Huns definition of Huns in the Free Online Encyclopedia.

Huns, nomadic and pastoral people of unknown ethnological affinities who originated in N central Asia, appeared in Europe in the 4th cent. A.D., and built up an empire there. They were organized in a predominantly military manner. Divided into hordes, they undertook extensive independent campaigns, living off the countries they ravaged. The Huns have been described as short and of somewhat Mongolian appearance. Their military superiority was due to their small, rapid horses, on which they practically lived, even eating and negotiating treaties on horseback. Despite the similarity of their tactics and habits with those of the White Huns, the Magyars, the Mongols Mongols (mŏng`gəlz, –gōlz)
..... Click the link for more information. , and the Turks, their connection with those peoples is either tenuous or—in the case of the Magyars and the Turks—unfounded. The Huns appear in history in the 3d cent. B.C., when part of the Great Wall of China Great Wall of China, fortifications, c.1,500 mi (2,400 km) long, winding across N China from Gansu prov. to Hebei prov. on the Yellow Sea. The wall, running mostly along the southern edge of the Mongolian plain, was erected to protect China from northern nomads.
..... Click the link for more information. was erected to exclude them from China. Called Hsiung-nu by the Chinese, the Huns occupied N China from the 3d cent. A.D. until 581. Having swept across Asia, they invaded the lower Volga valley c.372 and advanced westward, pushing the Germanic Ostrogoths Ostrogoths (East Goths), division of the Goths, one of the most important groups of the Germans . According to their own unproven tradition, the ancestors of the Goths were the Gotar of S Sweden . By the 3d cent. A.D.
..... Click the link for more information. and Visigoths Visigoths (West Goths), division of the Goths, one of the most important groups of Germans . Having settled in the region W of the Black Sea in the 3d cent. A.D., the Goths soon split into two divisions, the Ostrogoths and the Visigoths.
..... Click the link for more information. before them and thus precipitating the great waves of migrations that destroyed the Roman Empire and changed the face of Europe. They crossed the Danube, penetrated deep into the Eastern Empire, and forced (432) Emperor Theodosius to pay them tribute. Attila Attila (ətĭl`ə, ăt`ələ), d. 453, king of the Huns (445–53).
..... Click the link for more information. , their greatest king, had his palace in Hungary. Most of the territories that now constitute European Russia, Poland, and Germany were tributary to him, and he was long in Roman pay as Roman general in chief. When Rome refused (450) further tribute, the Huns invaded Italy and Gaul and were defeated (451) by Aetius Aetius, c.396–454, Roman general. At first unfriendly to Valentinian III , he later made his peace with Valentinian's mother, Galla Placidia , and was given a command in Gaul.
..... Click the link for more information. , but they ravaged Italy before withdrawing after Attila's death (453). Their later movements are little known; some believe that the White Huns White Huns or Hephthalites (hĕf`thəlīts')
..... Click the link for more information. were remnants of the Hunnic people. The word Huns has been used as an epithet, as for German soldiers, connoting destructive militarism.

Bibliography

See T. Hodgkin, Italy and Her Invaders, Vol. I (rev. ed. 1892, repr. 1967); W. M. McGovern, Early Empires of Central Asia (1939); E. A. Thompson, A History of Attila and the Huns (1948); F. Teggart, China and Rome (1969, repr. 1983); J. D. Maenchen-Helfen, The World of the Huns (1973).

Huns

Mongolian invaders of western Europe until 453. [Eur. Hist.: Espy, 167]

See : Savagery