History UsefulNotes / AttilaTheHun

* Attila appears as a major contestant twice on ''WesternAnimation/{{Skatoony}}.

->''I know nothing of the mother of Attila, but I rather suspect that she spoilt the little darling, who subsequently found the world irritating because it sometimes resisted his whims.''
-->-- '''Creator/BertrandRussell''', ''Power: A New Social Analysis'' (1938)

[-[[caption-width-right:300:Even a mass of federated nations could not endure the sight of the Huns. I am not deceived in the issue; here is the field so many victories have promised us. I shall hurl the first spear at the foe. If any can stand at rest while Attila fights, he is a dead man.[[note]][[https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Attila_mellszobor.jpg Image]], from Wikimedia Commons[[/note]]]]-]

* The Battle of the Pelennor Fields in ''Literature/TheReturnOfTheKing'' parallels the accounts of the Battle of the Catalaunian Plains fairly closely, especially the plot element involving the leader of the opposing army (Theodoric the Visigoth in real life[[note]]not to be confused with the Ostrogothic king Theoderic the Great[[/note]], Theoden of Rohan in the novel) during a charge but his side's army prevailing nevertheless.

* DependingOnTheWriter: There are at least two traditions concerning Attila, the ''Literature/{{Nibelungenlied}}'', written in Germany, and Icelandic accounts such as the ''Literature/VolsungaSaga''. The former version, giving him the name "Etzel", tells the story of a benevolent and just ruler who is nevertheless murdered by Kreimhild/Guðrún along with his sons by her.[[note]]According to Creator/JRRTolkien, this mirrors the tradition of the Eastern Goths, who were allied with him if not downright served under him.[[/note]] The latter traditions tell of a vicious, greedy and ruthless king called "Atli" who showed no mercy. This is theorised to be the tradition of the ''Western'' Goths and the other Germanic tribes who opposed Attila, hence his negative characterisation.

-->-- '''Bertrand Russell''', ''Power: A New Social Analysis'' (1938)

* ArchEnemy: The Romanised Gothic general [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flavius_Aetius Flavius Aetius]], who once had been raised by the Huns as a political hostage, who would prove his most intractable foe. It's said that when Attila's soothsayers predicted a terrible Hunnic defeat at the Catalaunian Plains he made battle anyway to [[TakingYouWithMe take Aetius down with defeat]] because it was ''also'' predicted that an enemy commander would be slain. Unfortunately for Attila, it wasn't Aetius who died, but the Visigothic king Theoderic.

* CoolSword: He's reputed to have possessed the Sword of Mars, which might be one and the same as the sacred sword of the war god worshipped by the Scythians he subjugated. Rumored to be made out of meteorite iron and was a grave marker of the previous owner. While it stood in the ground it was struck by lightning. A supposed "Sword of Attila" is kept in a museum in Vienna, but has been dated to half a millennium after he died.

* Appears as the faction leader of the Huns in ''VideoGame/{{Civilization}} V''. The AI assigned for him is easily the most aggressive out of all the leaders in the game (even [[MemeticMutation memetic]] asshole Montezuma). His unique units and powers make him the the best choice for an early game conquest victory.

* UsefulNotes/MargaretThatcher was known as "Attila the H'''e'''n" by her detractors.

* Music/GiuseppeVerdi wrote an opera about Attila the Hun in 1846.

There is no universally accepted image of Attila, although he is normally depicted as a large hairy barbarian similar in appearance to UsefulNotes/GenghisKhan, another horseback archer barbarian conqueror. Even the ethno-linguistic identity of the Huns he ruled remains under hot debate to this day, with the three known recorded "Hunnic" words being Indo-European and the vast majority of Hunnic names either being Turkic or Germanic[[note]]This isn't even getting into other people called Huns in antiquity, like the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hephthalites White Huns/Hephthalites]] who menaced India, and the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Caucasian_Huns North Caucasian Huns]][[note]]. Among peoples who claim to be his descendants were the Bulgar khans, predecessors of modern UsefulNotes/{{Bulgaria}}, through his son Ernak; UsefulNotes/{{Hungary}}'s first dynasty, the Árpáds, through his more mythical son Csaba (the Hungarian minority in UsefulNotes/{{Romania}} known as Székelys claimed to outright ''be'' Huns during the Middle Ages); and UsefulNotes/{{Turkey}} more generally through their Turkic heritage, although his branch of Turkic is represented nowadays only by the [[UsefulNotes/TurkicPeoples Chuvash people]] resident in Russia, hence his appearance in ''VideoGame/{{Civilization}}'' featuring that language.

