, at the head of which kings from the Amal clan (noble) began to rule, among them he distinguished himself King Germanarich... They became allies of the Alans. Later, the Huns will come as avengers for the Scythians (the Huns knew about the Scythians and their related Sakas, since their culture made a great impression on the Huns) and the liberators of the Slavic tribes from the cruel Alans and Germans, if you look at the history of these peoples "from a bird's eye view" as Lev Nikolaevich called it.
The Visigoths, at the head of the Balts (brave) clan, defeat the Romans, pass the Balkans, and later capture Rome. The Romans distinguished the Goths as aggressive warriors with long spears. It was these long spears that seriously helped the Goths in battles with the Roman legionary foot soldiers. The Goths conquer half of Europe; The Franks conquer Gaul; Vandals pass Western Europe, settle in Spain, where they encounter the Suevi (then, as we know, the vandals move to Africa, from where they attack Rome, after which the city and the empire itself no longer recovered, but this happens almost at the very end of what we are describing period); Saxons, Angles, Jutes conquer Britain. Now the Huns are entering the arena of the history of the Great Migration of Nations (the late period is described here, when the Huns were already in Europe, but what was described above cannot be ruled out) are entering the Huns ...
Militancy of the Huns
The Huns have not forgotten their great ancestors. Sitting by the fire, the elders told their relatives about the glory, courage and heroism of the warriors of the Hunnu state, where everyone helped each other in difficult times, as a result of which they, the descendants of the Huns, are still alive. And the time came when the Huns had to show themselves what they are capable of ...
Starting from 360, the Alans decided to seize the Ural-Volga interfluve, the territory from which they once left (after leaving this territory, they conquered the North Caucasus and the Don-Volga interfluve). Here they met the Huns. The heavy Alanian cavalry was considered invincible, but the mobile Huns used the light cavalry of the brilliant archers.
The war lasted 10 years, until 370, but in the end the victory was won by the small Huns in alliance with the Ugrians. But is this an easy victory? The Alans were well equipped and armed. In addition, they had their own fortresses, which speaks of their semi-settlement. And more importantly, the Alans had strong passionary allies - the Goths. Moreover, the Antes, Gepids, Heruls, Wends, Rosomons and other tribes lived under the Goths. And yet, the Huns won. They advanced through the North Caucasus to the shores of the Sea of Azov, however, as Gumilyov writes, “the foothill fortresses were not taken,” since the Huns did not know how to take fortresses yet. The Huns did not dare to force the Don, apparently due to the fact that the right bank of the river was seriously fortified and the Goths were preparing for a clash. However, things did not go according to their plans.
According to legend, in 371, on the Taman Peninsula, hunting Hunnic horsemen saw a female deer and chased her. The deer entered the water and ... moved to the Crimea! Then the Huns themselves crossed the strait and attacked their enemies from the rear. If you follow the legend, then the Kerch Strait was then so shallow that you could freely walk along it! Gradually breaking through Perekop in the steppes of the Northern Black Sea region, the Huns began a sudden war with the Ostrogoths, who, like their allies the Alans, suffered a complete defeat. The state of Germanarich fell, and the tribes liberated by the Huns, who hated the Goths, began to willingly serve the new masters. Now the Hunnic army was replenished with foreigners and an exit to Europe was opened.
Beginning in 376, the irreconcilable part of the Ostrogoths and their relatives, the Visigoths, crossed the Danube and ended up in an area subject to the Romans. At this time, a son was captured by the Huns Roman general Gaudentius(he was German) and some kind of Roman - Aetius... He made friends then with his peer Attila, and probably with Attila's uncle - Rugiloy and father - Mundzuk... Aetius would later become for Attila not a friend, but the most implacable, but worthy enemy, when one would lead the western barbarians, and the other the eastern. As for Rugila, he was considered a very wise ruler, a real diplomat. He threatened to attack Byzantium, which then paid him an annual tribute, because the emperor accepted the Goths who fled from the Huns. However, negotiations were disrupted due to the death of Rugila, while the borders of the Hunnic state are already located on the Rhine.
In 434, power passes to the sons of Mundzuk - Attila and Bled... Already at this time, their state turned into a chimera, when all the tribes subordinate to them did not live separately, where ethnoses interact with each other in symbiosis, but merged into an anti-ethnos, which, according to Gumilev, unlike an ethnos, has no age and can be quickly destroyed if it encounters a young and energetic ethnic group.
I would like to dwell a little more on this statement, because it is it that explains to us such a rapid disintegration of the Hunnic empire. A chimera in ethnogenesis is a formation that gave birth to a mixture of peoples in one mass, while representatives of their ethnic groups, who entered the chimera, lose their traditions and stereotype of behavior that was previously characteristic of them. Chimera, in contrast to the ethnos, has no age! That is, if we say "chimera", then there can be no question of any phase of ethnogenesis. Chimeras win politically and economically, but never ideologically.
Having held out for a long time, it becomes a stronghold of lies, that is, its members use lies as "modus vivendi", as a principle of existence. Antisystems are formed, that is, religious and philosophical organizations with a negative attitude. Examples from history: Ptolemaic State (Greeks + Jews + Copts), Ghaznavid Sultanate (Turks + Persians + Arabs), Karakhanid State (Turks + Tajiks), Fatimid Sultanate (Slavs + Turks + Hungarians + Arabs + Berbers); the most worthy example of a modern chimera is the USA. But back to the 5th century Huns.
In 445, Attila kills Bleda and becomes the full-fledged ruler of his empire. He destroys 70 cities on the Balkan Peninsula (the Huns themselves did not know how to take fortress cities, which is noted above, therefore this role was assigned to the Slavs and Germans subject to them). First, in 447, the Byzantine Emperor Theodosius II concludes peace with Attila, and then the second emperor Marcian, who replaced him, who did not want to "kneel" before the Huns, decides to break the peace in 450. Gaul, modern France.
Here Attila meets Aetius, a talented diplomat and politician, with "the last of the Romans" (the title which, for the first time, was assigned to him Byzantine scholar Procopius. Aetius), who became a Roman commander, who led the Roman legions and tribes hostile to the power of Attila. In short, there was a moment in history when two tribal masses, two coalitions, fought in the same battle - the Catalaunian Fields. The battle took place in 451.
Final procession
There were Antes, Ostrogoths, Rugi, Heruls, Alemanni, Bittogurs, Wends, Yazigi, Gepids, a small part of the Franks (who did not trust Aetius), and, of course, the Hunnic wars themselves. Aetius ruled over another part of the Franks, the Visigoths, implacable Ostrogoths, Alans, Saxons, Burgundians, Riparii, and Roman legions. According to German historian Jordan, the battle was one of the bloodiest and most brutal. Many modern historians believe that the battle was won by Aetius, but Gumilev thinks otherwise - no one won the victory: "Attila retreated, Aetius did not pursue him." I believe that Gumilev's point of view is correct, for the Huns, if they had suffered a serious defeat, would no longer have attacked Italy in 452, a year after the slaughter.
And yet, Attila continued the war and took the strongest fortress of Aquileia, which, by the way, was built in the 2nd century. BC e. to protect against Illyrians, Celts and Macedonians. Attila plundered Northern Italy until the Romans offered the conqueror a huge ransom to save their lives and leave the leader of the Huns from Italy.
In 453, Attila dies during his wedding night with Burgundy Ildiko(there is a version that she poisoned him). After that, the Hunnic empire quickly split, and the Huns themselves were surrounded in Pannonia, and they fought without the Ostrogoths and Gepids, since the latter became traitors and united against the nomads, for whom the massacre in Pannonia became a grave. Killed about 30 thousand Huns and their loyal allies. The survivors left for the Black Sea region. But even here their story is not over! Leaders Dengizikh and Irnik(brothers of Ellak, the son of Attila, who died in Pannonia in the battle of the river Nedao), still resisted the Goths, Savirs, Saraguras. Alan Aspar defeated Dengizikh, and sent his head to Constantinople (the Huns were then vassals of Byzantium). It is at this point that the history of the Hunnic path, several hundred years and several thousand kilometers, ends.
In history, very often we see how peoples appear, reach the peak of glory and ... perish. The Huns are an unpredictable strong ethnos that took on elements of Ugric and Turkic bravery. I would like to note that the Hunnic empire came to naught only when it formed a chimera. I don’t know if the ethnogenic processions in the period of the Great Migration could have gone differently ... Today in modern Russia there are descendants of the Huns - these are the Chuvash. And let them be proud of their great ancestors.
Alexander Belyaev, Club of Eurasian Integration MGIMO (U)
Bibliography:
1.L. N. Gumilyov. "Huns in Asia and Europe".
2. Inostrantsev K. A. "Huns and Huns".
3. E. Thompson. "Huns. Terrible warriors of the steppes. "
4. Nikolaev V. V. "History of the Chuvash ancestors".
5. Otto J. Maenchen-Gelfen. "The world of the Huns. Studies of their history and culture ”.
Everyone has heard of them. But no one knows exactly what they were. Including scientists. But what is now known about them thanks to ancient historians and modern archaeologists and anthropologists.
The burial of a warrior was found in a brick factory near the village of Beloglazovo, on the Ob. The belt of the deceased was adorned with gold and silver plaques, a golden torch with the heads of predatory animals at the ends hung around his neck, the weapon placed in the grave - a sword, dagger, knife, bow and quiver with arrows - shone with gold trim, was colored with inserts of carnelian and blood-red almandine ...
Thousands of kilometers separated the grave from Rome. But the descendants of a warrior who was slain on the banks of a Siberian river bathed their horses in the rivers of Italy. The Huns went west.
Huns and the Roman Empire
All roads still led to Rome. For many centuries, gold, slaves, and booty flocked along them to the insatiable city. For many centuries legions marched along them, returning home for another triumph. Now is the time of reckoning. Barbarians, greedy for prey, hurried along the roads.
Rome was still struggling. He was strong, not so much with weapons as with his former glory, with the fear that he once inspired. By his ability to divide and rule, set some barbarians against others. Finally, with their gold, which made it possible to hire, bribe, entice or, in extreme cases, just buy off. But all this only postponed the end. The "Eternal City" became empty and impoverished. At the Forum, where not so long ago the fate of the world was decided, now grass grew and pigs roamed.
The four hundred and fiftieth Nativity of Christ was celebrated throughout Italy in sadness and despondency. The coming year did not bode well. In the churches, sins, great and small, real and imaginary, were hastily atonement. The judgment of the Lord has never seemed so inevitable. "Scourge of God" - Attila, king of the Huns, - was preparing to cross the borders of the Empire.
Attila demanded Honoria, the sister of Emperor Valentinian III, to his harem, and with her a significant part of his possessions and treasures as a dowry. Honoria herself consented to the marriage. She did not sacrifice herself out of love for her hometown. From childhood Honoria was destined for an unenviable fate. Her future husband - the daughter of one emperor and sister of another - could lay claim to the throne. This should have been avoided. Therefore, Honoria was doomed to celibacy, locked in a palace and prepared for monastic life. For many years, an ambitious and energetic woman fought against powerful relatives. A secret marriage with the manager of her estates, Yevgeny, was revealed. The unlucky spouse was executed, and Honoria was sent to Constantinople, to the court of her cousin. The last hopes for freedom, power, ambitious dreams of the throne were crumbling. In despair, Honoria secretly sent a faithful eunuch to Attila with a proposal to marry her and sent him a precious ring as a pledge.
