To say that the battle of the Catalaunian plains is iconic would be an understatement.
But it is equally controversial, as the sources describing the battle are conflicted, many
details are unknown, and it seems that we will never get a clear picture of the events.
Add to that two larger than life figures in Attila and Aetius, the Great Migration, the
agony of the Roman world and the birth of new kingdoms, and it is clear that we had
no other choice but to cover it.
We know very little about the Huns before their arrival to the Eurasian steppes in the
second half of the IV century.
In 370s they defeated the Alans and Goths, who lived to the north of the Black Sea and
this probably caused a cascade of events known as the Great Migration, as many tribes were
forced to flee to the west and enter the territory of the Roman Empire either as the allied-foederati
or the invaders.
Eastern Roman army was crushed at Adrianople by the western branch of the Goths – the
Visigoths in 378, while Vandals, Suebi first entered Gaul, and then occupied part of Spain.
In 410 Visigoths of Alaric sacked Rome.
Visigoths were then allowed to form a kingdom in southern France with a capital in Toulouse
in exchange for the military service against the Vandals and Suebi.
Meanwhile, the Huns subjugated the Gepids, Alemanni, the Eastern Goths – Ostrogoths
and other minor Germanic, Slavic and Sarmatian tribes.
Between 395 and 399 they attacked both the Eastern Roman and the Sassanid empires, raiding
the Balkans, Caucasus, Northern Iran and Eastern Anatolia.
As the Hunnic realm was extremely decentralized, many of their warriors served as mercenaries
both for the Western Romans and the Goths.
Still the raids into the Eastern Roman Empire continued, and the Empire was forced to pay
annual tribute in 422.
Western empire was also having problems, as civil wars, rebellions and further invasions
weakened it.
Enter Flavius Aetius.
This Roman general of either Gothic or Scythian origins, spent his childhood as a hostage
in the Visigothic and Hunnic courts, learning much about their fighting styles and gaining
valuable allies among the Huns.
In 423 it allowed him to recruit a sizeable Hunnic force and move to Italy to support
Joannes to the throne.
However, by the time Aetius reached the capital Ravenna, another pretender - Valentinian was
crowned.
To curb his ambitions, Aetius was paid a hefty sum and was appointed the commander in Gaul.
Despite some setbacks, he managed to bring back the Roman rule to most of Gaul mostly
relying on the Hun mercenaries.
He settled the Alans around Orleans to weaken the rebellion in Brittany, destroyed the Burgundian
kingdom and resettled it to the south and weakened Visigoths and Franks, basically creating
his semi-independent kingdom in the region.
Back East, the first ruler of the centralized Hun state – Rua passed away and was succeeded
by the nephews Attila and Bleda in 433.
The new rulers renegotiated the treaty with the Eastern Romans in 435, receiving promises
not to enter into an anti-Hunnic alliance and 700 pounds of gold annually.
However, this peace was short-lived.
In 439 Carthage was captured by the Vandals.
Following year, the Eastern Roman Empire sent an expedition to reclaim Africa.
Meanwhile, the Sassanids attacked the Romans in the East, and all that allowed the Huns
to raid and pillage the Balkans between 441 and 443, and this time they even reached Constantinople.
Emperor Theodosius was forced to agree to pay 6,000 pounds annually.
In 445 Bleda dies, possibly murdered by Attila, who becomes the ruler of the Hunnic realm.
We don’t know why, but in 447 Attila invades the Eastern Romans yet again.
He destroyed the Roman forces at the battle of the Utus, raided the Balkans and compelled
the emperor to sign another peace, this time promising to leave the Danube region as a
buffer.
It was around that time, the relationship between Attila and Aetius soured, and different
sources present different reasons: The Huns were prohibited from serving as mercenaries,
which weakened Aetius.
At the same time, the Vandals, who had animosity with the Visigoths and one of the Frankish
heirs invited Attila to invade Gaul to deal with their enemies.
The sister of the Western Roman Emperor Honoria sent her ring to Attila asking for his help,
and he took this as a promise of marriage and allegedly demanded half of the empire
as a dowry.
Attila was also displeased that the Huns received no lands within the Roman empire, unlike other
allies.
Surprisingly, the war against the Western Roman Empire became inevitable, when the Eastern
Romans refused to send tribute in 450 – Attila needed that income to pay his troops, and
as he knew that the Balkans were devastated and had little hope of taking Constantinople,
he decided to invade Gaul instead.
In the spring of 451, Attila joined by the Ostrogoths, Gepids, Alemanni and others crossed
the Rhine.
At that point, Aetius was in Italy, and as he couldn’t rely on his usual Hunnic units,
he was forced to enter an alliance with his rival – the king of the Visigoths Theodoric,
ask the Burgundians and Franks for help and rush to Gaul.
We know very little about the route of Attila’s troops and which towns were sacked by them,
but by the early June, his horse-heavy army reached Orleans.
The sources are conflicting here: Some claim that Attila besieged the city and as Aetius
arrived in the area soon, he was forced to abandon the siege, others think that Aetius
was near Orleans before the Huns and that didn’t allow Attila to blockade the city.
We also don’t know if the Alani leader Sangiban was planning to side with the Huns or the
Romans or was waiting to see which side is stronger.