There is no universally accepted image of Attila, although he is normally depicted as a large hairy barbarian similar in appearance to UsefulNotes/GenghisKhan, another horseback archer barbarian conqueror. Even the ethno-linguistic identity of the Huns he ruled remains under hot debate to this day, with the three known recorded "Hunnic" words being Indo-European and the vast majority of Hunnic names either being Turkic or Germanic[[notes]]This isn't even getting into other people called Huns in antiquity, like the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hephthalites White Huns/Hephthalites]] who menaced India, and the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Caucasian_Huns North Caucasian Huns]]. Among peoples who claim to be his descendants were the Bulgar khans, predecessors of modern UsefulNotes/{{Bulgaria}}, through his son Ernak; UsefulNotes/{{Hungary}}'s first dynasty, the Árpáds, through his more mythic son Csaba (the Hungarian minority in UsefulNotes/{{Romania}} known as Székelys claimed to outright ''be'' Huns during the Middle Ages); and UsefulNotes/{{Turkey}} more generally through their Turkic heritage, although his branch of Turkic is represented nowadays only by the [[UsefulNotes/TurkicPeoples Chuvash people]] resident in Russia, hence his appearance in ''VideoGame/{{Civilization}}'' featuring that language.

Attila was the sole ruler of the Huns from 434 until his death in 453. He was leader of [[TheEmpire the Hunnic Empire]], which stretched from the Ural River to the Rhine River and from the Danube River to the Baltic Sea. During his reign he was [[TheDreaded one of the most feared enemies]] of the UsefulNotes/TheRomanEmpire both East and West, earning him the title, "TheScourgeOfGod"; while he wasn't known as this in his own time, a near-contemporary description does ascribe the honorific "scourge of all lands" and the "terror of mankind".

Depending on who you read, he used either the pretext of the Emperor Honorius' sister, Honoria, sending him her signet ring and a plea to save her from a loveless marriage or a dispute over the inheritance of the Frankish throne to try and conquer Roman Gaul (modern France), crossing the Rhine in 451 and raiding northern Gaul before being held up at Aurelianum (modern Orléans) and forced out of the province following the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Catalaunian_Plains Battle of the Catalaunian Plains]].

[-[[caption-width-right:300:Even a mass of federated nations could not endure the sight of the Huns. I am not deceived in the issue; here is the field so many victories have promised us. I shall hurl the first spear at the foe. If any can stand at rest while Attila fights, he is a dead man.[[note]]([[https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Attila_mellszobor.jpg Image]], from Wikimedia Commons)[[/note]]]]-]

There is no universally accepted image of Attila, although he is normally depicted as a large hairy barbarian similar in appearance to UsefulNotes/GenghisKhan, another horseback archer barbarian conqueror. Even the ethno-linguistic identity of the Huns he ruled remains under hot debate to this day, with the three known recorded "Hunnic" words being Indo-European and the vast majority of Hunnic names either being Turkic or Germanic. Among peoples who claim to be his descendants were the Bulgar khans, predecessors of modern UsefulNotes/{{Bulgaria}}, through his son Ernak; UsefulNotes/{{Hungary}}'s first dynasty, the Árpáds, through his more mythic son Csaba (the Hungarian minority in UsefulNotes/{{Romania}} known as Székelys claimed to outright ''be'' Huns during the Middle Ages); and UsefulNotes/{{Turkey}} more generally through their Turkic heritage, although his branch of Turkic is represented nowadays only by the [[UsefulNotes/TurkicPeoples Chuvash people]] resident in Russia, hence his appearance in ''VideoGame/{{Civilization}}'' featuring that language.

