Attila the Hun by Ian Hughes

Author:Ian Hughes
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Biography: general
ISBN: 9781473890329
Publisher: Pen & Sword Books
Published: 2019-01-30T00:00:00+00:00

The ‘Western’ Campaign of 441

Due to the above considerations, what follows is a clear and logical outline of the two Hunnic campaigns of 441 and 442. However, readers are reminded that this is hypothesis and other suggestions concerning events remain equally valid.

Map 7: The Hunnic Attack in 441.

The sources attest to the Huns attacking and capturing ‘at least seven major cities’ in the war.27 Six of the cities were Sirmium (Sremska Mitrovica), Naissus (Niš), Singidunum (Belgrade), Viminacium (Kostalac), Margus (Orašje) and Ratiara (Archar).28 Strangely, Constantia, which was only a fortress and trading post, is included in the list of seven ‘cities’: this anomaly is discussed in detail in Chapter 6. Using the concept of a ‘Western’ and an ‘Eastern’ campaign outlined above it is here assumed that Sirmium, Singidunum, Viminacium and Margum took place in 441, whereas the attacks on Naissus and Ratiaria are assumed to have taken place in 442.

Almost certainly it was only after news had reached Attila that the eastern armada had set sail for Africa that Attila launched his invasion. Dismissing Roman attempts to negotiate, and reiterating that it was the Romans who had breached the earlier peace treaty, the Huns moved against the fortress of Constantia, situated on their side of the Danube.29

Having started on the border with Constantia, it seems logical to suppose that Attila used the Roman roads to move his troops once he had crossed into the Roman Empire: although he would have had a good knowledge of the region from spies and local information, the fact that the raid was intended to capture as large an amount of slaves and booty as possible would mean that the best means of transporting the captives and treasure home would be by using the major Roman roads, including those still usable on the Hungarian Steppes (see Map 4).

If true, it is likely that from Constantia the Huns crossed the Danube and moved on Margus. Recognizing his danger, the bishop of Margus left the city unseen and joined the Huns before he could be handed over. At this point he agreed to betray the city. Returning, he convinced the troops in the city that they should attack the Huns, but as the Roman forces advanced to battle, Attila ambushed them and then went on to capture the defenceless city.30

Having captured Margus, Attila may still have been wary about the possibility of a Roman attack on his loot-bearing troops and so may have sent a proportion of his men to scout the regions to the east. It was these forces that accounted for the ‘ravaging’ of Viminacium. Their task was to keep any garrison of Viminacium occupied, as well as scouting and reporting to Attila the arrival of possible Roman reinforcements from the east.

Attila and the main body of the troops then moved west, with Attila himself leading the assault on the city of Singidunum. When it became clear that he still had freedom of action due to Roman inactivity, Attila advanced further into Roman territory and ravaged the region around the major city of Sirmium.

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