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The Huns were nomadic warriors who terrorized much of Europe and the Roman Empire in the 4th and 5th centuries A.D. They were impressive horsemen best known for their astounding military achievements. As they plundered their way across the European continent, the Huns acquired a reputation for being ruthless, indomitable savages.

Hun Origin

No one knows exactly where the Huns came from. Some scholars believe they originated from the nomad Xiongnu people who entered the historical record in 318 B.C. and terrorized China during the Qin Dynasty and during the later Han Dynasty. The Great Wall of China was reportedly built to help protect against the mighty Xiongnu.

Other historians believe the Huns originated from Kazakhstan, or elsewhere in Asia.

Prior to the 4th century, the Huns traveled in small groups led by chieftains and had no known individual king or leader. They arrived in southeastern Europe around 370 A.D. and conquered one territory after another for over 70 years.

Huns in Life and in Battle

The Huns were equestrian masters who reportedly revered horses and sometimes slept on horseback. They learned horsemanship as early as age three and, according to legend, their faces were cut at a young age with a sword to teach them to endure pain.

Most Hun soldiers dressed simply but regally outfitted their steeds with saddles and stirrups trimmed in gold, silver and precious stones. They raised livestock but weren't farmers and seldom settled in one area. They lived off the land as hunter-gatherers, dining on wild game and gathering roots and herbs.

The Huns took a unique approach to warfare. They moved fast and swiftly on the battlefield and fought in seeming disarray, which confused their foes and kept them on the run. They were expert archers who used reflex bows made of seasoned birch, bone and glue. Their arrows could strike a man 80 yards away and seldom missed their mark.

Thanks to their experience lassoing horses and cattle, the Huns skillfully lassoed their enemies on the battlefield, brutally tearing them off their horses and dragging them to a violent death. They also used battering rams to break through Roman defense walls.

But the Huns' main weapon was fear. It's reported that Hun parents placed binders on their children's heads, which gradually deformed their skulls and gave them a menacing appearance. The Huns killed men, women and children alike and decimated almost everything and everyone in their path. They looted and plundered and seldom took prisoners; however, when they did, they enslaved them.

Huns Reach the Roman Empire

The Huns came on the historical scene in Europe during the late 4th century A.D when, in 370 A.D., they crossed the Volga River and conquered the Alans, another civilization of nomadic, warring horsemen.

Two years later, they attacked the Ostrogoths, an eastern tribe of Germanic Goths who harassed the Roman Empire by frequently attacking their territories.

By 376, the Huns had attacked the Visigoths (the western tribe of Goths), and forced them to seek sanctuary within the Roman Empire. Some of the Alans, Goths and Visigoths were conscripted into the Hunnic infantry.

As the Huns dominated Goth and Visigoth lands, they earned a reputation as the new barbarians in town and seemed unstoppable. By 395 A.D., they began invading Roman domains. Some Roman Christians believed they were devils arrived straight from hell.

The Huns Unite

By 430 A.D., the Hun tribes had united and were ruled by King Rugila and his brother, Octar. But by 432, Octar had been killed in battle and Rugila ruled alone. At one point, Rugila formed a treaty with the Roman Emperor Theodosius in which the Huns received a tribute from Theodosius in exchange for their army's help in defeating the Goths.

In the 5th century, the Huns changed from a group of nomadic warrior tribes to a somewhat settled civilization living in the Great Hungarian Plain in eastern Europe. They had amassed an enormous army made up of cavalry and infantry troops from various backgrounds.

But if the Romans had thought the Huns were brutal under Rugila's rule, they hadn't seen anything yet.

Attila the Hun

King Rugila died in 434 and was succeeded by his two nephews-brothers Attila and Bleda. Attila was described as a short man with a large head and thin beard who knew both Latin and Goth and was a master negotiator.

Shortly after starting his reign, he negotiated a peace treaty with the Eastern Roman Empire in which the Romans paid him gold in exchange for peace. But eventually the Romans reneged on the deal and in 441, Attila and his army stormed their way through the Balkans and the Danubian frontier.