Rome was outraged. "It is an absolutely unworthy brainchild," the ancient historian wrote, "to buy yourself the freedom of voluptuousness at the cost of evil for the entire state." But Attila was pleased. Of course, in his harem there would be women younger and more beautiful than a thirty-two-year-old Roman woman. But marriage to her gave the right to the Roman inheritance. The war became inevitable. Attila began to collect troops, his own and subordinate tribes. The Huns, Ostrogoths, Heruls, Gepids, Rugians and others, only a few hundred thousand soldiers, moved to Rome.
Of all the barbarians, the Romans feared and most hated the Huns. For violent rage in battle and ferocious ruthlessness in robbery, for bloodthirstiness and cruelty. Where the Huns passed, there were no people, no buildings, only ashes and corpses. They were insatiable, and the gold that was sent to them in the form of tribute only further inflamed their greed.
Resettlement and wars of the Huns
At the end of the 4th century A.D. e. the Huns appear in the steppes of the Northern Black Sea region. Everything was given over to fire and sword, those who resisted were ruthlessly exterminated. At first, the steppe Alans were defeated and conquered. The sedentary Alans were killed almost all, and part of the nomadic Alans submitted to the Huns. In two streams - through Perekop and from the Taman Peninsula through the present Kerch Strait - the Huns attacked the Bosporus kingdom in the Crimea. Its cities were taken by storm and plundered. The Bosporan Kingdom, which existed for more than a thousand years, perished in order to never be reborn.
Then came the turn of the Germanic tribes - the Goths, who lived to the west and northwest of the Alans. The Visigoths fled to the Danube, the Ostrogoths were defeated. Their king, the hundred and ten-year-old Ermanarich, did not endure the shame of defeat, committed suicide. And now under the rule of the Huns is a huge territory from the Danube to the Volga, with many tribes and peoples living on it, and they themselves become neighbors of the Roman Empire, restless and merciless neighbors. Where was there to be interested in the Hunnic past? Events unfolded quickly, and the Romans had no time for historical research.
Origin of the Huns
Where they came from and who their ancestors were, no one knew. The Roman historian wrote about the Huns that none of them can answer the question of where his homeland is: he was conceived in one place, born far from there, nurtured even further. Many seriously believed that the Huns descended from marriages of unclean spirits with witches, "a ferocious tribe ... small, disgusting and lean, which can be considered human only in the sense that it showed a semblance of human speech."
Hatred literally oozes from every line of any contemporary who wrote about the Huns (the Huns themselves did not leave any writings about themselves). For example, Ammianus Marcellinus, a witness of their first appearance in Europe, gave the following characteristics to the Huns: “All of them are distinguished by dense and strong limbs, thick heads and in general such a monstrous and terrible appearance that one can take them for two-legged beasts ... With such an unpleasant human appearance they so wild that they do not use fire or cooked food, but feed on the roots of field grasses and half-baked meat. "
In the last century, scholars again became interested in the Huns, primarily in who they were and where they came from to Europe. The Roman version about the descendants of evil spirits and witches, of course, removed all doubts, but no longer corresponded to the prevailing mentality. Hypotheses were born one after another. The Huns were declared alternately, or even simultaneously, Mongols, Turks, Sarmatians, Slavs, Germans, Iranians, God knows who else.
Then the ancient chronicles full of curses at the Xiongnu or Hunnu people who lived in the territory of modern Mongolia and Transbaikalia became known. The Chinese also had good reason to hate.
Hun culture
The Xiongnu were nomads, and the chronicles described them as follows. “According to Xiongnu customs, the people eat the meat of livestock, drink its milk, and dress in its skin; livestock feeds on grass and drinks water, moving from place to place depending on the season. " "In search of water and grass, they move from place to place ... they do not have cities surrounded by inner and outer walls, they do not have a permanent residence, and they do not cultivate the fields."
Every man was a warrior. "When they see the enemy, they rush for greed like a flock of birds, and when they are broken, they crumble like a tile, scatter like clouds." In fact, the life of the Huns consisted of continuous battles.
What did the Huns look like? Like that.
History of the Huns
The history of the rise of the Huns begins in 206 BC. e., when Mode became their leader (he was probably the legendary founder of the Huns). According to legend, he was the son of a supreme leader and had ten thousand horsemen under his command, united by iron discipline. If Mode shot an arrow at the target, everyone, without hesitation, had to follow his example. Once Mode shot at his beloved argamak. Some of those close to him did not dare to shoot after him, and their heads were immediately cut off. The same thing happened when Mode shot an arrow at his beloved wife. But when his father's horse then became the target, there were no more disobedient ones. Soon after that, while hunting, Mode shot his father, and after his arrow, the arrows of Mode's entourage pierced the unfortunate man. Then Mode killed his stepmother, younger brother, elders who did not want to obey him, and became the sole ruler of the Huns.
Decades of war and raids began. Chinese troops were beaten more than once. The Xiongnu invaded the territory of the Celestial Empire, plundered, killed, burned, and lines of slaves again and again stretched to the inhospitable northern steppes. In folk songs it was sung: No family and no home anymore ... Trouble - It was the Hunnic horde invaded.
The burial mounds of the Sünnu leaders were found, plundered in antiquity and still containing the remains of luxurious carpets, silk fabrics and brocade, weapons, fragments of gold jewelry and jade products. And all this was only a miserable fraction of what the Huns know during their lifetime.
Military fortune is known to be changeable. In the first two centuries of our era, the Huns entered a losing streak and split into several hordes. Neighboring nomadic tribes in alliance with the Chinese were able to inflict a number of defeats on them. Northern Huns moved westward and through Central Asia reached the Caspian Sea. Apparently, this path took them several centuries, and all this time the Huns wandered, fought with various tribes and at the same time mixed with them. Then they appeared in the Northern Black Sea region, “like a snow hurricane in the mountains,” and under the name of the Huns they became known to the Romans.
So, the ancestral home of the Huns seems to have been found. Alas, this did little to answer the question of who they themselves were. Most likely, the people that the Chinese called the Sünnu were Turkic in language and Mongoloid in appearance. But moving to the west, the Huns mingled with many peoples, tore from their homes and carried away entire tribes. It was not for nothing that Ammianus Marcellinus wrote with alarm that throughout the space that stretches to Pontus (that is, to the Black Sea), a barbarian mass of hitherto hidden tribes is agitated, suddenly torn from their places by force.
The European Huns were already very different from the Huns, so much so that some scholars generally refuse to recognize them as the descendants of the latter. This is probably excessive skepticism, but archeology is clear about the real and significant differences. She knows the burials of the Asiatic Huns and cannot find traces of the European Huns in the land. A paradoxical situation has developed. There were many peoples and tribes that were once powerful and instilled fear in their neighbors. Archaeologists know their occupations, settlements and dwellings, their burials, their weapons, jewelry and kitchen utensils have been studied to the smallest detail. Anthropologists have restored their appearance, historians of primitive society have reconstructed in general terms their social structure. There is only one thing missing - written evidence, the mention of these peoples in ancient books and chronicles. And therefore, one can only guess about their history and fate, and the very name of many such peoples is unknown to us.
The situation is different with the Huns. Their name and ancestral home are known, their history has been studied. Only they themselves are unknown. It is not known what language they spoke, what was the social structure of the Huns, what race they belonged to, and how much the European Huns differed from the Asian Huns. It would seem that it is easier. It is necessary to compare the archaeological monuments of the times of the Huns' rule in Europe with those Mongolian and Transbaikalian, which undoubtedly belonged to the Huns. Those of them that resemble the Trans-Baikal ones are obviously Hunnic. They have tried to do so and are still trying to do so. Only little comes out of this.
Perhaps, monuments of the Hunnic time have not been discovered in Europe? On the contrary, many hundreds of burials are known there.
Burials of warriors with weapons decorated in a lurid and tasteless, in a modern view, style, when gold was strewn with precious stones without counting - the more the better - and if there were no stones, then at least colored glass, and if there was gold could not afford, then it was replaced at least with gold foil. Burials of barbarian women with jewelry made in the same style, household items, simple utensils. And among these burials there are probably Hunnic ones. But archaeologists still do not know how to distinguish them, to distinguish them from others. Attempts have been made, and repeatedly, but without much success.
It is not for nothing that this time is called the era of the Great Nations Migration. Everything was in motion. Some tribes were divided, others, on the contrary, merged. They learned from each other, adopted other people's customs, culture, even names. Everything became, if not general, then extremely similar - both weapons and decorations, even the funeral rite. Try here to determine where the Hun is, and where is the Alan, the Goth or the Gepid! Even when dead bodies are found with clearly Mongoloid features - and there are only a few of them - one cannot be sure to the end that they are Huns. Mixed marriages during this era were more common than ever. True, in the most recent time, the archaeologist I.P. Zasetskaya, apparently, managed to isolate a number of Hunnic burials in the Northern Black Sea region. But this is still too little to solve the whole problem. The northern Black Sea region was only a small part of the "Hunnia", this conditional empire of the Huns, moreover, by the middle of the 5th century - its distant outskirts.
So, at the end of the 4th century A.D. e. the Huns became the new neighbors of the Empire. And immediately they made a corresponding presentation. In 395, they invaded Transcaucasia and Mesopotamia, in the same year they reached the walls of Constantinople. At the beginning of the 5th century, the Huns conquered the Danube lands. From now on, Pannonia, present-day Hungary, a rich and fertile plain, which has long attracted nomads, becomes the center of the Hunnic state. The fruits of robbery and tribute flow from everywhere: jewelry, gold, livestock, slaves.
In 433, the Hunnic king Rugila dies, transferring power to his two nephews - Bled and Attila. For twelve years they have ruled together, conquered the Germanic tribes, destroyed the Burgundian kingdom on the Rhine, and disturbed Rome. But Attila was not the kind of person to share power with anyone. No wonder the Gothic historian Jordan wrote about him later: "This man was born into the world to shock the peoples and instill fear in all countries." In 445, Attila treacherously kills his brother and begins to rule with absolute power.
Attila - the leader of the Huns
Attila was undoubtedly an outstanding military leader and politician. This was recognized even by the Romans, who harbored a fierce hatred of him. No wonder he left such a mark, both in the imagination of his contemporaries and in the memory of his descendants. Small in stature, with a wide chest and a proudly set large head, with a narrow slit of eyes and a rare beard, Attila inspired fear by his very unusual appearance for the Romans.
Cruel, greedy and voluptuous, devoured by an all-consuming thirst for power, he knew how to make friends, win over to his side, knew how, when necessary, to bestow and caress, was able to listen to the advice of others. The owner of untold wealth, he dressed like an ordinary warrior, was moderate in food and drink, ate only on wooden dishes.
This is how Attila is portrayed
Attila struck his first blow at the Eastern Roman Empire. One after another, the fortresses on the Danube fell, and now the Hunnic hordes, like locusts, spread across the Balkans, destroying everything in their path. The Roman army was utterly defeated and scattered in the very first battle. Greece is devastated: seventy cities burned and plundered, thousands of people were driven into slavery. Attila could easily have taken Constantinople, but decided that it was not worth killing the goose that lays the golden eggs. For refusing to storm, he received 6 thousand pounds of gold and a promise to pay a regular tribute of 2,100 pounds annually.
