Huns

The Huns were a confederation of Eurasian tribes of disputed origin, who appeared in Europe in the 4th century. It has also become a more general term for any number of Central Asian equestrian nomads or semi-nomads. Most of these peoples are recorded by neighboring peoples to the south, east, and west as having occupied Central Asia roughly from the 4th century to the 6th century (with some surviving in the Caucasus until the early 8th century).

Origins and research

Ever since Joseph de Guignes in the 18th century identified the Huns with the Xiongnu or (H)siung-nu, the research and debate about the Asian ancestral origins of the Huns has continued.

Recent research has suggested that many of the great confederations of steppe warriors were not entirely of the same race, but rather tended to be mixtures of mostly Central Asian Turkic and eastern Caucasian. Also, many clans may have claimed to be Huns simply based on the prestige and fame of the name, or it was attributed to them by outsiders describing their common characteristics, believed place of origin, or reputation. Thus it is probably fruitless to speculate on the ethnic origins and geographic home of the Huns.

The recent genetic research, which shows that it is fruitless to speculate on the Huns ethnic origins, is in contrast to older theories, which put forward more definitive answers about the Huns' origins — based on linguistics, Chinese records, archaeology, and other indirect evidence. These theories contain various elements: that the name "Hun" first described a nomadic ruling group of warriors whose ethnic origins were Turkic-Mongol, and was most likely in present day Central Asian Turks; that they were possibly related to, or included in, the Xiongnu (the theory first suggested by Joseph de Guignes in the 18th century); that the Xiongnu were defeated by the Chinese Han Empire; and that this is why they left Mongolia and moved westward, eventually invading Europe 300 years later. Indirect evidence includes the transmission of the composite bow from Asia to the European countries of Hungary, Russia and others; and that Europe, at some point, saw an influx of Asian genes. This traditional narrative, of a westward movement of people triggered by a Chinese war, is deeply ingrained in western (and eastern) historiography — but the evidence is often indirect or ambiguous (the Huns left practically no written records), there is no record for 300 years of what happened between the time they left China and arrived in Europe. It is further challenged by the recent genetic research showing little support for a distinct Hun people (even further sparking contention, see "Modern Huns" below).

One of the linguistic debates about the origins of the Huns is centered on Kama, legendary ancestor-King of the Huns. Research is still ongoing to learn if there ever was a ruler among the Xiongnu with that name, and because none to date has been found, some have suggested that the Huns were entirely distinct from the Xiongnu. However, the Huns and/or Xiongnu were both said to have been largely military tribes with very few written records, so the research remains tentative. Additionally, some believe the story of Kama is probably more mythology than history.

To avoid confusion, this article will not treat on the Aparni "White Huns" (Akhun only in modern Turkish) of Procopius, since while he calls them "Huns", others feel it clear that they were of a different cultural and physical stock.

History

The Hunnish empire stretched from the steppes of Central Asia into modern Germany, and from the Danube river to the Baltic Sea

3rd-5th centuries

Dionysius Periegetes talks of people who may be Huns living next to the Caspian Sea in second century AD. Ptolemy lists the "Chuni" as among the "Sarmatian" tribes in the second century, although it is not known for certain if these people were the Huns. The fifth century Armenian historian Moses of Khorene, in his "History of Armenia," introduces the Hunni near the Sarmatians and goes on to describe how they captured the city of Balk ("Kush" in Armenian) sometime between 194 and 214, which explains why the Greeks call that city Hunuk.

Following the defeat of the Xiongnu by the Han, there was a century without significant Xiongnu references, followed by attempts by the Liu family of Tiefu Xiongnu to establish a state in western China (see Han Zhao). Chionites (OIONO/Xiyon) appear on the scene in Transoxiana as the Kidarites begin to press on the Kushans in 320 and the Jie ethnicity Hou/Later Zhao kingdom competes against the Liu family. Back west, the Romans invite the Huns east of the Ukraine to settle Pannonia in 361, and in 372, under the leadership of Balimir their king, the Huns push toward the west and defeat the Alans. Back east again, in the early 5th century Tiefu Xia is the last Xiongnu dynasty in Western China and the Alchon and Huna appear in what is now Afghanistan and Pakistan. At this point deciphering Hunnish histories for the multi-linguist becomes easier with relatively well-documented events in Byzantine, Armenian, Iranian, Indian, and Chinese sources.

European Huns

European Huns in the 5th century

Huns made an appearance in Europe in the Fourth Century AD, appearing first north of the Black Sea area, forcing a large number of Goths to seek refuge in the Roman Empire; then later the Huns appear west of the Carpathians in Pannonia, probably sometime between 400 and 410, which was probably the trigger for the massive migration of Germanic tribes westward across the Rhine in December 406.