Another peace treaty was forged in 442, but Attila attacked again in 443, killing, ransacking and pillaging his way to the well-fortified city of Constantinople and earning the nickname, "the scourge of God."

Unable to break through the walls of the city, Attila formed another peace agreement: he would leave Constantinople alone in exchange for an annual tribute of 2,100 pounds of gold, a staggering sum.

In 445, Attila murdered Bleda-supposedly to prevent Bleda from murdering him first-and became sole ruler of the Huns. He then launched another campaign against the Eastern Roman Empire and thundered his way through the Balkans.

Battle of the Catalaunian Plains

Attila invaded Gaul, which included modern-day France, northern Italy and western Germany, in 451. But the Romans had wised up and allied with the Visigoths and other barbarian tribes to finally stop the Huns in their tracks.

According to legend, the night before the battle Attila consulted sacrificed bones and saw that thousands of his army would fall in the fight. The next day, his premonition came true.

The foes met on the battlefield in the Catalaunian Plains of eastern France. The Huns put up an impressive fight, but they'd finally met their match. The Romans and Visigoths had learned much from previous encounters with the Huns and fought them hand-to-hand and on horseback.

After hours of ferocious fighting that lasted well into the dark of night, tens of thousands of soldiers were dead, and the Roman alliance had forced the Hun army to retreat. It was Attila's first and only military defeat.

Attila and his army returned to Italy and continued ravaging cities. In 452, with Rome in sight, he met Pope Leo I who acted as an emissary between Attila and Rome. There's no record of what they discussed, but according to legend the apparitions of St. Paul and St. Peter appeared to Attila and threatened to kill him if he didn't negotiate with Pope Leo I.

Whether because of his fear of the Pope and his saintly allies, or simply because his troops were stretched too thin and weakened by malaria, Attila decided to pull out of Italy and return to the Great Hungarian Plain.

Death of Attila

Attila the Hun may have been an infamous warrior, but he didn't die a warrior's death. When Marcian, the new emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire, refused to pay Attila a previously-agreed-to annual tribute in 453, Attila regrouped and planned to attack Constantinople.

But before he could strike, he was found dead-on his wedding night after marrying his latest bride-by choking on his own blood while in a drunken stupor.

Attila had made his oldest son Ellac his successor, but all his sons fought a civil war for power until the Hun Empire was divided between them. Without Attila at the helm, however, the weakened Huns fell apart and were no longer a major threat.

By 459, the Hun Empire had collapsed, and many Huns assimilated into the civilizations they'd once dominated, leaving their mark throughout much of Europe.

Sources

Attila the Hun. Biography.
Barbarians-The Huns. You Tube.
Huns. Ancient History Encyclopedia.
Ostrogoth. Ancient History Encyclopedia.
Visigoth. Ancient History Encyclopedia.

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The Huns were nomadic warriors who terrorized much of Europe and the Roman Empire in the 4th and 5th centuries A.D. They were impressive horsemen best known for their astounding military achievements. As they plundered their way across the European continent, the Huns acquired a reputation for being ruthless, indomitable savages.

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Genghis Khan moved his troops into the quasi-Chinese Chin-ruled north China in 1211, and in 1215 they destroyed the capital city. Hisson Ogodei conquered all of North China by 1234 and ruled it from 1229 to 1241. Genghis Khan's grandson, Kublai Khan, defeated the Chinese Southern Song in 1279, and for the first time all of China was under foreign rule.

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Contents

1. Genghis Khan: The Early Years

2. Genghis Khan Unites the Mongols

3. Genghis Khan Establishes an Empire

4. Genghis Khan's Death and the Continuation of the Empire

Mongol leader Genghis Khan (1162-1227) rose from humble beginnings to establish the largest land empire in history. After uniting the nomadic tribes of the Mongolian plateau, he conquered huge chunks of central Asia and China. His descendants expanded the empire even further, advancing to such far-off places as Poland, Vietnam, Syria and Korea. At their peak, the Mongols controlled between 11 and 12 million contiguous square miles, an area about the size of Africa. Many people were slaughtered in the course of Genghis Khan's invasions, but he also granted religious freedom to his subjects, abolished torture, encouraged trade and created the first international postal system. Genghis Khan died in 1227 during a military campaign against the Chinese kingdom of Xi Xia. His final resting place remains unknown.