By 451, Attila was the ruler of a power that stretched from the Central Asian deserts to the Rhine, from the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea. Kings and chiefs of various tribes were always crowded at his headquarters. "Wherever he led his eye, immediately each of them appeared before him without the slightest murmur, but in fear and trembling, or did what he was ordered to do." In the spring of 451, Attila crossed the Rhine. The burned cities were aflame again. The fate of Rome hung in the balance.
Aetius stood at the head of the Roman troops. In his youth, he spent several years as a hostage at the headquarters of the Huns, where he met with Attila, he knew the restless barbarian world well. For thirty years he was able to support the fading Western Roman Empire with the help of barbarians against barbarians. This time, his main hope was the general hatred of the Huns. Visigoths, Alans, Alemans, Burgundians, Franks flock under the banner of Aetius. On June 15, 451, a decisive battle took place on the Catalaunian fields, near the city of Troyes. Until the 19th century, there was no larger and more bloody battle in history - several hundred thousand soldiers took part in it on both sides.
The battle lasted all day, and the river flowing through the fields overflowed its banks, overflowing with blood. There were 165 thousand killed. The thirsty wounded drank river water mixed with blood. "Caught by the unfortunate lot, they swallowed, when they drank, the blood that they themselves were wounded and shed." Even the dry and not prone to lyrical outpourings Jordan could not stand it, and when describing the battle, he excitedly remarked: has been producing for so many centuries. "
Battle of the Catalaunian Fields, Huns vs. Romans
And for the first time, military happiness changed Attila. Together with the army, he had to take refuge in a fortified camp. In anticipation of the assault, he even prepared, according to the Hunnic custom, to burn himself so as not to fall alive in the hands of enemies. But the assault did not follow. In the Roman camp, disagreements began, the Visigoths took their troops away, and Attila was able to safely retreat. Soon, weakened, but not exhausted, he rushed south to Italy, again sowing death and destruction around.
Aquileia, Verona, Mantua, Bergamo were wiped off the face of the earth. Milan voluntarily submitted, opened the gates himself and for this, as a favor, was only plundered. It was Rome's turn. He could not defend himself - all the troops were with Aetius. An embassy headed by Pope Leo I went from the "eternal city" to Attila, humbly pleading for mercy. Suddenly, Attila turned out to be accommodating: a plague broke out in the army of the Huns, and Aetius was waiting for him at the Apennine passes. The Hunnic king left for Pannonia, but threatened that he would return next year if Honoria was not sent to him. Attila did not return.
Rome was helped by chance. Attila decided to take into his harem a new concubine, a captive Burgundian beauty Ildiko. On the morning after the wedding, the servants found a crying girl and a dead despot on the wedding bed. According to the official version, he died "from her great pleasure and burdened with wine." But in all parts of Europe it was said that Attila was stabbed to death by Ildiko at night, who avenged the death of relatives and the destruction of the Burgundian kingdom.
At the beginning of the XIII century in Austria, on the banks of the Danube, an unknown spielman - a wandering professional singer, first recorded heroic tales, which for many centuries were passed from mouth to mouth among various Germanic peoples. Similar stories were later found in ancient Icelandic manuscripts. This is how the "Song of the Nibelungs", a medieval Germanic epic, has survived to this day. In it we again meet with the Huns, Goths and Burgundians, with the beautiful Ildiko (she is called Gudruna or Krimhilda in the epic, but the name Ildiko is an affectionate reduction from Hilda) and the formidable Attila (he is now called Etzel in the Germanic way or in Scandinavian - Atli ).
"A beautiful princess lived in Burgundy, that girl was the most beautiful in the world." The princess was given in marriage to Etzel, the king of the Huns, and bore him two sons. The Kriemhild brothers, the Burgundian kings, own an untold treasure - the gold of the Nibelungs, which they hid at the bottom of the Rhine. Etzel, eager to get the treasure, lures the brothers to his palace. But they die steadfastly under torture, without revealing the secret. The next day, the leaders of the Huns gather at the Etzel palace for a feast. The queen who served them brings a delicious meal to her husband - the hearts of her sons. For the sake of revenge, she, like Medea once, did not spare her own children. Terrified, Etzel falls on the bed, and Kriemhilda plunges the sword into his chest, then sets the palace on fire and dies in flames. This is how real historical events were reflected in the people's memory.
However, there is another version of the "Nibelungen". Kriemhilda in it takes revenge not on Etzel - Attila for the brothers, but, on the contrary, with the help of Etzel - on the brothers for the death of her first husband, Siegfried. Etzel himself appears before us in this version as a kind, gentle and noble king, a generous patron of the knights of the princely family.
Another joke of history? Maybe so. After all, it happened that bloody despots became in the memory of subsequent generations virtuous monarchs who devoted their lives to caring for the well-being of their subjects. Or maybe those Germanic tribes who were allies of Attila, accomplices in his robberies, remembered the "scourge of God" precisely from the "positive" side?
But back to the real Attila. The body of the dead king was transported to the desert steppe and laid in a silk tent. Women cut their braids as a sign of mourning, men wounded their faces. The best horsemen took part in the lists around the tent with the deceased. The best singers glorified his exploits. Then they built a mound and after a magnificent funeral, late at night, secretly buried the corpse in the ground, having previously enclosed it in three coffins - gold, silver and iron, and putting in the burial the weapons of killed enemies captured by Attila, expensive horse harness, gold and jewelry without counting. On the same night, everyone who was building the grave of the formidable king was killed so that no one would recognize its place and would not disturb the deceased in search of treasures.
Many were looking for Attila's grave. Unsuccessful so far. Somewhere in the Hungarian steppes, probably, even now there is a mound with the remains of a despot, which has swum over from time to time, the very death of which served only as a pretext for new bloodshed. Its discovery would give a lot to science. But will they ever find him?
Or maybe the mound should be looked for at all and not in Hungary? Perhaps the Huns took the body of their king to the distant Black Sea steppes in order to perform a bloody funeral rite there, far from prying eyes? Finally, it is possible that the robbers long ago dug up the mound with the grave of Attila and stole his jewelry, just did not understand who these jewelry belonged to. And they are now in museums and private collections unidentified. Or, even worse, the stones were taken out of their settings, the gold was melted down for the convenience of those selling, the iron was thrown away as unnecessary trash.
Huns and Slavs
There is another mysterious circumstance in Attila's funeral. Jordan, who described them in detail, especially noted funeral feast - a grand feast when funeral grief is expressed with jubilation. And he called him "strava." But strava is a word of Slavic origin. Dahl's Explanatory Dictionary says that it means food, food, food, food, etc. Where did the Huns get this word, which is more appropriate for the funeral of, say, Prince Oleg? Accident? Coincidence?
But in 448, the Greek scientist Prisk Paniysky visited Attila's headquarters as part of the Constantinople embassy. And in the notes about his travels, he mentions that in the Danube villages the embassy was offered "instead of wine honey, so called in those places." Again the Slavic custom and the Slavic term for it among the Huns!
What is the role of the Huns in the history of the Slavs and vice versa? It is possible that already at the beginning of the 5th century, the Slavs penetrated the Danube, into those areas where the Huns also came, who took some words and customs from the Slavs.
Attila's death did not save Rome. Two years later, weakened by the war with the Huns, he was captured by vandals and thoroughly plundered for two weeks. And twenty-one years later, the Western Roman Empire ceased to exist forever.
Fall of the Hun state
Soon after the death of Attila, the power of the Huns also disintegrated, held together only by fear and force of arms. His many sons began to challenge each other's authority. Subordinate tribes and peoples rebelled. The Huns were utterly defeated and fled to the Black Sea steppes. "So the Huns retreated," the ancient historian concluded, "before which the Universe seemed to be retreating."
The further fate of the Huns is practically unknown. Most likely, they mixed with other tribes, finally losing their language and name. But where and when exactly and with whom exactly?
Huns, video
And in conclusion, an interesting documentary about the Huns and their legendary leader Attila.
Huns is a name known to every student. Conquerors literally swept away settlements on their way, crushing peoples and territories.
It is not known exactly where they came from, because history speaks loudly about the Huns only where they left a bloody trail. As soon as their military power faded away, their traces were lost again.
The Huns appeared in the 370s. They passed through the North Caucasus, conquering the Alans. Each conquered tribe paid tribute to the conquerors, and was also obliged to participate in military campaigns, increasing the army and power of the Huns.
At this time, they were led by Balamber. They went as far as the Dnieper and Dniester, reached Syria, which was a Roman province, part of the Huns settled in Pannonia and modern Austria. From there, the Huns regularly attacked the provinces of the Eastern Roman Empire.
Too many different tribes and peoples joined the army of the Huns. Among them were Bulgars and Ostrogoths, Sarmatians and Herpids, and Germanic and non-Germanic peoples.
In the 430s, the Huns continued to attack Thrace, which was also part of the Roman Empire. In the end, Emperor Theodosius II agreed to pay the tribute, but during the negotiations the leader of the Huns, Rugila, died.
It's time for Attila. Attila has ruled alone since 445. For the East Roman rulers, he became a real scourge of God. He starved out about 60 cities, among them Greek and Roman. They all paid a huge tribute.
But Attila turned out to be one of those rulers who only by the power of his own personality keep the people together. After his death in 453, the Huns ceased to be a single force that terrified Europe and Asia.
Individual tribes wanted freedom. Already in 454, the Huns were driven back to the Black Sea region, and soon they imperceptibly and ingloriously simply disappeared among other tribes.
There are, however, mentions that in Dagestan there was a tribe of Khons, that is, Huns from the 6th century. The ruler of these Transcaucasian Huns in 682 adopted Christianity along with all the nobility, finally displacing the barbaric past of the Hunnic tribes from his memory. After the 7th century, there is no mention of the Huns in general or of the Huns in the Caucasus.
It was an impressive march of a huge horse horde. The Huns seized other people's nomad camps, and the tribes that used to graze cattle there either perished or shunned, jumping back to the cold north or desert south. And the horde drove some in front of them, and they themselves unceremoniously dealt with those who lived even further from them at sunset.
But don't thicken the scarlet paint too much. Of course, sometimes the victors were merciless, because even in a relatively calm time, nomads, and not only nomads, could not imagine a world without elements of the struggle of all against all.
However, there was not only a struggle, but also the coexistence of most of the tribes and peoples had long been familiar with each other.
So the Huns left someone in their former places, but made it clear whose places they were now and how to behave so that this land would not become a premature grave for them. And they took someone with them: also, of course, outlining priorities.
Scientists have been arguing for a long time who the Huns are: Mongols, Turks, and maybe Iranians! But the reason for this difference of opinion, most likely, is that there was no one in this stream. However, the prevailing opinion is that those, the original Khunnu, were Mongols, and then powerful Turkic strata and Indo-European ones were added. This is how the late Roman historian Ammianus Marcellinus saw the Huns.
Veltman saw the ancient Eastern Slavs in the Huns; the writers of a later time brought this idea to the point of absurdity, in particular, Ivan Bilyk, who called the great Hunnic king Attila the prince of Gatilo.
