The Huns were NOT a Germanic tribe, but I include them for three reasons:
1. many confuse them as being a Germanic tribe
2. their push into Europe became a catalyst of migrations
3. their interaction with Germanic tribes did add cultural and linguistic dimensions

The Huns were a confederation of Central Asian equestrian nomads or semi-nomads. Some of these Eurasian tribes moved into Europe in the 4th century, the most famous leader being Attila. Huns remaining in Asia 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.

The Hunnic Empire stretched from the steppes of Central Asia into modern Germany, and from the Black Sea to the Baltic Sea.

This is a map of the empire of Attila the Hun, circa 450 CE (AD), superimposed on modern borders. The borders of Attila's empire are only approximate because the empire was a very loose collection of conquered peoples and did not have the structure of a formal empire (such as the Roman Empire), and records of the eastern and northern borders of Attila's empire are nearly non-existent.

The star shows the approximate location of the capital of Attila's empire. It is not known with any certainty where the capital was actually located. It was either based on the ruins of the Roman city of Acquincum (today's Budapest), or it was his mobile 'wooden castle' (as described by Priscus Rhetor on his visit to Attila's camp), which was based primarily in the Hungarian Great Plain, somewhere near the Tisza River.

Recently, a mysterious massive fortress 20km north of Timisoara, Romania has been put forward as the actual location.


Origins and research

The research and debate about the Asian ancestral origins of the Huns has been ongoing since the 18th century. For example philologists still debate to this day which ethnonym from Chinese, Persian or Armenian sources is not identical with the Latin Hunni or the Greek Chounnoi as evidence of the Huns' identity.

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 of Eurasian clans. In addition, 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 ]"All we can say safely", says Walter Pohl,"is that the name Huns, in late antiquity, described prestigious ruling groups of steppe warriors". In part these views are a response to ethnocentric and nationalistic scholarship of past generations - thus leading Pan-European historians have turned to ethnogenesis as a means of explaining the origins and transmission of the barbarian ethnic groups such as the Goths, Franks, Huns,...etc.

The genetic research and ethnogenesis approach is in contrast to traditional theories based on Chinese records, archaeology, linguistics 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 in Central Asia, and was most likely in present day Mongolia; 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 200 years later. Indirect evidence includes the transmission of the composite bow; known as the Hun bow, from Central Asia to the west.

The Huns, who had set in motion the vast movement ofthe Germanic peoples, moved westward from the center they had established on the plains of Hungary . Both Romans and Germans were terrified of these savage warriors whose only interest was plunder and bloodshed. Joining momentarily together in 451, the Romans and Visigoths defeated the Hun leader, Attila, at the battle of Chalons; and within a couple of years the Huns had withdrawn from Europe . Their disappearance, however, only facilitated the entry into the empire of several more Germanic tribes: the Ostrogoths, the Franks, and the Anglo-Saxons.

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). For a timespan of 150 years, there is no record of what happened between the time they left China and arrived in Europe. The last mention of the northern Xiongnu was their defeat by the Chinese in 151 at the lake of Barkol, after which they fled to the western steppe at K’ang-chü (centered on Turkestan in Kazakhstan). Furthermore, the Chinese records between the 3rd and 4th century suggests that a small tribe called Yueban (which is described as the remnants of northern Xiongnu in texts) were distributed in the steppe of Kazakhstan. 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).

History

2nd-5th centuries
Dionysius Periegetes talks of people who may be Huns living next to the Caspian Sea in the second century AD. By AD 139, the European geographer Ptolemaus Claudius(Ptolemy) writes that the Khuni are next to the Dnieper River and ruled by Suni?. Ptolemy lists the "Chuni" as among the "Sarmatian" White Hun 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 southern Xiongnu Tiefu to establish a state in western China (see Han Zhao). Chionites (OIONO/Xiyon) appear on the scene in Transoxiana in 320 immediately after Jin Zhun overthrew Liu Can and sent the Xiongnu into chaos. Later Kidara came along to lead the Chionites into pressing on the Kushans.