Genghis Khan: The Early Years

Temujin, later Genghis Khan, was born around 1162 near the border between modern Mongolia and Siberia. Legend holds that he came into the world clutching a blood clot in his right hand. His mother had been kidnapped by his father and forced into marriage. At that time, dozens of nomadic tribes on the central Asian steppe were constantly fighting and stealing from each other, and life for Temujin was violent and unpredictable. Before he turned 10, his father was poisoned to death by an enemy clan. Temujin's own clan then deserted him, his mother and his six siblings in order to avoid having to feed them.

Did you know? Mongol leader Genghis Khan never allowed anyone to paint his portrait, sculpt his image or engrave his likeness on a coin. The first images of him appeared after his death.

Shortly thereafter, Temujin killed his older half-brother and took over as head of the poverty-stricken household. At one point, he was captured and enslaved by the clan that had abandoned him, but he was eventually able to escape. In 1178 Temujin married Borte, with whom he would have four sons and an unknown number of daughters. He launched a daring rescue of Borte after she too was kidnapped, and he soon began making alliances, building a reputation as a warrior and attracting a growing number of followers. Most of what we know about Genghis Khan's childhood comes from "The Secret History of the Mongols," the oldest known work of Mongolian history and literature, which was written soon after his death.

Genghis Khan Unites the Mongols

Going against custom, Temujin put competent allies rather than relatives in key positions and executed the leaders of enemy tribes while incorporating the remaining members into his clan. He ordered that all looting wait until after a complete victory had been won, and he organized his warriors into units of 10 without regard to kin. Though Temujin was an animist, his followers included Christians, Muslims and Buddhists. By 1205 he had vanquished all rivals, including his former best friend Jamuka. The following year, he called a meeting of representatives from every part of the territory and established a nation similar in size to modern Mongolia. He was also proclaimed Chinggis Khan, which roughly translates to "Universal Ruler," a name that became known in the West as Genghis Khan.

Genghis Khan Establishes an Empire

Having united the steppe tribes, Genghis Khan ruled over some 1 million people. In order to suppress the traditional causes of tribal warfare, he abolished inherited aristocratic titles. He also forbade the selling and kidnapping of women, banned the enslavement of any Mongol and made livestock theft punishable by death. Moreover, Genghis Khan ordered the adoption of a writing system, conducted a regular census, granted diplomatic immunity to foreign ambassadors and allowed freedom of religion well before that idea caught on elsewhere.

Genghis Khan's first campaign outside of Mongolia took place against the Xi Xia kingdom of northwestern China. After a series of raids, the Mongols launched a major initiative in 1209 that brought them to the doorstep of Yinchuan, the Xi Xia capital. Unlike other armies, the Mongols traveled with no supply train other than a large reserve of horses. The army consisted almost entirely of cavalrymen, who were expert riders and deadly with a bow and arrows. At Yinchuan, the Mongols deployed a false withdrawal-one of their signature tactics-and then initiated a siege. Though their attempt to flood the city failed, the Xi Xia ruler submitted and presented tribute.

The Mongols next attacked the Jin Dynasty of northern China, whose ruler had made the mistake of demanding Genghis Khan's submission. From 1211 to 1214, the outnumbered Mongols ravaged the countryside and sent refugees pouring into the cities. Food shortages became a problem, and the Jin army ended up killing tens of thousands of its own peasants. In 1214 the Mongols besieged the capital of Zhongdu (now Beijing), and the Jin ruler agreed to hand over large amounts of silk, silver, gold and horses. When the Jin ruler subsequently moved his court south to the city of Kaifeng, Genghis Khan took this as a breach of their agreement and, with the help of Jin deserters, sacked Zhongdu to the ground.