But by the present day, the disputes are practically over. Serious researchers of the Huns are finally recognized as a Turkic people who came out of the East. Their ancestors were the nomadic Xiongnu tribes living north of China, for protection from which the Chinese built their famous Great Wall. But Attila's Hunnic history is practically ends. The first unifier of the Hunnu state was the Shanyu, that is, the supreme ruler named Mode.
His father, Shanyu Tuman, tried to kill his son, but this failed; admired by Mode's courage, Tuman put ten thousand soldiers under his command.
The prince immediately set about training his army, and he taught in a very peculiar way. The first and main rule was: all warriors immediately shoot arrows wherever Mode sent his arrow.
To check the discipline of his soldiers, one day the prince shot his own magnificent horse. Some of the warriors hesitated; their heads were immediately cut off.
On another occasion, Mode shot an arrow at his beautiful young wife. Again, some of the archers were unable to follow his example and paid with their heads. Finally, the momentous day came.
During a big hunt, Mode shot at his father: all the guards, already automatically, repeated his actions, and Shanyu Tuman died, completely covered with arrows. It happened in 209 BC. e.
So, in the eerie, but effective spirit of ancient barbarism, Mode fought his way to power, then created a single state of the Hunnu.
There is another story about this shanyu. Once the ruler of the warlike neighboring people Donghu, under the threat of war, demanded that Mode give him, the ruler, his best horse and beloved wife. Mode did not object: Why should the neighbors spare one horse and one woman?
But when the Donghu wanted to get a narrow strip of Hunnish land, completely barren and, in fact, useless, Shanyu said: The land is the foundation of the state, how can you give it away?
Without waiting for the attack of the donghu, Mode himself went to them - and won the victory.
The Huns were a group of nomadic people who first appeared from the east of the Volga River and were initially referred to as Turkic-speaking Xiongnu. Originally near the Caspian Sea in 91 AD. e. The Huns migrated to the southeastern Caucasus region around 150 AD. e. and to Europe 370 AD. e. where they established the vast empire of Hunnik there. Priscus mentions that the Huns had their own language. They formed a united empire under Attila the Hunn, who died in 453, the next year their empire disintegrated. Their descendants, or successors with similar names, are recorded bordered by the population to the south, east and west as occupying parts of Eastern Europe and Central Asia from about the 4th century to the 6th century. Beginning with Joseph de Guin in the 18th century, historians have linked the Huns, who appeared on the borders of Europe in the 4th century, with Hyognu, who migrated from Mongolia about three hundred years earlier. Due to the conflict with Han China, the Northern branch of Khiongnu retreated in a northwest direction, their descendants may have migrated across Eurasia, and hence they may have a certain degree of cultural and genetic continuity with the Huns. The Huns did not have permanent dwellings, they roamed along with their cattle and did not build huts.
Sources: znayuvse.ru, otvet.mail.ru, uighur.narod.ru, www.superotvet.ru, istoriagagauz.com
The first five-year plan
Until 1928, the USSR pursued a relatively liberal New Economic Policy. While agriculture, retail, service, food and ...
Where to go in Paris
It is rather difficult to immediately answer where to go in Paris. There are plenty of beautiful places here, which means it all depends ...
Plato's Atlantis
Any story about Atlantis begins with the mention of two famous works of Plato - "Timaeus" and "Critias". This immutable rule ...
Global climate change has upset the relative ethnic and economic balance in Eurasia. Not only the ethnic groups of northern Europe, but also of Central Asia began to move. The “Sünnu-Hunnu” ethnos belonged to the Altaic family of languages and lived on the territory of the present-day Eastern (Inner) and Outer Mongolia. Initially, the Huns lived in southern Transbaikalia and were engaged in cattle breeding. They especially loved to breed horses. The Huns did not have permanent dwellings, they constantly roamed along with their cattle and did not even build huts, but lived in wagons. Such mobility of the Huns, most likely, was associated with the low productivity of pastures, in search of feed for livestock they had to constantly move. They roamed the steppe, and entered the forest-steppe. It is known that from the end of the 3rd century. BC. the Huns began to make regular raids on the northwestern borders of China. The energetic and talented leader Mode rallied the Xiongnu tribes, conquered some of the neighboring peoples and, after a series of victories, forced the emperor of China to conclude a "treaty of peace and kinship" with him, according to which the Chinese empire was actually obliged to pay tribute to the Huns. I believe that the main reason that pushed the nomads to attack China was the same depletion of steppe pastures. But gradually they, as they say, "got a taste" and began to plunder agricultural China. Nomad herders turned into fierce warriors with corresponding stereotypes of behavior.
But at the turn of the I-II century. n. e. after 300 years of its existence, the Hunnic Empire began to disintegrate, and its influence fell sharply. L.N. Gumilev writes: "The Chinese government reckoned with them so little that it itself undermined their authority among its subjects. During this period, the uprising of the" yellow stripes "and rebellions of the governors had already begun in China. While the Shanyu lived with Cao Cao, the Huns took part in the civil war on the side of the rebels, but they had no success, and "the southern horde of the Huns was deserted." The independent history of the southern Hunnu ended in 215, when the Shanyu Huchutsuan was arrested, and a Chinese governor was appointed to rule the Huns. In all likelihood, by this time the protracted aridization of the climate affected not only the steppes of Central Asia, turning them into the Gobi and Alashan deserts, but the eastern regions of agricultural China were also severely affected by the drought, which was one of the main reasons for the uprising of the "yellow bands".
After the death of Mode, the Huns began civil strife, which divided their tribes into two hostile camps - northern and southern. In 55 BC. the southern tribes submitted to China and went over to its side - they became its subjects, and the northern tribes, led by the great Chzhi-Chzhi, migrated to the west and founded a new kingdom in the steppes of East Kazakhstan. The steppes of Kazakhstan are already in the zone of influence of the Atlantic cyclones, and they (cyclones) have become more active, pushing the zone of influence of the Pacific monsoon to the east, which caused the aridization of the climate in Central Asia. So the steppes on the territory of present-day Kazakhstan at the beginning of the new era, on the contrary, became more productive than they were before. But here numerous aboriginal tribes roamed, which could only be supplanted and subjugated by highly passionate ethnic groups from the east. Presumably, the less passionate Huns ended up in China and soon lost their ethnic identity - they became Chinese of Hunnish origin. The more passionate Huns, precisely because of their high passionarity, could not come to terms with the fate of becoming Chinese. They went to look for new lands for themselves, new pastures in the west. It was this passionate part of the Huns that later became the Huns, who conquered almost all of northern Asia and almost all of Europe.
The northern and western Huns mixed with the Ugrians in Siberia, which gave rise to an even more passionate and aggressive ethnos - the Huns. The Hunno-Xianbi mixed clans, which remained in Central Asia, later became an ethnic substrate, on which, later, in the 6th – 11th centuries, as a result of later passionary impulses, first the Turkic, and later the Mongolian ethnoses of the Great Steppe arose. By the 5th century, the Chinese Huns disappeared into the Chinese super-ethnos. The Yueban ethnos was formed by the Huns, who were assimilated with the Sogdians.
In the period from 142 to 215. part of the Huns gradually left China back to the north, and those who remained on the spot turned around. Passionate people who did not want to change their behavior due to external coercion were weighed down by the oppression of Chinese officials. The northern Xianbi nomads were closer and dearer to them, they belonged to the same super-ethnos of the Great Steppe, therefore the most passionate Huns left China to the north to the zone of the Daurian forest-steppe.
Living together with the Chinese and mixed marriages with them gradually changed the stereotypes of the behavior of the Huns who remained in China, and their ethnos there began to disintegrate. According to L.N. Gumilyov, only a small part of the Hun warriors left to the west, but the warriors of the passionaries. On the way to the west, she included new groups of Ugrians and Turkic-speaking nomads, assimilating their culture. This highly modified ethnic group called itself the Huns. About the history of the Huns from the 2nd to the 4th centuries. very little is known. Antique author of the first half of the 2nd century Dionysius Perieget reports on the Huns in the Caspian region, and Ptolemy mentions them in the areas east of the Volga, between the Bastars and Roxolans. The first peoples that the Huns encountered in Eastern Europe were the Sarmatians, Alans and Roxolans, who, according to Ammianus Marcellinus, occupied vast areas on both sides of Tanais north of Meotida and the Caucasus. It happened in 370.
Huns in Europe
In 375, the Huns appeared on the Lower Volga and defeated the Sarmatian tribes. They put an end to the centuries-old domination of the Iranian peoples in the steppes of Eurasia - Cimmerians, Scythians, Sarmatians, Goths, and opened the millennial period of domination of the Turkic-speaking ethnic groups, paved the way for their movement from east to west. They were involved in the collapse of the Roman Empire and the collapse of the slave formation in Europe. L.N. Gumilev in his work "Hunnu" wrote that it was very difficult for the Huns to break through the lands of the Ugrians and Alans, and the consequences of this affected the change in the very appearance of the Huns who had gone to the west. The bicentennial process of the ethnogenesis of the Huns from the Huns was very stormy and unusual. (Ethnogenesis of Bulgarians and Suvar: http://chuvbolgari.ru/index.php/template/lorem-ipsum/velikaya-bolgariya/123-etnogenez-bolgar-i-suvar).
Ammianus Marcellinus wrote: “The Huns, passing through the lands of the Alans, which border on the Greitungs and are usually called Tanaites, made a terrible extermination and devastation among them, and made an alliance with the survivors and annexed them to themselves. With their assistance, they boldly broke through with a surprise attack into the vast and fertile lands of Ermanarich, the king of the Ostrogoths. " In 467. during the time of Odoacer, Erula (Herula) lived in the lower reaches of the Don - a local ethnos, but in the past subjugated to the Goths of Germanarich. But when the Huns came, the Heruls did not enter into clashes with the Huns (Gumilev, 2007). The Heruls were farmers and lived in the floodplain of the river, and the Huns were of little interest in these landscapes, because they lived on watersheds in the steppe.
The Hunnic-Alanian war lasted 10 years from 360 to 370. and ended with the victory of the Huns. Having defeated the Alans, the Huns came into direct contact with the empire of Germanarich, which then stretched from the Sea of Azov to the Baltic and from the Tisza to the Don. The empire of the Ostrogoths then included many ethnic groups: Gepids, Yazygs, Vandals, Typphals, carps, Heruls, Skirs, and in the north Rosomones, Wends, Mordens (Mordovians), Merene (Merya), Tyudo (Chud), you (all) and others (Gumilev, 2007). L.N. Gumilyov believed that the empire of the Goths was "loose", and many of the ethnic groups included in it were held by the high passionarity of the Goths, while the low passionarity of these ethnic groups themselves.
Germanarich or Ermanarich - the king of the Goths in the IV century, from the Amal family. Ermanarich subdued the Gothic tribes of the Grevtungs and local tribes in the Northern Black Sea region. In Roman sources and ancient Germanic epics, he appears as one of the great leaders of the era of the Great Nations Migration. The empire of Ermanarich fell under the onslaught of the Huns in the 370s, and from about that moment the process of division of the Gothic tribes into Visigoths and Ostrogoths began.