* DeathIsDramatic: Subverted; the scourge of all nations didn't die in battle or in any sort of fight or conflict, nor did he have any pithy FamousLastWords--he went to bed on his wedding night and never woke up. Fictionalised accounts of his life in the sagas generally spice this up by having him being trapped in his tent while his vengeful wife sets it on fire.

** All of the contemporary or near-contemporary historical sources we have concerning him describe him as an erudite (if un-scholastic) ruler, polite to guests and merciful to those who surrendered to him, but these are all filtered through Jordanes, an Christianised Eastern Goth whose ancestors numbered amongst Attila's subjects; he himself conceded that Attila had "somehow terrified all mankind by the dreadful rumors noised abroad concerning him" and was widely known as "[[TheScourgeOfGod the scourge of all lands]]".

* OutWithABang: Reportedly died on his wedding night--or, more likely, the last of his many wedding nights as he likely had a harem.
* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: Called off his invasion of Rome and withdrew his armies after meeting with UsefulNotes/ThePope Leo I and a few other Roman envoys. The relieved Christians considered it a miracle, with later writers even claiming St. Peter and St. Paul turned up to dissuade him. But modern historians favor other reasons like an outbreak of infectious disease within his armies, making it more of KnowWhenToFoldEm.

* He appears as one of the many wax figures brought to life in ''Film/NightAtTheMuseum'' in what is probably meant to be a RomanAClef of UsefulNotes/GenghisKhan, whose comedic portrayal would've been more problematic since the latter remains a national hero whilst the affiliation of the Huns is still a mystery.

He subsequently invaded the Italian peninsula, devastating its northern provinces and supposedly expelling the residents of Aquileia, who went on to found the floating city of UsefulNotes/{{Venice}}, but was unable to take Rome, being turned away by an embassy comprising Pope Leo I and two other emissaries; what they said to him remains a RiddleForTheAges.[[note]]This proved to be AllForNothing a year later when Geiseric and the Vandals succeeded in storming Rome, sacking it far worse than Alaric and the Visigoths had half a century prior.[[/note]] He planned for further campaigns against the Romans but died in 453 on the night of his wedding to the Gothic lady Hildico, either from his usual nosebleed accidentally flowing down into his windpipe, or by her hand.

* DependingOnTheWriter: There are at least two traditions concerning Attila, the ''Literature/{{Niebelungenlied}}'', written in Germany, and Icelandic accounts such as the ''Literature/VolsungaSaga''. The former version, giving him the name "Etzel", tells the story of a benevolent and just ruler who is nevertheless murdered by Kreimhild/Guðrún along with his sons by her.[[note]]According to Creator/JRRTolkien, this mirrors the tradition of the Eastern Goths, who were allied with him if not downright served under him.[[/note]] The latter traditions tell of a vicious, greedy and ruthless king called "Atli" who showed no mercy. This is theorised to be the tradition of the ''Western'' Goths and the other Germanic tribes who opposed Attila, hence his negative characterisation.

* DependingOnTheWriter: There are at least two traditions concerning Attila, the ''Niebelungenlied'', written in Germany, and Icelandic accounts such as the ''VolsungaSaga''. The former version, giving him the name "Etzel", tells the story of a benevolent and just ruler who is nevertheless murdered by Kreimhild/Guðrún along with his sons by her.[[note]]According to Creator/JRRTolkien, this mirrors the tradition of the Eastern Goths, who were allied with him if not downright served under him.[[/note]] The latter traditions tell of a vicious, greedy and ruthless king called "Atli" who showed no mercy. This is theorised to be the tradition of the ''Western'' Goths and the other Germanic tribes who opposed Attila, hence his negative characterisation.

* DependingOnTheWriter: There are at least two traditions concerning Attila, the ''Niebelungenlied'', written in Germany, and the Greenlandic and Icelandic accounts such as the ''Atlakviða'' and ''Atlamál''. The former version, giving him the name "Etzel", tells the story of a benevolent and just ruler who is nevertheless murdered by Kreimhild/Guðrún along with his sons by her.[[note]]According to Creator/JRRTolkien, this mirrors the tradition of the Eastern Goths, who were allied with him if not downright served under him.[[/note]] The latter traditions tell of a vicious, greedy and ruthless king called "Atli" who showed no mercy. This is theorised to be the tradition of the ''Western'' Goths and the other Germanic tribes who opposed Attila, hence his negative characterisation.