In 1219 Genghis Khan went to war against the Khwarezm Empire in present-day Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan and Iran. The sultan there had agreed to a trade treaty, but when the first caravan arrived its goods were stolen and its merchants were killed. The sultan then murdered some of Genghis Khan's ambassadors. Despite once again being outnumbered, the Mongol horde swept through one Khwarezm city after another, including Bukhara, Samarkand and Urgench. Skilled workers such as carpenters and jewelers were usually saved, while aristocrats and resisting soldiers were killed. Unskilled workers, meanwhile, were often used as human shields during the next assault. No one knows with any certainty how many people died during Genghis Khan's wars, in part because the Mongols propagated their vicious image as a way of spreading terror.

Genghis Khan's Death and the Continuation of the Empire

When Genghis Khan returned to Mongolia in 1225, he controlled a huge swath of territory from the Sea of Japan to the Caspian Sea. Nevertheless, he didn't rest for long before turning his attention back to the Xi Xia kingdom, which had refused to contribute troops to the Khwarezm invasion. In early 1227 a horse threw Genghis Khan to the ground, causing internal injuries. He pressed on with the campaign, but his health never recovered. He died on August 18, 1227, just before the Xi Xia were crushed.

Genghis Khan conquered more than twice as much land as any other person in history, bringing Eastern and Western civilizations into contact in the process. His descendants, including Ogodei and Khubilai, were also prolific conquerors, taking control of Eastern Europe, the Middle East and the rest of China, among other places. The Mongols even invaded Japan and Java before their empire broke apart in the 14th century. Genghis Khan's last ruling descendant was finally deposed in 1920.

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Mongol leader Genghis Khan (1162-1227) rose from humble beginnings to establish the largest land empire in history. After uniting the nomadic tribes of the Mongolian plateau, he conquered huge chunks of central Asia and China. His descendants expanded the empire even further, advancing to such far-off places as Poland, Vietnam, Syria and Korea.

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Origins of the Ottoman Empire

Osman I, a leader of the Turkish tribes in Anatolia, founded the Ottoman Empire around 1299. The term "Ottoman" is derived from Osman's name, which was "Uthman" in Arabic.

The Ottoman Turks set up a formal government and expanded their territory under the leadership of Osman I, Orhan, Murad I and Bayezid I.

In 1453, Mehmed II the Conqueror led the Ottoman Turks in seizing the ancient city of Constantinople, the Byzantine Empire's capital. This put an end to the 1,000-year reign of the Byzantine Empire.

Sultan Mehmed renamed the city Istanbul and made it the new capital of the Ottoman Empire. Istanbul became a dominant international center of trade and culture.

Mehmed died in 1481. His oldest son, Bayezid II, became the new Sultan.

Rise of the Ottoman Empire

By 1517, Bayezid's son, Selim I, brought Syria, Arabia, Palestine, and Egypt under Ottoman control.

The Ottoman Empire reached its peak between 1520 and 1566, during the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent. This period was marked by great power, stability and wealth.

Suleiman created a uniform system of law and welcomed different forms of arts and literature. Many Muslims considered Suleiman a religious leader as well as a political ruler.

Throughout Sultan Suleiman's rule, the empire expanded and included areas of Eastern Europe.

What Countries Were Part of the Ottoman Empire?

At its height, the Ottoman Empire included the following regions:

Ottoman Art and Science

The Ottomans were known for their achievements in art, science and medicine. Istanbul and other major cities throughout the empire were recognized as artistic hubs, especially during the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent.

Some of the most popular forms of art included calligraphy, painting, poetry, textiles and carpet weaving, ceramics and music.

Ottoman architecture also helped define the culture of the time. Elaborate mosques and public buildings were constructed during this period.

Science was regarded as an important field of study. The Ottomans learned and practiced advanced mathematics, astronomy, philosophy, physics, geography and chemistry.

Additionally, some of the greatest advances in medicine were made by the Ottomans. They invented several surgical instruments that are still used today, such as forceps, catheters, scalpels, pincers and lancets.

Fratricide

Under Sultan Selim, a new policy emerged, which included fratricide, or the murder of brothers.

When a new Sultan was crowned, his brothers would be imprisoned. When the Sultan's first son was born, his brothers and their sons would be killed. This system ensured that the rightful heir would take the throne.