In the middle of the 6th century, the Gothic historian Jordan compiled a detailed history of the Gothic tribes and the genealogy of their leaders based on the works of previous writers and surviving oral traditions. According to Jordan, the father of Ermanarich was Agiulf. Ermanarich had three brothers - Ansila, Ediulf, Wultwulf - and at least one son, Gunimund. Jordan singles out Ermanarich as "the noblest of the Amals." Jordan's information about Ermanarich exhausts everything that was known about him to the historians of that time. He conquered the tribes: Goltescythians, Tiuds, Inaunks, Vasinabronks, Merens, Mordens, Imniscars, Horns, Tadzans, Ataul, Navgo, Bubegens, Sorcerers. After the aforementioned northern ethnic groups were subdued, the subjugation of the Eruly state on the Lower Don followed.
Germanarich - the legendary king is ready. Picture from the site: http://rusich.moy.su/news/2011-05-10 |
Procopius of Caesarea in his work "War with the Goths" says that the Huns occupied the space lying between Kherson and the Bosporus. " The burial grounds of the Volga region speak about the Alano-Hunnic symbiosis, in which elements of the culture of both peoples are combined. The archaeological confirmation of the presence of the Huns in the Crimea is single burials of the 4th-5th centuries. near Kerch with inlaid diadems. The Hunnic invasion had almost no effect on the history of Crimea and did not affect the ethnic composition of its population. Having passed the Crimea, the Huns encountered the Ostrogoths - a strong power of Germanarich. This is how the war of the Goths and the Huns began - the longest war of the Middle Ages, which began in the steppes of Ukraine and ended in the Catalaunian fields in France, ending with the defeat of the Huns at the Battle of Nedao in Pannonia in 455. This war is quite fully reflected in written sources (Ammianus Marcellinus, Jordan, Procopius of Caesarea, etc.)
|
Ammianus Marcellinus reports: "... having lost hope to fight back, some of the Ostrogoths cautiously retreated ..."... Procopius of Caesarea describes the beginning of this war as follows: “... the Huns, suddenly attacking the Goths living on these plains, killed many of them, and put the rest to flight. Those who could flee, having removed from these places with children and wives, left their fatherly limits ... ". As a result of several battles, the Huns completely defeated the Ostrogoths. After more defeats, the heir of Germanarikh Vitimir was also killed. The Ostrogoths retreated to the Dniester, where they united with the related tribes of the Visigoths. Together they decided to repulse the Huns, but they bypassed the reconnaissance detachment sent by Atanarikh and, crossing the Dniester, unexpectedly attacked the Goth camp. The Goths fled in panic. |
The Huns ravage a villa in Gaul. Drawing from the site: http://talks.guns.ru/forum_light_message/15/821946-m20643740.htmlAfter this battle, the Huns returned to the Northern Black Sea region. Trying to free themselves from the Hunnic rule, the Slavic tribes of the Antes became allies of the Huns. The Visigoth king Vinitarius defeated the Ants, but the Huns punished Vinitarius for this and defeated the Goths Vinitarius, and he himself was killed. According to Jordan, after the death of Vinitarius, the Goths did not have their own king for 40 years. After that, the Goths could choose their own rulers only with the permission of the Huns.
The Huns formed an association in the Northern Black Sea region - an alliance of different tribes, which included Alans, Slavs and the conquered Alans and Ostrogoths. But a significant part of the Visigoths, Ostrogoths and Alans left the steppes of Ukraine and, with the permission of the Roman Emperor Valens, moved to France and Moesia - they became Roman subjects.
The Huns constantly undertook military campaigns to the West and East. So, already at the end of the 4th century. they penetrated the Danube, where they acted as allies of the Goths against the empire, then allies of the empire against the Goths. In 408, under the command of Uldis, the Huns attacked with huge forces the Roman troops over the lower Danube and devastated Thrace. The Romans, at the cost of rich gifts, achieved peace with the Huns, and then expelled them from their lands, while Uldis, according to Roman sources, allegedly escaped by crossing the Danube. Under the leadership of King Ruas, the Huns carried out a number of campaigns in the Balkan provinces of Byzantium. In 398, they committed bloody massacres and destruction in several eastern provinces of the empire. At the same time, the detachments of the Huns reached Asia Minor and raided Persia. In 420 they already lived in the Carpathian Basin and actively involved the Goths, Heruls, Gepids, Skirs, Rugs, Burgundians and Alans in political events. In 435 and 436. the Huns, as allies of Rome, fought against the Alemans, Franks, Alans, Visigoths and Burgundians. In 434, Attila and his half-brother Bled came to power in the Hunnic empire. But Attila soon killed Bled and became the sovereign ruler of the Hunnic tribal union. The center of the Hunnic policy at this time moved from the Northern Black Sea region to the Danube. |
In the Northern Black Sea region, according to the observations of scientists, until the middle of the 5th century. Relative calm reigned, which contributed to the development of centers of rural life and crafts. This strengthened the power of the Huns and their alliance. The power of the Hunnic leaders became hereditary and passed from father to son. After the leader Charato, his son Donat became the king of the Huns, the latter, in turn, was replaced at the beginning of the 5th century. Ruas, who shared power with two brothers. Ruas made serious attempts to subjugate all the Hunnic tribes and create a single united state. But only his nephew Attila succeeded.
In 440 Attila moved his headquarters to Pannonia. The campaign of the Huns into the Roman Empire in 442 was especially destructive, when they plundered many cities, fortifications and villages. Essentially, all the eastern provinces of the Roman Empire were then captured by Attila. The territories from the Rhine to the Urals were under the Hunnic domination.
Battle of the Catalunya Hills. Picture from the site: http://swordmaster.org/2011/06/29/shlem-serviler-on-zhn-cherepnik.html |
The huge army of the Huns made numerous campaigns deep in the west of Europe and terrified the local population. The Franks, Thuringians, Burgundians were conquered. In 451, this army, led by Attila, marched on Gaul. Aetius led the Roman army against the Huns. He studied the tactics and strategy of the Huns well, being for a long time in their headquarters as a hostage. The troops of Aetius consisted mainly of the Visigothic Germans under the leadership of King Theodoric and the Alans (who fled to the west) under the leadership of the leader Sangiban. The troops of Attila included different ethnic tribes, including the Ostrogoths (whom he conquered), Slavs and Gepids. The Gepids acted under the leadership of their king Ardarich. A huge number of warriors met in the battle of Champagne on the Catalaunian fields. Jordan writes: “Here the strongest regiments from both sides grappled and there was no secret crawling, but they fought in open battle. In this battle, as they say, 165 thousand people fell on both sides, not counting 15 thousand Gepids and Franks, who earlier collided at night, intercepting each other in the battle, the Franks were on the side of the Romans, the Gepids were on the side of the Huns. " |
According to a number of experts, the Huns were defeated in this battle, their army was allegedly defeated and largely destroyed (this version was spread by Roman and Gothic historians). However, there is an assumption that there was no clear winner in this battle, both armies after the battle became incapacitated and were disorganized. The Visigoths and Romans began to gradually abandon their positions and retreat. Attila, noticing the withdrawal of the Roman army, remained in the camp for a long time, but making sure that the enemy was not returning, he moved his troops after the Romans to the lands of the empire and destroyed many villages and cities (and did the defeated do this?). The Huns' campaign to the south of the Apennine Peninsula was delayed by an epidemic that happened in their troops, so Attila agreed to make peace with the Romans. The embassy at the headquarters of Attila was then headed by Pope Leo himself (the winners were forced to appear at the headquarters of the vanquished ??). Having concluded peace with him, Attila returned to Pannonia. Soon King Attila set out to smash the Byzantine provinces, by that time almost completely detached from Byzantium. His army consisted of numerous Turkic, Ugric and Slavic ethnic groups.
Of the Hunnic kings who stood at the head of the Hunnic empire from 376 to 465, the following are known: Donat, Kharaton, Rado, whom Jordan calls Roas, and Priscus calls him Rua Basileus, while western ancient historians called him the governor of the Scythians - Rhodas; then Attila and Vdila, sons of Mundiukh or Mundyuk Dangichig, Irnar, sons of Attila Danchich and Yaren. Of the minor Hunnic leaders, the following are known: Valamir, Bled, Gord, Sinnio, Boyariks, Regnar, Bulgudu, Khorsoman, Sandil, Zavergan. I must say that this is how their names are written in the works of the Goths, Romans and Byzantines, but now it is impossible to say how they actually sounded.
Hunnic warrior. Pay attention to his artificially deformed skull. Drawing from the site: http://young.rzd.ru |
The envoy of the Greek emperor Priscus, who was present at the feasts of the Huns, describes the ceremonies of honoring guests and entertainment as follows: they baked epics, listened to the ridiculous and absurd speeches of the holy fool and the breaking of a Greek hunchback, distorting the language of Latin with Hunnic and Gothic. When Attila entered his capital, he was greeted by the maidens, marching in rows, under thin white veils; in a row there were up to seven or more virgins, and there were a lot of such rows. These virgins sang Scythian songs. When Attila found himself near a house, the mistress went out to him with many servants: some were carrying food, others wine. Attila, riding on a horse, ate food from a silver platter raised high by the servants. The floor in the queen's chambers was covered with expensive carpets. There were many slaves and slaves around the queen. The slaves, sitting on the floor opposite her, painted various patterns on the canvas with paints. Coverlets were then sewn from this fabric, which the Huns wore over clothing.
Soon the Huns made an attempt to subjugate the Western Alans who lived in the Danube. However, the Visigoths, led by Thorismud, the son of King Theodoric, who died in the Battle of Catalunya, took the side of the Alans. In a battle in 453, the Visigoths defeated the Huns and drove them out of their lands. In 454, during his wedding with Princess Ildika, Attila died unexpectedly. Attila was buried in a triple coffin - gold, silver and iron secretly at night. The Huns buried their leader at the bottom of the Tissa River. This is what the legend says. There were many rumors about the treasures plundered by the Huns during the campaigns. According to some of them, they are buried somewhere in the last Italian residence of Attila - Bibione. However, this city, which was previously located in the coastal strip of the Adriatic Sea, like a number of other ancient seaports of the Mediterranean, later turned out to be flooded due to changes in sea level (a good example is Venice). Local fishermen said that more than once they found ancient coins on the seabed, which were transferred to the museum for a fee. These coins date from the first half of the 5th century. Scuba divers have recovered many coins, antique household utensils and even urns with ashes from the seabed. But there is no evidence that the city of Bibion was found. Nothing indicates that the coins found are part of Attila's treasure.
After the death of Attila, power in the empire passed to his sons, and they divided the empire into possessions and began to fight among themselves. This is how the Hunnic empire disintegrated. First, the Germanic tribes of the Gepids, led by King Ardarich, rebelled against the Huns. The Gepids were supported by the Ostrogoth tribes. In 455, the decisive battle took place in Pannonia near the river, whose name is Nedao. At the Battle of Nedao, Attila's eldest son Elak was killed. The other two brothers fled east to the Northern Black Sea region. After a while, they made an attempt to recapture Pannonia, but without success. In Pannonia, the Ostrogoths took the place of the Huns. In the second half of the 5th century. the Huns once again unsuccessfully fought against the Germanic tribes and their empire.
