It’s the Fifth Century, and you’re a Roman guard posted outside the city of Serdica – now Sofia, the modern capital of Bulgaria. It’s been an uneventful day, overseeing the passage of citizens and traders through the city limits, and you’re settling into the night shift. But that’s when you hear it – it sounds like thunder, but the sky is clear.
In the distance, something is getting closer: Horsemen, thousands of them, armoured with thick, tanned leather, wielding bows and swords. Your blood runs cold. At the head of the army rides a warrior so legendary he can strike terror into the heart of any soldier in Europe: Attila the Hun.
He’s a man with a near-perfect record in battle. He slaughters men, women, and children alike, showing no mercy. Rumour has it that the sword he wields was left to him by Mars, the God of War himself.
Any city sacked by the Huns – his legendary nomadic warrior people, and perhaps one of the most iconic and brutal cavalries of all time – is destined to be pillaged and burned to the ground. To many in the territories of the Roman Empire – including the Greeks, the Balkans, the Goths, and the Gauls – he’s known by an even more frightening name: Flagellum Dei, the Scourge of God. You pray to your pantheon of Gods as Attila and his barbarian army approaches your city gates.
There will be no escape. While this is a nightmare scenario for any Roman soldier, for Attila the Hun, it was a Tuesday. During his tenure as the King of the Hunnic people, between 434 CE and 453 CE, he sacked over a hundred cities, leaving death and destruction in his wake.
He earned a reputation as a fierce and terrifying warrior, a preternaturally skilled tactician, and a well-respected ruler among his people. But who really was this mysterious Fifth Century figure? And in a history filled with bloody rulers, what singled this Hunnic King out as one of the most evil men who ever lived?
To truly understand the so-called Scourge of God, we need to go back to the beginning. While the exact date of Attila’s birth is unknown, historians generally agree that it happened sometime between the year 400 AD and the year 410 AD. He and his older brother Bleda were born into a powerful family, as his uncle, Rugila, was King of the Huns.
The origins of the Huns themselves are equally poorly documented. They were a group of nomadic warriors based in and around Europe, but they likely descended from nomadic cavalrymen hailing from China or Kazakhstan, though historians dispute which one is more likely. Nobody is even really sure what language the Huns spoke.
That’s probably because, to their enemies, the language they spoke most fluently was that of war and slaughter. Young Attila and his brother were groomed for battle and leadership from an early age, being trained in the arts of horse riding, archery, and swordsmanship. They would be taught Latin and Gothic, in order to properly interface with the Romans and the Goths, and attended Hun War Councils and negotiations to become well-versed in the art of conflict.
While Attila would shape them into a living nightmare during his rule, the Huns were already terrifying warriors. It’s reputed that they were so geared towards battle that even their horses would pitch in – biting and beating enemy soldiers to death with their hooves. His Uncle Rugila had given Attila quite a reputation to live up to – during his reign, he terrorised the Eastern Roman Empire to such an extent that the Romans would give the Huns an annual tribute to keep relations between the two kingdoms running smoothly.
So, when Rugila died in 433, while on campaign against Constantinople – known these days as Istanbul – Attila and Bleda had their work cut out for them. The two Hunnic rulers shared leadership over their already vast territory, stretching across most of Central Europe, but they wanted to consolidate these territories into a more united fighting force. Like a lot of new rulers, the Hunnic brothers needed a little outside help – which, for Attila and Bleda, came in the form of Aetius, the leading general of the Western Roman Empire.
You’re probably thinking, “Wait, but I thought you said Attila the Hun terrorised the Roman Empire? ” But the fact is, historical politics is rarely that simple. The Roman Empire during its golden centuries was obscenely huge, and as a result, Attila had violent relations with the Eastern Roman Empire while getting along smoothly with the Western Roman Empire.
General Aetius had once been a hostage of the Huns, but through some carefully-planned diplomacy, the Huns installed him into power in the Roman West. Attila, Bleda, and Aetius lead their first ever military conquest into the territory of Burgundians in France and Poland in order to solidify their grip on the region, almost entirely wiping them out in the process. Roman historian Prosper of Aquitaine would later write that the Huns and Aetius’ forces had exterminated the roots and branches of the Burgundian people, leaving nothing in their wake.
With the help of the Huns, Aetius was also able to stomp the Visigoths and the Franks, letting him maintain his rule over his territories with Attila’s iron fist. Meanwhile, Attila and Bleda had a major deal in the works. Their first military conquests, as well as the sterling reputations of the Huns as a group who should not be messed with, made the Eastern Roman Empire eager to appease the two brothers.
Emperor Theodosius II formed the Treaty of Margus with Attila and Bleda – the deal being to give Attila and Bleda seven hundred pounds of gold every year in exchange for peaceful relations. It was basically the first Mafia protection racket, though Attila made your average mafioso look like a summer camp counsellor by comparison. Of course, the peace didn’t last – hence why this video is called “most evil man” and not “most reasonable man.
” In 441, the Eastern Roman Empire moved their armies from the Balkans to North Africa in a campaign against the Vandal-Alan kingdom. While the treaty certainly seemed like a pretty sweet deal, without a heavy Roman military presence, Attila saw the Balkans as free real estate. He and Bleda began storming into the territory, sacking cities and bringing what little military presence was left to their knees.