But, not every Sultan followed this harsh ritual. Over time, the practice evolved. In the later years, the brothers would only be put in prison-not killed.

Topkapi

A total of 36 Sultans ruled the Ottoman Empire between 1299 and 1922. For many of these years, the Ottoman Sultan would live in the elaborate Topkapi palace complex in Istanbul. It contained dozens of gardens, courtyards and residential and administrative buildings.

Part of the Topkapi palace included the harem, a separate quarters reserved for wives, concubines and female slaves. These women were positioned to serve the Sultan, while the men in the harem complex were typically eunuchs.

The threat of assassination was always a concern for a Sultan. He relocated every night as a safety measure.

The Ottoman Empire and Other Religions

Most scholars agree that the Ottoman Turk rulers were tolerant of other religions.

Those who weren't Muslim were categorized by the millet system, a community structure that gave minority groups a limited amount of power to control their own affairs while still under Ottoman rule. Some millets paid taxes, while others were exempt.

Devshirme

In the 14th century, the devshirme system was created. This required conquered Christians to give up 20 percent of their male children to the state. The children were forced to convert to Islam and become slaves.

Although they served as slaves, some of the converts became powerful and wealthy. Many were trained for government service or the Ottoman military. The elite military group, known as the Janissaries, was primarily made up of forced Christian converts.

The devshirme system lasted until the end of the 17th century.

The Decline of the Ottoman Empire

Starting in the 1600s, the Ottoman Empire began to lose its economic and military dominance over Europe.

Around this time, Europe had strengthened rapidly with the Renaissance and the dawn of the Industrial Revolution. Other factors, such as poor leadership and having to compete with trade from the Americas and India, led to the weakening of the empire.

In 1683, the Ottoman Turks were defeated at the Battle of Vienna. This loss added to their already waning status.

Over the next hundred years, the empire began to lose key regions of land. After a revolt, Greece won its independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1830.

In 1878, the Congress of Berlin declared the independence of Romania, Serbia and Bulgaria.

During the Balkan Wars, which took place in 1912 and 1913, the Ottoman Empire lost nearly all its territories in Europe.

When Did the Ottoman Empire Fall?

At the start of World War I, the Ottoman Empire was already in decline. The Ottoman army entered the war in 1914 on the side of the Central Powers (including Germany and Austria-Hungary) and was defeated in October 1918.

Following the Armistice of Mudros, most Ottoman territories were divided between Britain, France, Greece and Russia.

The Ottoman Empire officially ended in 1922 when the title of Ottoman Sultan was eliminated. Turkey was declared a republic on October 29, 1923, when Mustafa Kemal Atatürk (1881-1938), an army officer, founded the independent Republic of Turkey. He then served as Turkey's first president from 1923 until his death in 1938, implementing reforms that rapidly secularized and westernized the country.

Armenian Genocide

The Armenian Genocide was perhaps the most controversial and damning event associated with the Ottomans.

In 1915, Turkish leaders made a plan to massacre Armenians living in the Ottoman Empire. Most scholars believe that about 1.5 million Armenians were killed.

For years, the Turkish government has denied responsibility for the genocide. In fact, it's illegal, even today, to talk about the Armenian Genocide in Turkey.

The Ottoman Legacy

After ruling for more than 600 years, the Ottoman Turks are often remembered for their powerful military, ethnic diversity, artistic ventures, religious tolerance and architectural marvels.

The mighty empire's influence is still very much alive in the present-day Turkish Republic, a modern, mostly secular nation thought of by many scholars as a continuation of the Ottoman Empire.

Sources

The Ottoman Empire, BBC.
History, TheOttomans.org.
Ottoman Legacy in the Turkish History, Turkey.com.
8 Things You Need to Know About the Mass Killings of Armenians 100 Years Ago, CNN.

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Ottoman Empire - WWI, Decline & Definition

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The Ottoman Empire, an Islamic superpower, ruled much of the Middle East, North Africa and Eastern Europe between the 14th and early 20th centuries.

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The Rise and Fall of The Ottoman Empire - Animated History