But the passionarity of the Huns in the middle of the 5th century sharply decreased, since in the incessant battles, first of all, fierce passionary people perished, which is why individuals with low passionarity accumulated in the population. In addition, the non-passionate elite of the Hunnic society was mired in money-grubbing and luxury, its interests were now limited to the satisfaction of personal desires, the personal for them became more important than the general. The people began to distance themselves from such an elite, the ethnic groups who joined the Huns suddenly remembered that they were not Huns and wanted to secede from the crumbling empire.
Attila's main mistake was that he tried to build an empire out of ethnic groups belonging to different super-ethnic groups: being himself a representative of the Eurasian super-ethnic group, he tried to create a European state out of ethnic groups of the Western European super-ethnic group. I think that he was poisoned by those who could not defeat him in an open struggle.
Culture and beliefs of the Huns
The Huns, who gradually lost their passionarity, were assimilated by new Turkic ethnic groups who had arrived in the Eastern European steppes - Suragurs, Onogurs, Urogs. During the Hunnic wars, the Western Roman Empire collapsed, and new young states began to form on its ruins, headed by barbarian leaders who sought to find places for their fellow tribesmen in the territories of the Roman provinces. At the beginning of the 6th century, according to Byzantine authors, the steppe spaces in Europe are desolate and turn into a corridor along which various Turkic and Ugrichesk tribes rushed to the west - the Ugrians, Bulgarians, Avars. In all likelihood, at this time the climate in Eastern Europe changed again - it became drier, the steppes became less productive, and the nomads were forced to leave their homes and migrate to the west and north. They could not go back to Central Asia, where the Pacific monsoon intensified at that time, since for this it was necessary to cross the dry steppes of southern Siberia and Kazakhstan. At that time, nomads of different origins and anthropological appearance, with different customs and culture, who came here from the basins of the Irtysh, Yaik, the lower Volga and the lower Don, lived in the steppes of Ukraine at that time along with the Huns. At this time, agricultural Slavic ethnic groups began to leave the European forest-steppe to the north into the non-chernozem zone of Eastern Europe.
At first, it was assumed that those burials where deformed skulls are known (the result of deliberate lengthening of the child's head with the help of bandages) are actually Hunnic. Later it turned out that such skulls were typical for the Sarmatians and for some Gothic tribes; this fashion for long-headedness was at that time quite widespread among the priests of pagan cults and the military elite. It is possible that such a deformation of the skull in a certain way influenced the mental abilities and character of people. A similar elongation of the skulls was common in South America among the Aztecs and other peoples of antiquity. This is hardly a coincidence.
A deformed skull from a Hunnic burial. Photos from the site: http://www.sociodinamika.com/puti_rossii/06b.html |
Burial of the Huns. Photos from the site: http://www.td-lesnoy.ru/stranitsi-istorii-respubliki-altay/epocha-gunnov Such burials are found in northwestern Mongolia, Kazakhstan and the Azov steppes. The grave - a round pit - was laid with stones to make it difficult to plunder. Subsequently, mounds began to be poured over such graves, but these were already completely different times. Probably, the mounds were poured with the same purpose - to prevent or at least complicate the plunder. Before the Huns, the ancestors of the Scythians and Sarmatians in the mountainous regions arranged the so-called tiled graves, when the grave pit was laid with fragments of rocks so that each subsequent stone "locked" all the rest. |
Today archaeologists define the Hunnic monuments and their area by mapping those categories of things that are directly related to the Huns. These are bronze cauldrons, bronze Chinese mirrors, specifically Hunnic L-shaped bits. a, compound bow elements, saddles, three-bladed arrowheads, tiaras. The burials of the Huns are difficult to distinguish from the burials of the Sarmatians. A distinctive feature of the Hunnic burials is the complete absence of utensils in the burials, the presence of horse equipment in the male burials. A particularly characteristic feature of the monuments of the Hunnic period is the presence of polychrome-style decorations. The lack of dishes can be explained, perhaps, by the fact that with constant movement the pots were often broken, and they tried not to put bronze and silver dishes in the graves, because she was dear. About 20 Hunnic burial complexes and several accidental finds are known today on the territory of Ukraine.
The Huns buried the dead in pits 0.7–1.23 m deep and up to 7 m in diameter, lowered to the mainland clay. The remains from the funeral pyre were placed in the pit: coal, burnt human, horse and sheep bones. Swords, arrows, harnesses and saddles were placed in the burials. Stones were thrown on top. Sometimes on top of the stones, in the center, bones and dishes from the funeral feast are found. Monuments of the Huns are known in the Nikolaev, Odessa regions, in the Crimea. In the graves of warriors, in addition to harness, they put long swords or broadswords, a Hunnic bow, arrowheads. Bone overlays have survived from the Hunnic bow to the present day. A distinctive sign and a kind of rod of the Hunnic rulers and governors of Attila was a gilded bow. The remains of such a bow were found in a rich burial near the village. Yakushovitsy (Malopolsha). Women's burials were accompanied by mirrors, tiaras, amber necklaces. Tiaras in the form of a wide hoop, single or multiple, were reinforced on a leather base with ties at the back. They are usually covered with gold and richly decorated with stones. Cast bronze boilers with legs are typical of the Huns.
The basis of the Huns' economy was cattle breeding. The herd contained horses, sheep, cows, goats, pigs. Ammianus Marcellinus writes that "... they have no one engaged in arable farming and the Huns never touch the plow"... Cattle breeding was supplemented by hunting. The women were involved in household chores, cooking, weaving, making clothes, and raising children. Among the crafts were leather processing, jewelry craft, wood processing.
Trade with the Roman provinces in peacetime and with the agricultural tribes of the Black Sea region and the zone of the Eastern European forest-steppe was of great importance. Relations with the surrounding tribes ranged from military confrontation to alliances and joint campaigns. Nomads were in dire need of agricultural products, so the war with neighbors was replaced by friendly relations with them - trade. To consolidate friendly relations, marriages were concluded between representatives of the nobility. Judging by the archaeological materials found at the necropolis of the capital of the Bosporus, the local nobility preserved their wealth during the period of the Hunnic conquest. Tanais, which had been in ruins for more than 100 years, was completely re-populated under the Huns. On the Danube, the Huns took away and settled in their possessions the population of entire Byzantine cities. On the new lands, judging by the sources, the settlers achieved great prosperity.
The first military actions of the Huns were really aimed at the destruction of alien people and the seizure of pastures. At that time, the army was the entire people, led by leaders and elders. Ammianus Marcellinus wrote about this period in the history of the Huns: "They do not know ... strict royal power, but are content with the casual leadership of the noblest and crush everything that comes their way." In the process of the formation of an inter-tribal union, the structure of the Hunnic society changed. It includes multi-ethnic and multi-lingual tribes with different cultural traditions and level of social development.
Attila's court represented a "mixed-tribal mixture", ethnic groups in the Hunnic empire, in addition to their own language, studied the Gothic and Hunnic languages. In this second period, the property stratification of society takes place, the estate of the clan aristocracy stands out. At the head of the alliance of the Huns was the main ruler. His power was hereditary. At the head of individual tribes were tribal leaders, in most cases appointed by the supreme ruler. Perhaps there was an institution of governors appointed by the ruler. The ruler had his own headquarters, where his family, his entourage and the army lived.
Priscus Ponticus left such a description of Attila's court in Pannonia. It was a huge village with Attila's mansions, built of logs and well-cut planks, surrounded by a wooden fence. Mansions adorned the towers. Attila's close associates also had similar structures. Attila's wife, Kreka, had separate mansions. “Inside the fence there were many buildings, some of which were beautifully fitted planks covered with carvings, while others were hewn and scraped (rounded) logs inserted into wooden circles; these circles, starting from the ground, rose to a moderate height. " The rank-and-file Huns did not have a chorus, nor did “Of any permanent dwelling ... They have always had an aversion to permanent dwellings. It was impossible to find even a hut covered with reeds… ”. They compared life in a house to life in a coffin.
Plundering wars and huge contributions enriched the tribal nobility of the leaders. They concentrated fabulous riches in their hands, which allowed them to strengthen their position in society, traces of these riches are the treasures of gold Roman coins and gold objects that were never used, scattered throughout Europe. Such a treasure was found in Petross in Romania. It contained 18.8 kg of gold dishes and women's jewelry. Another treasure was discovered in Hodmezevasarhey (Hungary). It consisted of 1440 gold coins and weighs over 6 kg. In the hoard from the village of Bine (Slovakia) there were 108 gold coins, and in the village. Rublyovka 201 gold coins were found in Poltava region. These examples indicate the size of the wealth of the Hunnic elite. The Huns sought to keep the conquered peoples in the sphere of their influence, including their leaders in the circle of those close to the ruler - in the political elite. The presence of the leaders of the Gothic tribes at the court of Attila is evidenced by the notes of Irisk of Pontic. Attila's court had an office, clerks.
A dozen families formed a camp among the Huns. This number of families was optimal for ensuring the grazing of the herd, its protection and reproduction. Several camps formed the basis of the tribe. The Hunnic tribe consisted of about 500 people. The total number of Huns in Europe is estimated from 25 thousand to 250 thousand people. The latter figure probably includes not only ethnic Huns, but also those ethnic groups that joined the Hunnic super-ethnos and called themselves the Huns.
Ammianus Marcellinus testifies: “They line up in the form of a wedge for battle and go to the enemy with a desperate cry. They very easily break loose and sometimes suddenly scatter in different directions, carrying death over wide spaces "... In battle, the Huns used javelins and spears. Long double swords were widely used, less often short ones. The Huns skillfully used lassos, with the help of which they pulled the enemy riders out of their saddles and took out the spearmen behind the bristles of long spears and a dense wall of high shields.
Purebred Huns (Huns) belonged to the Mongoloid race. From the descriptions it follows that their appearance was far from what the representatives of the Roman Empire were used to, although they were in contact with many peoples of Europe and Asia. The Huns were distinguished by dense and strong parts of the body, thick and often elongated heads, in general such a terrible and monstrous appearance that, as Ammianus Marcellinus notes, they could be mistaken for two-legged beasts or likened to piles that were roughly hewn during the construction of bridges. Ammianus Marcellinus emphasizes that the Huns were beardless and had no hair at all. This was achieved by the fact that at the birth of a child, his cheeks were deeply cut with a sharp weapon, and so the appearance of hair was supposedly delayed. They wrote about the Huns that they grow old beardless and devoid of any beauty, like eunuchs. Claudius Claudian also notes that "They have an ugly appearance and shameful-looking bodies." Probably, the Europeans seemed no less ugly to the Huns. The enemy is always portrayed as a wild monster, and in our time too.
Attila was a typical representative of the Hunnic people. Jordan described it this way: "In appearance, Attila was short with a wide chest, with a large head and small eyes, with a sparse beard, touched by gray hair, with a flattened nose, with a disgusting color (of skin), he showed all the signs of his origin." The Goths assumed that the Huns were born from the connection of witches and unclean spirits. The Huns moved heavily and reluctantly on foot, as they spent their entire lives on horseback. Horses occupied a special place in the life of the Huns. Most of all, wrote Ammianus Marcellinus, they look after horses. Young people from childhood, having become attached to horses, considered it a shame to walk. They seemed to be rooted in their horses, hardy, but ugly in appearance, and often, sitting on them, in a female manner, performed their usual activities - relieving themselves on little. In all likelihood, the Huns invented the fly of the men's pants. They spent day and night on a horse, engaged in buying and selling, ate, drank and, bending over the steep neck of the horse, fell asleep and slept so soundly that they even dreamed. Whenever they had to confer on serious matters, then they conducted such meetings, sitting on horses. This was confirmed by Priscus Ponticus, describing how "... when meeting with the Roman embassy, Attila's ambassadors arranged a congress outside the city, sitting on horses, since it was not customary for the barbarians to hold meetings on dismounted."