The establishment of the 5th century Hun Empire marks one of the first well-documented appearances of the culture of horseback migration in history. Under the leadership of Attila the Hun, these tribal people achieved military and diplomatic superiority over their rivals (most of them highly cultured) through weapons like the Hun bow and a system of pay-offs, financed by the plundering of wealthy Roman cities to the south, to retain the loyalties of a diverse number of tribes.

Attila's Huns incorporated groups of unrelated tributary peoples. In the European case Alans, Gepids, Sciri, Rugians, Sarmatians, Slavs and Gothic tribes all united under the Hun family military elite. Some of Attila's Huns eventually settled in Pannonia after his death, but the Hun Empire would not survive Attila's passing. After his sons were defeated by Ardaric's coalition at the unidenified river Nedao in 454, the Hunnish empire ceased to exist.

The memory of the Hunnish invasion was transmitted orally among the Germanic peoples and is an important component in the Old Norse Völsunga saga and Hervarar saga, and the Old German Nibelungenlied, all portraying events in the Migrations period, almost one millennium before their recordings. In the Hervarar saga, the Goths make first contact with the bow-wielding Huns and meet them in an epic battle on the plains of the Danube. In the Völsunga saga and the Nibelungenlied, King Attila (Atli in Norse and Etzel in German) defeats the Frankish king Sigebert I (Sigurðr or Siegfried) and the Burgundian King Guntram I (Gunnar or Gunther), but is subsequently assassinated by Queen Fredegund (Gudrun or Kriemhild), the sister of the latter and wife of the former.

Successor nations?

Many nations have tried to assert themselves as ethnic or cultural successors to the Huns. The Bulgarian khans, for instance, believed to have been descended from Attila. Indeed, the language of Volga Bulghars, currently known as the Chuvash language, is the most divergent of all the Turkic languages, which testifies to its separate existence for centuries before the dissolution of the proto-Turkic unity happened. "Formerly, scholars considered Chuvash not properly a Turkic language at all but, rather, the only surviving representative of a separate subdivision of the Altaic languages probably spoken by the Huns" (Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1997).

The Magyars also have laid claims to the Hunnish heritage. Considering that the Huns who invaded Europe represented a loose coalition of various peoples, it is not entirely out of the question that Magyars were present among those ethnic groups as well.

In 2005, a group of about 2,500 Hungarians petitioned the government to be a recognized minority of direct descendants of Attila. It was a failed bid, but gained publicity for the group, who had been formed in the early 1990s, and appear to represent a special Hun(garian)-centric brand of mysticism. The self-proclaimed Huns are not known to possess more special knowledge about Hun culture or language than would be available from historical and modern-mystical Hungarian sources. [1]

Historiography

The term "Hun" has been also used to describe peoples with no historical connection to what scholars consider "Hun".

On July 27, 1901, during the Boxer Rebellion in China, Kaiser Wilhelm II gave the order to "make the name 'German' remembered in China for a thousand years, so that no Chinaman will ever again dare to even squint at a German". This speech, wherein Wilhelm invoked the memory of the 5th-century Huns, coupled with the Pickelhaube or spiked helmet worn by German forces until 1916, that was reminiscent of ancient Hun (and Hungarian) helmets, gave rise to the later derogatory English usage of the latter term for their German enemy during World War I. This usage was reinforced by Allied propaganda throughout the war, prompting hatred of the Germans by invoking the idea that they were brutal savages.

Irish Republicans have been known to refer to British security forces as "Huns", notably in songs such as "London's Derry" which begins Come on out ye British Huns come on out without your guns. This spreads too, to association football (soccer) where fans of Celtic F.C. often refer to fans of Glasgow Rangers F.C as "the huns" because of their British associations. There is another possible origin of the "Hun" nickname for Rangers, that after a riot after a friendly match in England the name was given to Rangers fans by an English Newspaper after the destruction carried out was reminiscent of the Somme. [2]

See also

• Hunnic language
• List of Hunnish rulers

Further reading

• J. Otto Mänchen-Helfen (ed. Max Knight): The World of the Huns: Studies in Their History and Culture (Berkeley, University of California Press, 1973)
• J. Otto Mänchen-Helfen: Huns and Hsiung-Nu (published in Byzantion, vol. XVII, 1944-45, pp. 222-243)
• J. Otto Mänchen-Helfen: The Legend of the Origin of the Huns (published in Byzantion, vol. XVII, 1944-45, pp. 244-251)
• E. A. Thompson: A History of Attila and the Huns (London, Oxford University Press, 1948)