Back west, Ostrogoths came into contact with the Huns in AD 358. The Armenians mention Vund c.370 - the first recorded Hunnish leader in the Caucasus region. The Romans invited the Huns east of the Ukraine to settle Pannonia in 361, and in 372, under the leadership of Balimir their king, the Huns pushed towards the west and defeated the Alans. Back east again, in the early 5th century Tiefu Xia is the last southern Xiongnu dynasty in Western China and the Alchon/Hunas 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

A 14th century chivalric-romanticized painting of "the huns" laying siege to a city. Note anachronistic details in weapons, armor and city type. Chronicon Pictum, 1360.Huns made an appearance in Europe in the Fourth Century AD, appearing first north of the Black Sea area possibly from Central Asia, 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 is an early appearance of horseback migration in history. Under the leadership of Attila, 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, Scirii, 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 river Nedao, modern day Nedava, 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 Middle High 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.

Hunnish Rulers

Rugila also referred to as Ruhas, Ruga, ΄Ρούγας, ΄Ροϋνας, ΄Ρωίλας and Rua, was a warlord who united the Huns under his sole kingship by 432. In 434, he was succeeded by his nephews Attila and Bleda. He served as an important forerunner to Attila the Hun during the fifth century AD.

Attila and Bleda (434 – 44) - ruled together until Bleda's death

Attila - Scourge of God 445 – 453, ruled alone after Bleda's death

Ellac (453-455 AD) - Ellac took over Hun power immediately after Attila's sudden death. In the Aftermath of Attila's death, there were revolts from their Germanic allies, Ellac died (Possibly in battle) only 2 years after becoming in power..

Dengizik (? - 469) - it is not known when we was put in power, but he was out of power by the year 469. Dengizich (spelled Δεγγιζίχ in Priscus' account) was a son of Attila the Hun. The word "Dengizich" means little sea in old Turkic (*Däŋiziq). This is also said to be the root of the name Ghengis.
Some time during his reign, the Unogurs first crossed the river Volga (according to Zacharias Rhetor). Priscus is clearer saying that in 463AD a mixed Saragur, Urog and Unogur embassy asked Byzantium for an alliance having been dislodged by the Avars' drive towards the west.

Ernakh or Ernac (Priscus: Ήρνάχ "Hernach") was the 3rd son of Attila. After Attila's death in 453 AD, his empire crumbled and its remains were ruled by Ernakh. He is considered to have reigned from 453 AD to 503 AD over the Utigur Bulgars, a tribe which formed a substantial part of the former empire and inhabited the lands of modern Ukraine.
According to the Nominalia of the Bulgarian khans, a ruler named Irnik was a leader of the Bulgars for 150 years and his reign began approximately in 453 AD. Some historians consider Ernakh and Irnik to have been the same person.
According to Procopius and the Utigur khan Sandilch, Ernakh had two sons:

"one called Utigur and another called Kutrigur. After their father's death they shared the power and gave their names to the subjected peoples, so that even nowadays some of them are called Utigurs and the others - Kutrigurs."

The Utigur Bulgars or Hunno-Bulgars were a Bulgar tribe which in the 5th and 6th centuries are known to have inhabited the steppe north-east of the Black Sea and east the river Don. Earlier they represented the eastern half of Hun Empire and inhabited roughly the same area north of the Caucasus.
The Chronicles of Kiev mention their "Ki" clan establishing Kiev in the early 500s having arrived with the Bulgars. In the mid 6th century, under the descendants of Attila through his son Ernakh, most of the group were conquered by Pseudo-Avars and became known as Kutrigur and they founded Kiev while only a western portion retained the Utigur ethnicon. Under Sandilch, they were temporarily coerced by Byzantium into conflicts with their Kutrigurs relatives before the Hunno-Bolgars were united under Kubrat's Great Bulgaria. They were settled in Syrmia (Unogari) before moving under the leadership of Kuber to Pelagonia.

The Kutrigurs (Kotrags/Kotzagerek/Kazarig) were a horde of equestrian nomads better known as the Bulgars that wandered the Eurasian plains during the dark ages. They came into existence when the Eurasian Avars conquered half of the Hunno-Bulgars. Those remaining free under Sandilch in the west retained the name Utigur, while those conquered by the Avars in the east became known as Kutrigurs. The conquest of the Kotzagereks by new arrivals led by three brothers from the Imaon Mountains in the 6th century is mentioned by Bar Hebraeus, as well as in the Chronicle of the late 12th century Jacobite patriarch of Antioch Michael the Syrian. At this time they came to be dominated by clans related to the Göktürks. When their Khazar faction grew powerful, and won tribute from Batbayan, in the mid 7th century, a dissenting faction seems to have traveled to the upper Volga, while another seems to have fled from Sirmium south to the Pelagonian plain. Thereafter they disappear from history.

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