In any case, as the area wasn’t favorable for the cavalry, the Huns retreated, and Alani
joined Aetius, who also received contingents of Visigoths, Franks, Burgundians, and Saxons.
The Roman general then moved to pursue Attila.
The exact location of the battle that we usually call the battle of the Catalaunian plains
is unknown, but some modern historians concluded that it happened in the place called Maurica,
close to Troyes, some 200 kilometers from Orleans, and not near Chalons, as was assumed
previously.
Another hotly debated topic is the number of troops, but it is possible that both sides
had around 40,000 thousand warriors.
The Hunnic army was cavalry heavy with elite horse archers as its core, while the Romans
had more infantry than their opponents.
Aetius chased Attila for two weeks.
On June 19 his Frankish vanguard skirmished with the Attila’s Gepid rearguard, but the
Gepids soon retreated, as Attila’s goal was to bring the Romans to the battlefield
of his choosing that was advantageous for his cavalry.
Two paths were leading to Maurica divided by the forest, and although the Romans had
to split their forces in two to move around this forest, Attila did not attempt to stop
them at the chokepoints, probably rightly considering his infantry inferior to that
of the enemy.
Still a small cavalry detachment was left on the Montgueux ridge.
On the early morning of 20th of June, the Visigothic column met this detachment on the
hill.
Attila wasn’t planning to defend this position, hoping to fight the Romans on the open field
to the East, but he still sent some cavalry reinforcement to the ridge.
Both the original unit and the reinforcements slowly retreated, shooting a few volleys.
By the afternoon the Visigoths were in control of the ridge, and although both sides had
a good defensible position, they needed a decisive battle, so the armies started to
deploy.
Aetius placed a small cavalry detachment under Theodoric’s son Thorismund on the ridge,
so the summit would hide them, and formed up his army with his right flank protected
by the said ridge, and his rear and the left by the forests, which gave Attila no opportunity
to attack the Romans from the sides or the back.
Theodoric and the Visigoths held the right wing and dismounted forming a shield wall
with archers in the second line.
Alan cavalry took the center, while the left side was held by the Romans, Franks, Burgundians,
and Saxons with infantry in the first line in a shield wall with another group of missile
infantry behind them and the cavalry in the rear.
Attila and his Huns, all cavalry took the formed the center, while the Ostrogoth cavalry
led by Valamir manned the left with other Germanic infantry behind them.
On the right, Attila placed the Frank infantry and the Gepid cavalry under Ardaric, with
more Germanic infantry in the second line.
The Hun leader gave a speech in front of his line and then formed up his horse archers
in the center into a wedge.
The Huns then galloped forward sending the volleys into the Alans, who answered similarly,
but as the Huns had numerical superiority, Sangiban’s horsemen had to retreat.
According to their usual fighting style, the Hun wedge then split down the middle towards
the left and the right, sending arrows towards the Romans and the Visigoths, but these volleys
were less effective as they were met with the shield wall.
On the contrary, the missile units in the second lines managed to wound and kill many
lightly armored Huns.
Still, this attack covered the advance of the Ostrogoths against their Visigoth cousins,
while the Gepids moved against the Romans.
Initially, both shield walls were pushed back, but as the cavalry momentum was lost, the
shield walls restored their composure, and the archers in the second line continued to
send the arrows above the shields.
However, the Huns turned towards the center once again and attempted to enter the hole
left by the Alan retreat.
That threatened the Visigoth shield wall from the flank and the rear.
The king of the Visigoths Theodoric was killed while trying to encourage his troops and it
seemed that the battle is turning in Attila’s favor.
Still, Aetius managed to turn some of the Alans back and ordered them, along with the
cavalry reserves to plug the center, which stemmed the tide.
Feeling that victory is close Attila’s second line infantry joined the battle.
At the same time, Thorismund learned of his father’s death and finally descended from
the ridge, charging enemy’s left from the flank and rear.
It seems that the Hunnic left was encircled and destroyed.
Seeing that his cavalry was bogged down and his right was having no gains against the
Romans, Attila ordered a retreat to the camp.
By the nightfall, the battle stopped completely.
The Huns seemingly were on the backfoot, so it is a mystery why Aetius did not attack
the next day.
Some sources are claiming that the Visigoths and Franks declined to fight, while the others
assert that it was Aetius himself who wasn’t eager to destroy the Huns, as they were a
perfect balance against the Germanic tribes.
A later Frankish source maintains that Aetius received a payment from Attila.
Regardless, the Hun army left the area on the next day and moved towards Pannonia.
We will probably never learn the number of casualties, but even if they were heavy, in
452 Attila invaded the Roman empire yet again, this time via Italy, and sacked Aquileia and
Milan, also inadvertently forcing the foundation of Venice.
Once again, we don’t know why, but according to the sources, he turned back after talking
to the Pope Leo.
In 453 Attila dies, either from an illness or killed by his young wife.
Thorismund was murdered by his brother soon after.
A year later, Attila’s sons were defeated by the Gepids of Ardaric at the battle of
Nedao, and that resulted in the collapse of the Hun empire.
In the same year, Aetius is murdered by emperor Valentinian, who in turn is killed by the
bodyguards of Aetius in 455.
Just 20 years later the Western Roman Empire ceases to exist…
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