'''Attila''' was the ruler of the Huns from 434 until his death in 453. He was leader of [[TheEmpire the Hunnic Empire]], which stretched from the Ural River to the Rhine River and from the Danube River to the Baltic Sea. During his reign he was [[TheDreaded one of the most feared enemies]] of the UsefulNotes/TheRomanEmpire both East and West, earning him the title, "TheScourgeOfGod"; while he wasn't known as this in his own time, a near-contemporary description does ascribe the honorific "scourge of all lands" and the "terror of mankind".

Depending on who you read, he used either the pretext of the Emperor Honorius' sister, Honoria, sending him her signet ring and a plea to save her from a loveless marriage or a dispute over the inheritance of the Frankish throne to try and conquer Roman Gaul (modern France), crossing the Rhine in 451 and terrorising northern Gaul before being held up at Aurelianum (modern Orléans) and forced out of the province at the Battle of the Catalaunian Plains, also known as the Battle of Châlons.

* UltimateShowdownOfUltimateDestiny: The greatest battle he partook in, that of the Catalaunian Plains in which he was expelled from Gaul, was considered to be this by most historians on the part of the Western Roman Empire. Many agreeing that this battle was its last noteworthy military action.
** Although the reported figures at the battle numbering in the hundreds of thousands is definitely a massive exaggeration, both sides were multi-ethnic alliances, with Attila's forces comprising the Huns, Ostrogoths and all the other barbarian tribes north of the Danube and east of modern-day Germany, opposed by Romans allied with Visigoths and Franks, followed by Saxons and Burgundians; the latter alliance's descendants would establish the majority of Western European nations following the Roman Empire's collapse there.

* UltimateShowdownOfUltimateDestiny: The greatest battle he partook in, that of the Catalaunian Plains, also the one that he was stopped in, was considered to be this by most historians on the part of the Western Roman Empire, with most agreeing that it was its last noteworthy military action.
** Numerically speaking, both sides were multi-ethnic alliances, with Attila's forces comprising the Huns, Ostrogoths and all the other barbarian tribes north of the Danube and east of modern-day Germany, opposed by Romans allied with Visigoths and Franks, followed by Saxons and Burgundians; the latter alliance's descendants would establish the majority of Western European nations following the Roman Empire's collapse there.

* DependingOnTheWriter: There are at least two traditions concerning Attila, the ''Niebelungenlied'', written in Germany, and the Icelandic accounts. The first version, giving him the name ''Etzel'', tells the story of a benevolent and just ruler.[[note]]According to Creator/JRRTolkien, this mirrors the tradition of the Eastern Goths, who were allied with him if not downright served under him.[[/note]] The Icelandic tradition tells of a vicious, greedy and ruthless king who showed no mercy. This happens to be the tradition of the ''Western'' Goths and the other Germanic tribes which fought against him. How he really was, might seem to be somewhere in the middle.

His impact on popular culture is considerable--in fact, before UsefulNotes/WorldWarII made ThoseWackyNazis the absolute shorthand for "evil", Attila the Hun was one of the most-invoked "historical villains" along with {{Biblical bad guy}}s, like the NephariousPharaoh from the Literature/BookOfExodus, and Pontius Pilate and Judas Iscariot from Literature/TheFourGospels for such comparisons. During UsefulNotes/WorldWarI, the soldiers of UsefulNotes/ImperialGermany were widely referred to as "Huns", in reference to their supposed savagery as invoked by Kaiser Wilhelm II, who told the Germans being shipped off to quell the Boxer Rebellion to retaliate so severely that their renown would be akin to that of Attila's and no Chinese person would ever dare disrespect German thereafter.

** All of the contemporary or near-contemporary historical sources we have concerning him describe him as an erudite (if un-scholastic) ruler, polite to guests and merciful to those who surrendered to him, but these are all filtered through Jordanes, an Christianised Eastern Goth whose ancestors numbered amongst Attila's subjects; he himself conceded that he had "terrified all mankind by the dreadful rumors noised abroad concerning him" and was widely known as "[[TheScourgeOfGod the scourge of all lands]]".

