Hat 8298 HUNS

The Huns are a nomadic people, the first mention of which in European sources probably appears in the second half of the 2nd century AD, and their then residence is the area of - roughly - today's southern Russia and eastern Ukraine. Around 370, the Huns began raids towards the west, initially on the Germanic tribes, and later also on the Roman Empire, but until around 400 they did not play a more important, and even less decisive, political role. It was only when Attila (sometimes called the Scourge of God) became the ruler of the Huns in about 445 that the people reached the apogee of their historical importance. The supposed range of the Hun state (or better - an organization bearing the hallmarks of statehood) covered a large part of the Balkans, part of today's Austria and a large part of Ukraine. Attila also turned out to be an important political partner for the Western Roman state, and the Hun raids at that time plagued the Roman Empire in the west, which was declining to collapse. It is worth adding, however, that in 451 the Huns were defeated in the Battle of Catalaunian Fields in today's France, and their political role collapsed rapidly. The Hun armies were mostly cavalry, and the Huns themselves were famous as great horsemen. Horses ridden by the Huns were characterized by high endurance to the hardships of marching and were not susceptible to climate change. It can be assumed that in the 4th and partly in the 5th century their art of war was based primarily on mobility and the use of throwing weapons (especially a bow). It can be assumed, although it is only a hypothesis, that the role of the infantry in the army of the Huns increased over time.