Huns
The Huns were a confederation of Eurasian tribes, most likely of diverse origin with a
Turkic-speaking aristocracy, who appeared in
Europe in the
4th century, the most famous being
Attila. 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 .
Encyclopedia
The
Huns were a confederation of Eurasian tribes, most likely of diverse origin with a
Turkic-speaking aristocracy, who appeared in
Europe in the
4th century, the most famous being
Attila. 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 .
Origins and research
Ever since Joseph de Guignes in the
18th century identified the Huns with the
Xiongnu or
siung-nu, the research and debate about the Asian ancestral origins of the Huns has continued.
Recent genetic research shows that many of the great confederations of steppe warriors were not entirely of the same
race, but rather tended to be ethnic mixtures, for example
Turkic, Iranian, Mongolian, Finno-Ugric,
Caucasian, Yeniseian and Tungus clans.
While there is no question that the Huns left descendants all over Eastern Europe, the disintegration of the Hun empire after the death of Attila meant they never regained their lost glory. One reason was that the Huns never fully established the mechanisms of a State, such as bureaucracy and taxes, unlike the
Magyars or
Golden Horde, who did. Once disorganized, the Huns naturally were absorbed by more organized polities.
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 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. The usage resurfaced during
World War II.
See also
- Hunnic language
- List of Hunnish rulers
- Battle of Ikh Bayan
Notes
Further reading
- Lindner, Rudi Paul. "Nomadism, Horses and Huns", Past and Present, No. 92. , pp. 319.
- Otto J. Mänchen-Helfen : The World of the Huns: Studies in Their History and Culture ISBN 0-520-01596-7
- Otto J. Mänchen-Helfen: Huns and Hsiung-Nu
- Otto J. Mänchen-Helfen: The Legend of the Origin of the Huns
- E. A. Thompson: A History of Attila and the Huns
- J. Webster: The Huns and Existentialist Thought