From all these descriptions, one can conclude to what extent the Huns were unusual for the eyes of Europeans. They were not like the previous nomads of the steppes - Scythians, Sarmatians, Alans, who had Caucasian features. The Europeans saw Mongoloids for the first time. “This indomitable people,- wrote Ammianus Marcellinus, - flaming with an irrepressible passion for the theft of someone else's property, moving forward amid the robberies and massacres of neighboring peoples, he reached the land of the Alans ...". Another author, Evseny Jerome, wrote in 389: "Here the whole east trembled at the sudden spread of news that from the extreme reaches of Meotida ... swarms of Huns escaped, which, flying here and there on fast horses, filled everyone with carnage and horror." It is strange to read this, since both the Byzantines and the Romans themselves robbed, killed and made slaves of tens of thousands of foreigners. Double standards were widespread among Europeans even at that distant time. The Romans were very offended that now not only they, but also these vile barbarians can rob and kill.
The Huns wore clothes made of linen and animal skins, adapted for riding. Shirts and dressing gowns wrapped around the chest were in linen. The hem of the shirt was just above the knees, the sleeves were long, below the hands. By the way, the same shirts were worn by Russians in recent times. The shoe straps ended with metal fasteners, sometimes different on the left and right legs. The belt buckles were massive with a thickened front frame. On their heads, the Huns wore shapeless, often conical, headdresses. In the cold, large cloaks decorated with drawings were thrown over clothes. The clothes were worn until they were completely worn out. Warriors wore gold neck torcs, less often bracelets and one earring on the left. The diadem was a necessary attribute of the formal dress of a Hunnic woman.
The most famous feature of the Hunnic culture, which spread and became fashionable during the Middle Ages practically throughout Europe, is the so-called "Hunnic" polychrome style. This art arose among the Hunnic nobility and was a kind of reflection of their rapture with wealth. In an effort to imitate the nobility, ordinary soldiers began to use things made in the "polychrome style". This fashion required all things to be covered with embossed gold foil and inlaid with precious colored stones. The "Hunnic" polychrome style, unlike, for example, the Sarmatian style, is characterized by the predominance of red inserts, precious and semi-precious stones - garnet, carnelian, amber - were widely used. The stones were soldered on a gold base. Decorations in graves are rare. Among them are glass and gilded beads, earrings in the form of a ball with almandine eyes, bronze plate bracelets with open ends.
The “cloisonne” technique was widely used, in which the entire surface of the product was covered with a geometric ornament formed by gold frames filled with flat colored stones (the so-called cloisonné inlay). Zoomorphic motifs, which were characteristic of the Scythian and Sarmatian cultures, were completely absent in the Hunnic adornments. The Huns' ornament was limited by a set of ribbed straight rollers and loops. Weapons, hats, belts, shoes, saddles, horse harness are lavishly decorated with gold and colored stones, scattered, as it were, in bulk. This creates the impression of special splendor and wealth. The effect produces a brilliance of gold and a multitude of stones. According to researchers, the found rich graves of the Huns, and such are almost all known burials, did not belong to the nobility, but to ordinary soldiers. Items from these graves are relatively inexpensive; bronze or silver is usually hidden under a thin sheet of gold. There are few solid gold items in the known graves, and they are small. Obviously, solid gold jewelry was not available to ordinary soldiers, but only to the Hunnic high nobility. The graves of this nobility are yet to be found by archaeologists. In burials of the 4th – 6th centuries. frequent cases of finding skeletons with pronounced Mongoloid features. This indicates an influx of Asian populations in the steppes of Eastern Europe.
New in the Hunnic burials is the discovery of horse skeletons and new forms of weapons. The most common remains of a Hunnic bow with arrows. Bows of the Huns up to 1.65 m in length, with bone plates at the ends and in the middle. A similar bow back in the III-II centuries. BC. appeared in the Usun-Hunnish environment in Central Asia and penetrated into Eastern Europe not earlier than the first centuries of our era, and became widespread here only during the Hunnic invasion. This type of bow has every reason to be called Hunnic. There are small triangular petiole arrowheads, but at this time both large three-lobed and flat rhomboid arrowheads appear with a ledge at the transition to the petiole.
Remnants of saddles are found in some graves. The front bow of the saddle is carved from a single piece of wood and has an arched shape, the back bow is round. But in the finds of the 5th-6th centuries. no iron stirrups were found, they appeared later. At this time, it is possible that stirrups in the form of a belt loop were used. The girth buckles were made of bone.
Of the items related to clothing, the most common are bronze and iron belt buckles, which have the shape of a slightly flattened oval with a slightly curved tongue. There are bronze or silver belt sets made of plaques, belt tips and fasteners. Curly plaques with slots, elongated tips with a pointed end and also with slots, T-shaped fasteners with a figured shield with slots. Interesting are small rectangular buckles with a clip of thin bronze plates bent in half. Buckles of this kind are found at the feet and clearly refer to shoes, probably short, fastened with belts.
The same inventory is found in cremations. It is also found in the post-Hunnic time in the steppes of Eastern Europe and, in all likelihood, it is associated here with a new wave of Turkic peoples, while corpses in side-cut graves continued the old Sarmatian tradition of burial, which was equally characteristic of both Eastern Europe and Kazakhstan with the foothills Central Asia. The forms of things found in the graves of steppe nomads have the closest analogies in objects common in neighboring agricultural areas, for example, in the Borisov burial ground in the Gelendzhik region or in the Crimean burial grounds of the Suuksu type associated with the Goths, or in the Alanian burial grounds of the North Caucasus. The same things are found in the north in the Finnish burial grounds in the Oka and Kama basins.
All this suggests that at that time ethnic groups moved intensively, contacted each other and adopted more advanced technologies and religious beliefs from each other. In general, it can be assumed that corpses were originally characteristic of the inhabitants of the treeless steppe, and cremations were characteristic of the inhabitants of the forest zone, because burning a corpse requires a lot of fuel - wood. It is very difficult to burn a corpse in the steppe. But the northern forest dwellers, who were in contact with nomads, eventually adopted their burial in graves and abandoned funeral pyres. It was easier and faster that way.
In the V-VI centuries. tribes of different origins lived and mixed in the steppes, the surviving local Sarmatian population not only assimilated the forms brought by the conquerors, but also, in turn, spread among them one or another trait characteristic of the local culture. Very soon this led to the formation of a single Hunno-Bulgarian ethnic massif, in which the local Sarmatian traditions in some respects took a dominant position.
Byzantium in the 6th-7th centuries was not able to withstand the onslaught of the Huns-Bulgarians, but to fight them it used the horde of Avars, who were at that time a highly passionate ethnic group and, despite the fact that their army numbered only 20 thousand horsemen, were able to shackle the forces of the Huns-Bulgarians and distract them from the struggle with Byzantium. After the departure of the Avars to Pannonia and the weakening of the Türkic Kaganate, which, due to internal troubles, lost control over their western possessions, the Bulgarian tribes again had the opportunity to declare themselves. Their union this time was associated with the activities of Khan Kubrat, who was brought up at the imperial court in Constantinople and was converted to Christianity at the age of 12. But this will be discussed further.
Gumilev L.N. Ancient Turks. M .: Ayris-press, 2004 .-- 560 p.
Gumilev L.N. Rhythms of Eurasia / L.N. Gumilyov. - M .: AST "AST MOSCOW", 2007. - 606 p.
Zolin P. Holmgardia's wars with Attila. Access address: http://www.trinitas.ru/rus/doc/0211/008a/02111052.htm
Ibreology of Crimea. Access address: http://ivrdata.comule.com/travel/crimea/crimea.html
History of the Astrakhan region. Access address: http://asthistory.narod.ru/istorocherk.htm
Yu.G. Mizun, Yu.V. Mizun Khans and princes. Golden Horde and Russian principalities / M: Veche, 2005. Access address: http://lib.aldebaran.ru
Rybakov B.A.Kievan Rus and Russian principalities of the XII - XIII centuries. M., 1993.
Rybakov B. A. The World of History: the Early Centuries of Russian History. M., 1987.
Rybakov B.A. The first centuries of Russian history. M., 1967.
Saishial. The Legend of Genghis Khan. (Translated from the old Mongolian Narpol Ochirov). Ulan-Ude: Publishing House of JSC "Republican Printing House". - 2006.576 p.
Sedov V.V. Ethnogenesis of the early Slavs. Access address: http://slawia.org/ru/book/etnogenez-rannih-slavyan
Fakhrutdinov R.G. Essays on the history of the Volga Bulgaria. - M .: Nauka, 1984 .-- 216 p.
Fakhrutdinov R.G. History of the Tatar people and Tatarstan. (Antiquity and the Middle Ages). Textbook for secondary schools, gymnasiums and lyceums. - Kazan: Magarif, 2000. - 255 p.
Fedorov Lev. Varangian Rus. Slavic Atlantis. Access address: http://www.e-reading.org.ua/bookreader.php/1003627/Prozorov_Lev_-_Varyazhskaya_Rus._Slavyanskaya_Atlantida.html
Endogamy killed the Habsburgs. Access address: http://www.infox.ru/science/past/2009/04/15/Endogamiya_sgubila_G.phtml
Ethnography of the Tatar people. - Kazan: Magarif, 2004 .-- 287 p.
Ethnogenesis of Bulgarians and Suvar // Historical and Cultural Foundation "Volga Bulgaria". Access address:
The Huns are nomadic tribes that at one time migrated from Asia to Europe. Well, that's all the knowledge about the Huns that most people have. But you can tell a lot of interesting things about them, and this is what the article is about.
Who are the Huns?
These tribes begin their history from the 3rd century BC. e. Historians associate the origin of the Huns with the Hun tribes, who lived in the territory of modern China, on the banks of the Yellow River. The Huns are an Asian people who were the first to create a nomadic empire in Central Asia. The story goes that in 48 BC. e. the Huns were divided into two clans: Southern and Northern. The Northern Huns were defeated in the war against China, their union disintegrated, and the remaining nomads migrated to the west. The connection between the Huns and the Huns can be traced by studying the heritage of material culture. For both peoples, the use of the bow was characteristic. However, at present, the ethnicity of the Huns is in doubt.
At different time periods, the word "Huns" pops up in reference books on history, but this name most often denotes ordinary nomads who lived in Europe until the Middle Ages. In the present, the Huns are conquering tribes who founded the great empire of Attila and provoked the Great Migration of Nations, thereby accelerating the course of historical events.
Tribal invasion
It was believed that the Huns, under the onslaught of the emperor of the Han dynasty, were forced to leave their native lands and go west. Along the way, the refugees conquered the tribes they came across and included them in their horde. In 370 the Huns crossed the Volga, at that moment they included Mongols, Ugrians, Turkic and Iranian tribes.
