Attila, the Huns and the Battle for Europe

Khan's Den
Khan's Den
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Published 2023-08-25
The fall of the Xiongnu Empire lead to the migration of many tribes – especially Turkic ones – away from the Altai-Transbaikal area in eastern Central Asia into the west and southwest. These tribes arrived in places like modern-day Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Afghanistan and Kazakhstan and created new kingdoms. From the Kydarites to the Alchons and the Hepthalites ("White Huns"), these Hunnic states ruled over much of Central Asia in the migratory period from 200-560 CE, before the rise of the Göktürks, and some even went as far as India. Other post-Xiongnu states emerged along the frontier between China and the Eastern Eurasian Steppe, including the Tuoba Dynasty.

However, yet another – perhaps smaller – group migrated along the northern routes of the Eurasian Steppe Belt and arrived in the Ponto-Caspian region which connects Europe and Asia by the middle of the 4th century. Simply called "Huns", they invaded the European continent in 375 CE, slowly but steadily. Their attacks on neighboring tribes like the Goths (Germanic) and Alans (Iranic) further accelerated the migrations across all of Europe and led to the climax of the so-called "Barbarian Invasions". The Huns themselves arrived in Central Europe and founded a power center in modern-day Hungary.

Then, nearly a century after their arrival, a young and ambitious Hun called Attila took power. After killing off his brother Bleda, he ended the Hunnic system of dual kingship and – as sole leader of many tribes – started large-scale invasions of Western and Southern Europe. The Huns logically came into direct military conflict with the Western Roman Empire.

But contrary to popular belief, Huns and Romans used to be partners for a long time, cooperating against many Germanic tribes in Western and Central Europe. And unlike Western literature has suggested for several centuries, the Huns were never interested in conquering and permanently occupying places like Gaul or even Rome. Yet, Attila directly invaded the Italian peninsula, and had even planned to besiege Constantinople shortly before his death.

But why? How can the actions of the Huns be explained? Where did they come from in the first place? What language did they spoke? Did they live in yurts (tents) like their nomadic ancestors or became sedentary by building houses and creating larger settlements? And how did the fall of the Huns affect the history of Europe?

In this new documentary by Khan's Den, we are going to explore these and many other questions that have been either answered half-heartily by many scholars and historians or ignored altogether. We are also going to explain the culture of the Huns, their possible relations to Turks, Mongols and Germanic peoples, and their way of life along the western-most edge of the Eurasian Steppe Belt. Finally, we want to bring new perspectives to the history of the Huns, making way for new fresh debates about the legacy of Attila and his contemporaries. This is the Rise and Fall of the Hunnic Empire.

WEBSITE: bit.ly/KhansDen
GÖKTÜRK MOVIE 01: bit.ly/GokturkMovie1
GÖKTÜRK MOVIE 02: bit.ly/GokturkMovie2
GÖKTÜRK MOVIE 03: bit.ly/GokturkMovie3
PATREON: bit.ly/3BR6M3T
PODCAST: bit.ly/KhansDenPodcast
BOOK 1: amzn.to/3fwqmKR
BOOK 2: [Coming Soon]

Chapters:
00:00-02:33: Intro: The Huns are Coming
02:34-09:40 Chapter 1: Central Asian Hunnic States
09:41-23:05 Chapter 2: Arrival Of The Huns in Europe
23:06-28:39 Chapter 3: A Lost Turkic-Germanic Connection?
28:40-35:51 Chapter 4: Attila, Aetius And The Battle for Europe
35:52-40:32 Chapter 5: Attila's Successors And The Legacy of the Huns
All Comments (21)
  • @KhansDen
    This took a long time and a lot of effort to make. Hope you enjoy. And in case you want some of the images used in this video digitally, go to my profile on ArtStation. There, you can purchase a 9-image pack of images that show the lifestyle, religion, warfare and people of the Huns in Europe. ---> www.artstation.com/a/30441503 The portrait of Attila, the last great king of the Huns and the most infamous of them all, that is also shown on the thumbnail is further available as PRINT (poster, canvas etc.): ---> artstn.co/pp/ap/10zbX With each purchase you will support this channel, and every dime is going to be invested into the next projects. Thank you.
  • @zoltandaniel5784
    By far the most accurate and reliable video about the Huns! Thank you !
  • @DarrenRFC
    Been waiting for this for so long. Love from Scotland🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🇬🇧
  • @khabibmcgregor5386
    I absolutely love your channel. Please keep doing more and more turkic, mongolic movies please. You're exactly who I've been searching for!!!!!!!!!
  • @islombekochi
    Khan's Den it's another level, awesome! It's clear if we look Turkic countries general history only their founders gain their top. Land area, army, supplies extra. Like Atilla the hun, The Temur, mamluk sultans acros afro-asia except ottomans
  • @kuma9069
    Absolutely excellent doco! Really fascinating & educational. Great work, team. Thank you so much for sharing. ⚔🙏
  • @Danny_S.
    Top notch. Thanks for creating and sharing with the world.
  • @yakamen
    I most enjoy the research and references used in this fantastic work. Great scholarship
  • @janetyanchewa8246
    My name is Atila and i feel so grateful my parents named me after him
  • @zoltan-atillaungor365
    According the Hungarian chronicles, Attila and his troops stayed on the battle field and buried the dead enemy, and burned their own dead soldiers. After this they stopped in Rome. Pope Leo came to the gates of Rome. A short time later Attila and his troop left. So the so called barbarian didn't burn Rome like the Germans and others did before and after.
  • @lajos-berenyi
    One interesting data about the "barbaric" Attila: In 476 the Roman empire was ended, when the last emperor, Augustus Romulus was dethroned by Odoaker, and Odoaker became the king of Italy. And who were they? Augustus Romulus was the son of the first secretary of Attila (Orestes). And Odoaker was a son of the commander of Attila's bodyguard (Edeko). So how "barbarian" Attila could be, if his first secretary's son became later the last Roman emperor, and his bodyguard's commander's son became later the first Italian king?
  • @snicket87
    Really loved your video. You research is impeccable, storytelling is great and illustrations as superb
  • @denizucar3947
    This is by far the best and most informative documentary about this topic I have seen. Delicious style and magnifitient illustrations. Gettin better and better. Enjoyed alot. Please more.🐎🐎🐎
  • @Trapper1
    Thank you for the video. You have amazingly accurately reproduced the appearance of the Huns. I am simply amazed at how accurately artificial intelligence reproduced the images of the Huns (Xiongnu). This is simply excellent. I just began to believe even more that our Chuvash ancestors were Xiongnu. I have photographs of my relatives and they are 100 percent similar to your photographs of the Huns. It is something. I'm just touched. It was as if I saw my distant relatives. The Chuvash are descendants of the Xiongnu. That's for sure. Both in language and now in appearance... I'm sure. It was they who invisibly drew your portraits of the Huns. We Chuvash even have a clan called Mushchak (Attila’s father), I found out last week. Your hand and thoughts are invisibly led in the right direction by our great ancestors – the Xiongnu. In Chuvash, man is translated as Shun. Tavtapushch sir (in Chuvash this means thank you) We have an ancient saying that if the Chuvash disappear, the world will disappear. The Huns, represented by the Chuvash, have not left the world stage of history. They, as before, will still say their word for the glory of humanity.... Tour Shchirlakh!!!