 |
Business | Industries | Finance | Tax |
| Index: > A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z |
|
|||||
| First Prev [ 1 2 3 4 ] Next Last |
The Huns, led by Attila (right, foreground), ride into Italy. Attila the Hun (c. 406– 453), last and most powerful king of the European Huns, reigned from 434 until his death over what was then Europe's largest empire, which stretched from Central Europe to the Black Sea and from the Danube River to the Baltic. During his rule he was among the direst enemies of the Eastern and Western Roman Empires: he invaded the Balkans twice, encircling Constantinople in the second invasion; he marched through France as far as Orleans before being turned back at Chalons; and he drove the western emperor Valentinian III from his capital at RavennaFor other places named Ravenna, see Ravenna (disambiguation). Ravenna is a city in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy, population 134,631 (2001). The city is inland, but is connected to the Adriatic Sea by a canal. Ravenna once served as the seat of the R in 452.
Though his empire died with him, and he left no remarkable legacy, he has become a legendary figure in the history of Europe: in much of Western Europe, he is remembered as the epitome of cruelty and rapacity; some histories lionise him as a great king; he plays major roles in two Norse sagaThe Norse sagas or Viking sagas (Icelandic: slendingasogur , are stories about ancient Scandinavian and Germanic history, about early Viking voyages, about migration to Iceland, and of feuds between Icelandic families. They were written in the Old Norse ls.
The European Huns seem to have been a western extension of the XiongnuXiongnu (; meaning Xiong's slaves Xiong being a Chinese transliteration of a national name but also meaning 'savage/raucous/ferocious', however some argued that the two words are both transliteration, in this case the sense of "slaves" does not exist) was (Xiongnú), (匈奴) n., a group of Mongolian or TurkicThe Turkic people are any of various peoples whose members speak languages in the Turkic family of languages. These people, possibly numbering 150 million in population, are probably the diverse descendants of large groups of tribespeople who originated i nomad tribes from north-eastern ChinaThis article is on the geographic and cultural entity. For other meanings, see China (disambiguation). China ( Traditional Chinese: , Simplified Chinese: , Hanyu Pinyin: Zhongguo, Wade-Giles: Chung-kuo) is a country in continental East Asia with some oute and Central AsiaCentral Asia is a region of Asia. Various definitions of its exact composition exist. Definitions Under one definition, Central Asia covers about 9,029,000 km2, or 21% of the continent. Under this definition Central Asia includes the following countries:. These people achieved military superiority over their rivals (most of them highly cultured and civilized) by their splendid state of readiness for combat, amazing mobility, and weapons like the Hun bow.
By 432, the Huns were united under Rua. In 434 Rua died, leaving his nephews Attila and Bleda, the sons of his brother Mundzuk, in control over all the united Hun tribes. At the time of their accession, the Huns were bargaining with Theodosius II's envoys over the return of several renegade tribes who had taken refuge within the Byzantine Empire. The following year, Attila and Bleda met with the imperial legation at Margus (present-day Požarevac) and, all seated on horseback in the Hunnic manner, negotiated a successful treaty: the Romans agreed not only to return the fugitive tribes (who had been a welcome aid against the Vandals), but also to double their previous tribute of 350 pounds of gold, open their markets to Hunnish traders, and pay a ransom of eight solidi for each Roman taken prisoner by the Huns. The Huns, satisfied with the treaty, decamped from the empire and departed into the interior of the continent, perhaps to consolidate and strengthen their empire. Theodosius used this opportunity to strengthen the walls of Constantinople, building the city's first sea wall, and to build up his border defenses along the Danube.
The Huns remained out of Roman sight for the next five years. In 440, they reappeared on the borders of the empire, attacking the merchants at the market on the north bank of the Danube that had been arranged for by the treaty. Attila and Bleda threatened further war, claiming that the Romans had failed to fulfil their treaty obligations and that the bishop of Margus (not far from modern Belgrade) had crossed the Danube to ransack and desecrate the royal Hun graves on the Danube's north bank. They crossed the Danube and laid waste Illyrian cities and forts on the river, among them, according to Priscus, Viminacium, which was a city of the Moesians in Illyria. Their advance began at Margus, for when the Romans discussed handing over the offending bishop, he slipped away secretly to the barbarians and betrayed the city to them.
Theodosius had stripped the river's defenses in response to the Vandal Geiseric's capture of Carthage in 440 and the Sassanid Yazdegerd II's invasion of Armenia in 441. This left Attila and Bleda a clear path through Illyria into the Balkans, which they invaded in 441. The Hunnish army, having sacked Margus and Viminacium, took Sigindunum (modern Belgrade) and Sirmium before halting its operations. A lull followed during 442, when Theodosius recalled his troops from North Africa and ordered a large new issue of coins to finance operations against the Huns. Having made these preparations, he thought it safe to refuse the Hunnish kings' demands.
Attila and Bleda responded by renewing their campaign in 443. Striking along the Danube, they overran the military centers of Ratiara and successfully besieged Naissus (modern Nis) with battering rams and rolling towers—military sophistication that was new in the Hun repertory—then pushing along the Nisava they took Serdica ( Sofia), Philippopolis ( Plovdiv), and Arcadiopolis . They encountered and destroyed the Roman force outside Constantinople and were only halted by their lack of siege equipment capable of breaching the city's massive walls. Theodosius admitted defeat and sent Anatolius to negotiate peace terms, which were harsher than the previous treaty: the Emperor agreed to hand over of 6,000 pounds of gold as punishment for having disobeyed the terms of the treaty during the invasion; the yearly tribute was tripled, rising to 2,100 pounds in gold; and the ransom for each Roman prisoner rose to 12 solidi.
Their ambitions contented for a time, the Hun kings withdrew into the interior of their empire. According to Jordanes (following Priscus), sometime during the peace following the Huns' withdrawal from Byzantium (probably around 445), Bleda died, and Attila took the throne for himself. There is much historical speculation whether Attila murdered his brother, or whether Bleda died for another reason. In any case, Attila was now undisputed lord of the Huns, and again turned towards the eastern Empire.
| Politics | Business | Finance |
 |
 |
 |
|