MORE than 1,500
years after his
death Attila the Hun lives on as a byword for
brutality, barbarism and terror.
In Attila: The
Barbarian King Who Challenged Rome historian and travel writer
John Man reveals a capricious, ruthless yet brilliant leader who, though cruel,
was charismatic enough to inspire millions to follow him on his great
adventure across fifth century Europe. On the way Man discusses the theories
that surround the Huns’ origins in Mongolia and underlines their unique
fighting abilities by describing the life-long efforts of a modern-day mounted
archer to recapture their lost skills.
Setting the scene, Man paints a picture of the fragile world that Attila and his
Huns were about to crash into. Roman dominance had been gnawed away by
a series of incompetent emperors and barbarian invasions. Wealthy but weak,
the
empire was ripe for takeover by a race of fierce nomads reliant on plunder
for survival.
Man charts Attila’s rise and fall, from the murder of his brother that brought
him the Hun crown, to his fatal collapse on his wedding night 20 years later.
We see Attila the cunning politician using Latin and Greek secretaries to
blackmail Rome balanced with Attila the warrior sweeping westwards from his
base in the Hungarian grasslands all the way to Orleans in France. Contrary to
popular myth, Attila never reached Rome – although for a while he held the
fate of the Empire in his hands.
Eventually, his ambitions got the better of him and his overstretched forces
were turned back by an uneasy alliance of Romans and Goths.
Unlike Genghis Khan, Attila was no empire builder. After his death his gains
were overturned and Man concludes in his scholarly and engaging account
that ultimately, though Attila could have changed the future of Europe, he
didn’t.
His greatest legacy is his hold on our imagination.
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