The Battle of Catalaunian Fields was the climax of the Hun invasion of the empire. It was this event that decided the fate of Europe because it was this battle which chose groups would to settle. If the Hun army had won European history would be drastically changed. Europe today would be totally different. As the Roman Empire declined the Barbarians that surrounded the empire's perimeter became more daring and bold. With the arrival of the Huns out of the East, the barbarians became the main concern of the empire. The Huns drove ahead and disrupted many tribes which had begun to settle outside the empire. Most of these tribes were driven right into the empire.
[...] It is speculated that Attila learned of the East Empires plan to attack his territories. Attila planned a campaign to attack the East Empire but he did not have the chance. After celebrating with a new wife he drowned in his own blood from a nose bleed, drunk in his tent in 453 AD(Newark,60). The greatest leader of the Huns, the most feared man in history, was dead. If that wasn't bad enough a plague broke out in the Hun army. [...]
[...] "It was said that the ghosts of the slain continued the battle through the night"(Newark,57). The next morning both sides woke to the heaps of the slain strewn across the once peaceful plains of Troyes. The total dead ranged from 165,000 to 200,000 total casualties over 300,000. Infection and disease would claim many on both sides since most wounds were left untreated to fester. Undeterred by the carnage the Visigoths still hungered for the revenge of their king. They demanded to finish off the Huns. [...]
[...] The Alans fought on the side of the Romans in the Battle of Cataluanian Fields betraying their former masters, the Huns. The Franks were another group allied with the Romans that fought with them in the Battle of Catalaunian Fields. Like the Visigoths they were granted land, in west Gaul, as long as they protected it. "The Franks allied themselves with the Visigoths in the 430`s AD. although their main interest was in protecting their land from the Huns"(Newark,87). The Franks were a more advanced Germanic tribe from central Germany(James, 67). [...]
[...] If the Huns had won the Battle of Catalaunian Fields the whole of the empire would have been ripe for the picking. Would the Huns have established their own firm empire? What would France and Spain, Germany and Italy be like today with the Visigoths, Ostrogoths, Franks, and Germans vanquished long ago? It is possible, however unlikely, that a Hun empire would have been created. The Huns were strongly nomadic. Even more so than the Mongols or the Magyars who would wreak havoc on the Western world in centuries to come. [...]
[...] To Roman citizens the Huns were straight out of Hell. The Huns were human despite popular belief. "The Huns were a nomadic Mongoloid people from central Asia. They first appeared out of Mongolia in the early 200's AD. Clashing several times with the Chinese they were driven out and defeated around 300 AD."(Times, 135). After leaving China the Huns then split into two groups, the White Huns and the Black Huns. The White Huns destroyed two empires on their trek across Asia Minor. [...]
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