The Eastern Roman Army, which had reached Sicily by this point, had to pull a 180 and head back to face the Huns. Funnily enough, Attila and Bleda still wanted their yearly tribute, because they didn’t actually see this Balkan Invasion as a breach of the Treaty of Margus. The Bishop of Margus had stolen treasures from the Hun royal tombs, and there were certain Hun prisoners that the Eastern Roman Empire hadn’t freed, as per a condition in their deal.
The Balkan Invasion was just a little tit for tat. The Huns rampaged all the way to Constantinople, burning major Roman cities like Serdica and Naissus to the ground in the process. Attila had grabbed the Roman Empire by the throat and dragged it back to the negotiation table, and this time, he wanted a much more lucrative deal.
The Romans would now give him 2,100 pounds of gold annually, they would free the Hun prisoners, as originally promised, and they would give him an additional sum of 6,000 pounds of gold on the spot. He drove a hard bargain, but considering the alternative was having the Hun army sack more cities and steal tons of gold anyway, they capitulated to his demands. Thanks to Attila and Bleda’s new deal, the Huns just became a whole lot richer.
Of course, there’s a reason you’ve heard about Attila the Hun and not Bleda the Hun. That’s because, in 445 AD, it’s believed that Attila had his brother assassinated to consolidate his power over the Hunnic Kingdom. As a solo act, Attila immediately became the most powerful military commander in all of Europe, and the true golden age of the Huns was about to begin.
Well, for the Huns themselves it was gold – for everyone else this era is better remembered in a deep shade of blood red. You’re about to find out how Attila earned a reputation as The Scourge of God. By 447 AD, Attila had once again thrown out his treaty with the Eastern Roman Empire.
Sure, being given gold was fun, but taking it was much more satisfying. He mercilessly slaughtered the Roman forces during a battle on the River Utus in Bulgaria as they attempted to stop him invading further into Roman territory. He continued his bloody conquest into the city of Chersonesus, where he once again beat the Roman forces into submission.
With nothing standing in his way, Attila sacked over seventy cities in Greece and the Balkans, likely murdering hundreds of thousands and stealing literal tons of gold and other valuables. Attila was on a winning streak the likes of which the world had never seen. His forces were only halted at Thermopylae in Greece – a setting you may remember from the story of King Xerxes of Persia’s forces facing off against a detachment of a few thousand Greek warriors over 800 years earlier.
Though once again, Attila came out on top, setting another brutally one-sided treaty with the Romans to score himself even more tributes. At this point, it’s clear that a treaty with Attila the Hun was about as valuable as Chuck-E-Cheese tokens, but the Romans would take even a bad deal with Attila to stop his attacks for at least a few years. Everything was coming up for Attila.
Through his various conquests, the Huns had won dominion over Scythia, Germania and Scandinavia, becoming more powerful, influential, and feared than they had ever been before. Attila had taken multiple wives, and carefully groomed his reputation as a warlord who was virtually impossible to defeat. He spread the rumour that his sword was given to him by Mars, the Roman God of war, to add to his warrior prestige.
His enemies and his followers looked to him as a kind of demi-god who could do no wrong on the battlefield. Ironically, despite his love for conquest and gold, Attila as a person was probably nothing like you’d expect. He was described by even enemies who met him outside of battle as a quiet and humble man who refused luxury and adornment.
While his underlings drank from golden goblets, Attila drank from a simple wooden cup. His clothes were simple, plain, and unadorned, and his palace was less a traditional castle and more a large log cabin. He was a ferocious ruler who’d kill an enemy without blinking, but he valued a personal sense of justice and honour.
Though his loyalty only extended so far, and if you crossed him, you would, no doubt, find yourself on the end of his sword. While his warm relationship with the Western Roman Empire had initially helped bring him to power, an arrangement with Princess Honoria of Western Europe lead to a betrayal. He added Honoria to his collection of wives and demanded half of the Western Roman Empire as a dowry.
In 451, Attila stormed in to collect what he felt was rightfully his, engaging the Western Roman Army – including his old friend, General Aetius – in the Battle of Chalons. While Attila slaughtered most of the Western Roman Army in this final decisive battle for the fate of the West, the combined forces of the Romans, Visigoths, Franks, Alans, and Burgundians managed to hold their ground, getting some semblance of revenge for all the years Attila had bullied and terrorised their people. The Huns retreated, fearing sickness and starvation would harm them further if they didn’t, in Attila’s only recorded defeat.
He’d hit his stride once again a year later, attacking Italy, and sacking Milan, Aquileia, and a number of other cities before a meeting with Pope Leo I persuaded him to stand down. Sadly for the Huns, the story of Attila would end quite abruptly the year after that – not with blood spilled on the battlefield, but on his wedding bed. After marrying his latest bride, Ildico, Attila engaged in celebration by feasting and drinking heavily.
But perhaps he partied just a little too hard, because he died of a nose bleed – believed to have been caused by a severe brain hemorrhage – later that night. And so ends the story of Attila the Hun, the 5th century ruler who never saw a city he didn’t feel like burning to the ground. He slaughtered his way through Romans, Visigoths, Franks, Alans, and Burgundians, pillaging everything from land to gold to even women in his wake.
From a battle record this successful and this brutal, it’s easy to see why his enemies would see this Hunnic King as the Scourge of God, and perhaps even the most evil man who ever lived. Check out “Caligula the Insane – Most Evil Man? ” and “Most Evil Man – Ivan The Terrible” for more fascinating facts on some of history’s greatest monsters.