Depending on who you read, he used either the pretext of the Emperor Honorius' sister, Honoria, sending him her signet ring and a plea to save her from a loveless marriage or a dispute over the inheritance of the Frankish corn to try and conquer Roman Gaul (modern France), crossing the Rhine in 451 and terrorising northern Gaul before being held up at Aurelianum (modern Orléans) and forced out of the province at the Battle of the Catalaunian Plains, also known as the Battle of Châlons.

He subsequently invaded Italy, devastating the northern provinces and supposedly expelling the resident of Aqueila, who went on to found the floating city of UsefulNotes/{{Venice}}, but was unable to take Rome, being turned away by an embassy comprising Pope Leo I and two other emissaries; what they said to him remains a RiddleForTheAges. He planned for further campaigns against the Romans but died in 453 on the night of his wedding to the Gothic lady Hildico, either from his usual nosebleed flowing into his windpipe or by her hand.

* TheScourgeOfGod: Although, as discussed above, the earliest work to give him this title was published during [[https://old.reddit.com/r/badhistory/comments/d2lpp5/attila_the_scourge_ofgod_not_quite/ the sixteenth century]], more than ''a thousand years'' after he died.

There is no universally accepted image of Attila, although he is normally depicted as a large hairy barbarian similar in appearance to UsefulNotes/GenghisKhan, another horseback archer barbarian conqueror. Even the ethno-linguistic identity of the Huns he ruled remains under hot debate to this day, with the three known recorded "Hunnic" words being Indo-European and the vast majority of Hunnic names either being Turkic or Germanic. Among peoples who claim to be his descendants were the Bulgar khans, predecessors of modern UsefulNotes/{{Bulgaria}}, through his son Ernak; UsefulNotes/{{Hungary}}'s first dynasty, the Árpáds, through his more mythic son Csaba (the Hungarian minority in UsefulNotes/{{Romania}} known as Székelys claimed to outright ''be'' Huns during the Middle Ages); and UsefulNotes/{{Turkey}} more generally through their Turkic heritage, although his branch of Turkic is represented nowadays only by the Chuvash people in Russia, hence his appearance in ''VideoGame/{{Civilization}}'' featuring that language.

* DeathByHedonism: Attila drowned in his own blood on his wedding night, in bed with his newest wife Hildico, possibly from drinking too much alcohol; ancient sources state that he usually suffered a {{Nosebleed}} whilst drinking, the difference here being that this time his head tipped forward and it flowed into his windpipe.

* DeathByIrony: The bloody king Attila drowned in his own blood on his wedding night, possibly from drinking too much alcohol.

There is no universally accepted image of Attila, although he is normally depicted as a large hairy barbarian similar in appearance to UsefulNotes/GenghisKhan, another horseback archer barbarian conqueror. Even the ethno-linguistic identity of the Huns he ruled remains under hot debate to this day, with the three known recorded "Hunnic" words being Indo-European and the vast majority of Hunnic names either being Turkic or Germanic. Among peoples who claim to be his descendants were the Bulgar khans, predecessors of modern UsefulNotes/{{Bulgaria}}, through his son Ernak; UsefulNotes/{{Hungary}}'s first dynasty, the Árpáds, through his more mythic son Csaba (the Hungarian minority in Romania known as Székelys, claimed to outright ''be'' Huns during the Middle Ages), and UsefulNotes/{{Turkey}} more generally through their Turkic heritage, although his branch of Turkic is represented nowadays only by the Chuvash people in Russia.

His impact on popular culture is equally considerable--in fact, before UsefulNotes/WorldWarII made ThoseWackyNazis the absolute shorthand for "evil", Attila the Hun was one of the most-invoked "historical villains"[[note]]along with {{Biblical bad guy}}s, like the NephariousPharaoh from the Literature/BookOfExodus, and Pontius Pilate and Judas Iscariot from Literature/TheFourGospels[[/note]] for such comparisons. For example, during UsefulNotes/WorldWarI, the soldiers of UsefulNotes/ImperialGermany were widely referred to as "Huns", in reference to their supposed savagery as invoked by Kaiser Wilhelm II, who told the Germans being shipped off to quell the Boxer Rebellion to retaliate so severely that their renown would be like that of Attila's and no Chinese would ever dare stare cross-eyed at a German thereafter.

