The Huns
by E. A. Thompson

Publisher:  Blackwell
ISBN:  0631214437

In 1948, when E.A. Thompson wrote The Huns, he took two idiosyncratic stances: one, that he would not take sides in the debate over the possible Chinese origins of the nomadic people commonly associated with the Fall of Rome. Two, that Attila was a diplomatic bungler and military leader whose victories only came when there was no real opposition.

We have only limited information about the Huns whose period of importance spanned a century from 370-470 AD, but we do have one eyewitness, Priscus, fragments of whose account remain. However, in the first chapter of The Huns (a summary of available resources), Thompson presents not Priscus, but Ammianus Marcellinus (390 AD) as the most credible early source. Although the sources spin fabulous tales of the superhuman monsters known as Huns, Thompson distills the hyperbole to portray them as poor, hungry, small bands of equestrians. What clothing the women pieced together from animals skins was never removed until it fell to pieces. Contrary to contemporary standards, the women mingled freely with strangers and widows even acted as leaders of local bands. Hardly a great nation, they battled amongst themselves as often as with outsiders, and they were as likely to fight for as against an enemy since such employment offered unaccustomed luxury.

Then came a major societal shift when Attila emerged as leader of the entire empire of Huns. But that's a far cry from calling him capable. Instead, he was a:

diplomatic bungler who, when invading the West in 451, managed to cause a whole series of initially disunited enemies to combine against him. More than that, most of his military victories came when there was no opposition worth talking about.

Peter Heather's afterword summarizes the half-century of research since the 1948 edition of this classic. Controversies have not been resolved. Despite Thompson's efforts, Attila is still enshrined in the popular imagination as a conqueror in the same league with that other nomadic chieftain, Genghis Khan.

Full of data and examples, The Huns show the barbarian scrounge from a sympathetic, non-Roman perspective. In the end, even if you still believe Attila was a military and diplomatic genius, at least you'll understand the preceding century's accomplishments that led up to it.

N.S. Gill, your Guide for Ancient/Classical History