Who were the barbarians?
Many groups of nomadic barbarians attacked the Roman Empire, and they eventually destroyed the Western Empire. Most of these tribes migrated from the east. They were fierce warriors who were despised by the Romans.
Goths, Vandals, Huns and many other tribes attacked the Roman Empire from AD167 onwards. The Western Empire finally collapsed completely after Rome had been looted for the second time, in AD455. The barbarians killed the last Roman emperor in AD476. They set up several smaller kingdoms, based loosely on the Roman model. They failed to conquer the Eastern Empire, and for a short while Emperor Justinian pushed the barbarians back from much of their occupied territory.
Who was Attila the Hun?
Attila was the ruler of the Hun kingdom, in what is now Hungary. The Huns began to expand beyond this area, conquering surrounding countries until they controlled a region from the Rhine to the Caspian Sea, extending all the way to the Baltic. From AD435 to 439, Attila’s forces attacked barbarians throughout Europe. He forced the Eastern Roman Empire to pay him a fee in exchange for not attacking them.
Attila demanded to marry the sister of the emperor of the Western Empire, with half the empire as a dowry. When his request was refused, Attila invaded Gaul, was stopped and then invaded Italy. Eventually his conquest petered out as the Huns were gradually absorbed into the peoples they had conquered.
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