* TheScourgeOfGod: Although, as mentioned above, the earliest work to give him this title was published during ''the sixteenth century''.

* DependingOnTheWriter: There are two traditions concerning Atilla, the ''Niebelungenlied'', written in Germany, and the Icelandic accounts. The first version, giving him the name ''Etzel'', tells the story of a benevolent and just ruler. According to Creator/JRRTolkien, this mirrors the tradition of the Eastern Goths, who were allied with him if not downright served under him. The Icelandic tradition tells of a vicious, greedy and ruthless king who showed no mercy. This happens to be the tradition of the ''Western'' Goths and the other Germanic tribes which fought against him. How he really was, might seem to be somewhere in the middle.
** All of the contemporary or near-contemporary historical sources we have concerning him describe him as an erudite (if un-scholastic) ruler, polite to guests and merciful to those who surrendered to him, but these are all filtered through Jordanes, an Christianised Eastern Goth who himself conceded that he had "terrified all mankind by the dreadful rumors noised abroad concerning him" and was widely known as "the scourge of all lands".

* OutWithABang: Reportedly died on his wedding night - or, more likely, the last of his many wedding nights as he likely had a harem.

* CountDracula in [[Literature/{{Dracula}} his eponymous novel]] claims to be descended from Attila through his Székely heritage, boasting ''"What devil or what witch was ever so great as Attila, whose blood is in these veins?"''

There is no universally accepted image of Attila, although he is normally depicted as a large hairy barbarian similar in appearance to UsefulNotes/GenghisKhan, another horseback archer barbarian conqueror. Even the ethno-linguistic identity of the Huns he ruled remains under hot debate to this day, with the three known recorded "Hunnic" words being Indo-European and the vast majority of Hunnic names either being Turkic or Germanic. Among peoples who claim to be his descendants were the Bulgar khans, predecessors of modern UsefulNotes/Bulgaria, through his son Ernak; UsefulNotes/Hungary's first dynasty, the Árpáds, through his more mythic son Csaba (the Hungarian minority in Romania known as Székelys, claimed to outright ''be'' Huns during the Middle Ages), and UsefulNotes/{{Turkey}} more generally through their Turkic heritage, although his branch of Turkic is represented nowadays only by the Chuvash people in Russia.

There is no universally accepted image of Attila, although he is normally depicted as a large hairy barbarian similar in appearance to UsefulNotes/GenghisKhan, another horseback archer barbarian conqueror. Even the ethno-linguistic identity of the Huns he ruled remains under hot debate to this day, with the three known recorded "Hunnic" words being Indo-European and the vast majority of Hunnic names either being Turkic or Germanic. Among peoples who claim to be his descendants were the Bulgar khans, predecessors of modern UsefulNotes/Bulgaria, through his son Ernak; UsefulNotes/Hungary's first dynasty, the Árpáds, through his more mythic son Csaba, and UsefulNotes/{{Turkey}} more generally through their Turkic heritage, although his branch of Turkic is represented nowadays only by the Chuvash people in Russia.

* CoolSword: He's reputed to have possessed Sword of Mars, which might be one and the same as the sacred sword of the war god worshipped by the Scythians he subjugated. Rumored to be made out of meteorite iron and was a grave marker of the previous owner. While it stood in the ground it was struck by lightning.

* The eponymous hero of ''Literature/{{Waltharius}}'' grows up as a hostage at Attila's court.

* ''The White Stag'': A highly fictionalized OriginStory for the Huns.

* SacredHospitality: Best known for it.
* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: Called off his invasion of Rome and withdrew his armies after meeting with UsefulNotes/ThePope Leo I and a few other Roman envoys. The relieved Christians considered it a miracle. But modern historians favor other reasons like an outbreak of infectious disease within his armies, making it more of KnowWhenToFoldEm.
* SpellMyNameWithAnS: As with many foreign names his name has been spelled both as ''A'''t'''i'''l'''a'', ''A'''tt'''i'''ll'''a'', ''A'''t'''i'''ll'''a'' and ''A'''tt'''i'''l'''a''.