From that moment on, the Huns begin to be mentioned in the annals. Most often they are spoken of as barbaric invaders, without denying their strength and cruelty. Nomadic tribes are becoming the main root cause of important historical events. Even today, historians debate where the Huns actually originated. Some insist that these tribes were the ancestors of the Slavs and have nothing to do with Asia. Although at the same time the Turks assert that the Huns were Turks, and the Mongols say: "The Huns are Mongols."
As a result of research, it was possible to find out only that the Huns are close to the Mongol-Manchu peoples, as evidenced by the similarity of names and culture. However, no one is in a hurry to deny or confirm it with 100% certainty.
But no one belittles the role of the Huns in history. It is worth noting the peculiarities of the invasion of the Hunnic tribes into enemy territories. Their attacks were unexpected, like the descent of an avalanche, and the tactics of fighting threw the enemy into complete confusion. Nomadic tribes did not engage in close combat, they simply surrounded the enemies and showered them with arrows, while continuously moving from place to place. The enemy fell into bewilderment, and then the Huns finished him off, having piled up with all the cavalry army. If it came to hand-to-hand combat, they could masterfully wield swords, while the soldiers did not think about their safety - they rushed into battle without sparing themselves. Their furious round-ups took the Romans, the tribes of the Northern Black Sea region, the Goths, Iranians and representatives of other peoples by surprise, who became part of the large Hunnic union.
Occupied Lands
For the first time, the Huns are mentioned in the annals of 376, when they captured the Alans of the North Caucasus. Later they attacked the state of Germanarich and completely defeated it, which provoked the beginning of the Great Migration of Nations. During their domination on the territory of Europe, the Huns conquered a significant part of the Ostrogoth tribes, and drove the Visigoths back to Thrace.
In 395, the tribes of the Huns crossed the Caucasus and set foot on the lands of Syria. The leader of the Huns at that time was King Balamber. In just a few months, this state was completely devastated, and the invading tribes settled in Austria and Pannonia. Pannonia became the center of the future empire of the Huns. This was the starting point from which they began to attack the Eastern Roman Empire. As for the Western Roman Empire, the Hun tribes until the middle of the 5th century were their allies in the wars against the Germanic tribes.
From Rugil to Attila
All residents of the conquered lands were forced to take part in military campaigns and pay taxes. By the beginning of 422, the Huns again attacked Thrace. Fearing war, the emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire began to pay tribute to the leader of the Huns.
10 years later, Rugila (the leader of the Huns) began to threaten the Roman Empire by breaking the peace agreements. The reason for this behavior was the fugitives who were hiding in the territory of the Roman state. However, Rugila did not realize his plan, he died during the negotiations. The new rulers were the nephews of the late leader: Bled and Attila.
In 445, under unexplained circumstances, Bleda died while hunting. Historians speculate that he may have been killed by Attila. However, this fact has not been confirmed. From that moment on, Attila was the leader of the Huns. He entered the pages of history as a cruel and great commander who wiped out all of Europe from the face of the earth.
The empire of the Huns acquired the greatest greatness in 434-453 under the leader Attila. During his reign, the tribes of the Bulgars, Heruls, Geids, Sarmatians, Goths and other Germanic tribes went to the Huns.
Attila's reign
During the one-man rule of Attila, the state of the Huns grew to incredible proportions. This was the merit of their ruler. Attila (the leader of the Huns) lived in the territory of modern Hungary. From this place, his power extended to the Caucasus (east), the Rhine (west), the Danish islands (north) and the Danube (south).
Attila forced Theodosius I (ruler of the Eastern Roman Empire) to continue paying him tribute. He devastated Thrace, Media, Illyria, subjugated the right bank of the Danube. Having reached the borders of Constantinople, he forced the emperor to pay off the conduct of hostilities and provide the Huns with the country's lands on the southern bank of the Danube.
Having settled in Constantinople, Attila goes to Valentine the Third, the ruler of Western Rome, with a request to give his sister for him. However, the ruler of the Western Empire refuses such an alliance. Outraged by the refusal, Attila gathers an army and begins to move west. The leader of the Huns passes Germany, crossing the Rhine, destroyed Trier, Arras and many other cities.
In the fall of 451, a grandiose battle of the peoples began on the Cataluan Plain. It can even be assumed that this was the first large-scale battle in the history of our era. In this confrontation, the advance of the Huns was stopped by the united army of the Roman empires.
Death of Attila
Under King Attila, a large political entity was formed, in which, until the 6th century, the Sarmatians, Huns and other tribes constituted the bulk of the population. They all submitted to a single ruler. In 452, Attila's Huns entered the lands of Italy. Cities such as Milan and Aquelia were under the threat of military conflict. However, the troops are retreating back to their territories. In 453, Attila dies, and due to misunderstandings about the new leader, the Gepids attack the Huns, who led the uprising of the tribes of Germany. Starting from 454, the power of the Huns turns into a historical past. This year, in the confrontation with the Nedao River, they are being ousted in the Black Sea region.
In 469, the Huns make a last attempt to break through to the Balkan Peninsula, but they are stopped. They gradually begin to mix with other tribes arriving from the east, and the state of the Huns ceases to exist.
Housekeeping
The history of the Huns began and ended suddenly, in a short period of time a whole empire was formed, which conquered almost all of Europe, and just as quickly it disappeared, mixing with other tribes that came to develop new lands. However, even this small gap was enough for the Huns to create their own culture, religion and way of life.
Their main occupation, like most of the tribes, was cattle breeding, which says Son Qiang, a Chinese historian. The tribes constantly moved from place to place, lived in mobile yurts. The main diet consisted of meat and koumiss. The clothes were made of wool.
Wars were an important part of life, the main goal of which was initially to seize booty, and then to subjugate new tribes. In peacetime, the Huns simply followed the cattle, hunting birds and animals along the way.
The nomadic herding consisted of all kinds of domestic animals, including the bactrian camel and donkey. Particular attention was paid directly to horse breeding. It was not only a reserve for military action, but a kind of confirmation of social status. The more horses there are, the more honorable the nomad.
During the heyday of the Hunnic empire, cities were founded where residents could lead a sedentary lifestyle. As a result of the excavations, it was clear that the tribes were engaged in agriculture for some time, and special places were created in the cities for storing grain.
In fact, the Huns were nomadic tribes and were engaged in cattle breeding, but one should not discount the presence of small foci of a sedentary method of farming. Within the state, these two ways of life existed harmoniously.
The social side of life
The Hun tribes had a complex social organization for that time. The head of the country was the Shany, the so-called "son of heaven" with unlimited power.
The Huns were subdivided into clans (clans), of which there were 24. Each of them was headed by "generations governing". At the beginning of the wars of conquest, it was the managers who divided new lands among themselves, later Shanyi began to deal with this, and the managers became simple bosses over the horsemen, who numbered 10 thousand for each.
In the army, everything was also not so simple. The temnik was responsible for the appointment of the thousand's and centurions, as well as for the distribution of land between them. On the other hand, the strengthened central authority did not turn the empire into a monarchy or autocracy. On the contrary, there were popular assemblies and a council of elders in the society. Three times a year, the Huns gathered in one of the cities of their empire to make a sacrifice to Heaven. On such days, heads of generations discussed the policy of the state, watched horse races or camel racing.
It was noted that in the society of the Huns there were aristocrats, they were all connected by marriage with each other.
But, since there were many conquered tribes in the empire, which were forcibly adapted to the society of the Huns, slavery flourished in some places. For the most part, prisoners became slaves. They were left in cities and forced to help in agriculture, construction, or crafts.
The heads of the Hunnic state had a plan to unite all peoples, although Chinese and ancient sources constantly make them barbarians. After all, if they had not become a catalyst for the Great Migration of Peoples in Europe, it is likely that the crisis and the slave-owning mode of production would have dragged on for several more centuries.
Segment of the cultural organization
The culture of the Huns takes its continuation from the tribes of the Saxons, includes their main elements and continues to develop. Iron products were widespread in these tribes. Nomads knew how to use a loom, processed wood and began to trade in crafts.
Material culture and military affairs were developed in the tribes. Since the Huns traded in raids on other states, they had a highly developed battering technique that helped to crush the fortifications.
The Huns are a people of nomads. However, even in the world of perpetual motion, there were sedentary agricultural oases that were used as winter quarters. Some settlements were well fortified and could serve instead of a military fortress.
One of the historians, describing the refuge of Attila, said that his settlement was as large as a city. The houses were made of wood. The boards were nailed to each other so tightly that it was impossible to notice the joints.
They buried their fellow tribesmen on the banks of the rivers. At the sites of the nomads' camps, mounds were built, fenced in a circle with a fence. Weapons and horses were "buried" together with the dead. But more attention was paid to the Huns' mausoleums - groups of mounds with underground chambers. In such mounds, not only weapons were left, but jewelry, ceramics, and even food.
As for the rock carvings, most often you can see drawings of a swan, a bull and a deer. These animals had their own sacred meaning. It was believed that the bull is the personification of power. The deer brings prosperity and shows the way to wanderers. The swan was the keeper of the hearth.
The art of the Hun tribes is directly related to the artistic style of the Saxons, however, they pay more attention to inlays, and the animal style remains unchanged until the 3rd century, when it is replaced by polychrome monuments.
Religion
Like every self-respecting state, the Hunnic empire had its own religion. Their main god was Tengri - the deity of the Sky. The nomads were animists, revered the spirits of Heaven and the forces of nature. Protective amulets were made of gold and silver, images of animals, mainly dragons, were engraved on the plates.
The Huns did not make human sacrifices, but they had idols cast from silver. Religious beliefs implied the presence of priests, sorcerers and medicine men. In the ruling elite of the Huns, one could often meet shamans. Their responsibility was to determine the favorable months of the year.
The deification of heavenly bodies, elements and roads was also characteristic of their religion. Horses were presented as blood sacrifices. All religious ceremonies were accompanied by military duels, which were an obligatory attribute of any event. In addition, when someone died, as a sign of grief, the Huns were obliged to inflict wounds on themselves.
The role of the Huns in history
The invasion of the Huns had a great influence on the course of historical events. Unexpected raids on the tribes of Western Europe were the main catalyst that provoked changes in the position of the nomads. The destruction of the Ostrogoths prevented the possibility of Germanization of the Sklavens of Europe. The Alans withdrew to the west, and the Iranian tribes of Eastern Europe were weakened. All this testifies to only one thing - only the Turks and Sklavens influenced the further development of historical events.
It can even be said that the leader of the Huns, having invaded Europe, liberated the Eastern Proto-Slavs from the Goths, Iranians, Alans and their influence on the development of culture. The Sklaven troops were used by the Huns as an auxiliary reserve of military campaigns.
During the reign of Attila, the territory of the Huns occupied unthinkable areas. Stretching from the Volga to the Rhine, the empire of the Hunnic conquerors reaches its maximum expansion. But when Attila dies, the great power disintegrates.
In many sources that describe the historical events of the Middle Ages, different nomadic tribes that are found in different parts of Eurasia are called Huns. However, no one was able to prove their relationship with the European Huns. In some publications this word is simply interpreted as a term that means "nomadic tribe". Only in 1926 K. A. Inostrantsev introduced the concept of "Huns" to designate the European tribes of the state of Attila.
Thus, in the end, only one thing can be said: the Huns are not only nomadic tribes with an irresistible thirst for power, but also key figures of their era, who became the cause of many historical changes.