History: The Huns were originally a group of Turkish nomads living in central- and eastern Asia, Chinese sources from the 3rd century BC mention a nomadic tribe named Hiung-Nu, it is possible that the later Huns were related to this tribe but that is still controversial.
From 209BC to 174BC the Hiung-Nu were united into a big empire by Mao-Dun and began to pose an increasing threat to China, the Chinese emperor Shih Huang-ti reacted to this by building the Great Wall to keep them out of his land, this magnificent wall still stands today and is about 6,700 kilometers (over 4000 miles) long, the Chinese also reorganized their army and formed a cavalry that was capable of resisting the Hiung-Nu invasions, which resulted in their defeat and expulsion towards the north around the 2nd century BC.
The Hiung-Nu regrouped in the basin of the rivers Orchon and Selenga but in 34BC the Hiung-Nu in northern China were defeated and in 14BC they were driven out of outer-Mongolia, in 100AD all Hiung-Nu in Mongolia were defeated and the eastern Hiung-Nu slowly assimilated with the Chinese, the northern- and western Hiung-Nu are believed to have migrated westwards where they invaded Persia, the "White Huns" (Heftalitians) managed to fight their way into eastern Persia but they soon assimilated with the local population there, the other nomads could not defeat the Persian army and are believed to have migrated northwards along the Aral lake and the Caspian sea towards what is now Russia.
During their migration towards Europe the Huns (whether they were direct descendants of the Hiung-Nu is difficult to say) became more victorious and managed to defeat most enemies they encountered because they used inventions and tactics that were still unknown in Europe, like horse archers who fired arrows from the backs of their horses and were too mobile to be engaged by infantry, they also used a special type of shortbow that used the muscles of animals for extra tension that resulted in a higher arrow velocity and as armour they used wide silk clothing that could adsorb the impact of an arrow.
In the 4th century AD the Huns invaded Europe and defeated the Sarmatian tribe of the Alanians (or Alanes), the Alanians decided to join the Huns and together they attacked the Ostrogothic empire of king Ermanarik north of the Black Sea, although the Ostrogoths were formidable warriors they were no match for the Hunnic hordes and were defeated, king Ermanarik killed himself and many of the remaining Ostrogoths decided to ally themselves with the powerful Huns, the Visigoths (who lived near the Ostrogoths) knew that they would be next so they decided to pack their belongings and leave the area, 100.000 Visigoths (according to some sources even twice as much) migrated into the Roman empire which nowadays marks the official start of the Great Migrations.
The Huns decided to leave the Eastern Roman empire alone for the time being and invaded western Europe where they initially allied themselves with the Western Roman empire to fight the Germans, for this the Romans gave them Pannonia (Hungary) where they located their headquarters in the city of Szeged near the river Tisza (Theiss), from where they undertook plunder raids on the Eastern Roman empire, in the 5th century AD the Huns reached the zenith of their power under their famous king Attila, who had managed to seize power after murdering his brother Bleda.
Attila was such a famous person that even the Germans wrote about him, in the Germanic sagas he is known as Atli or Etzel, though the Romans prefered to call him "The Scourge of God".
Eventually the Germans and Romans improved their cavalry, developed new tactics to fight the Huns, and formed alliances that outnumbered the Huns, which resulted in the Hunnic defeat at the Catalaunian fields (Chalons-sur-Marne in France) in 451AD where the Visigoths under Theodorik I and the Romans under general Aetius emerged victorious, though only barely, after the battle at the Catalaunian fields the Huns invaded Italy but when Attila already stood before the gates of Rome he decided to retreat, much to the relief of Europe Attila died in 453AD, after his death the Hunnic empire fell apart and most of the Huns retreated eastwards into the Russian plains, though some of them stayed behind (mainly in Hungary and other parts of eastern Europe) and assimilated with the Mongolian tribe of the Avarians (or Avars), the Chazars, the Wolga-Bulgarians, and some other peoples.
Other remnants of the Huns in Russia and the Ukraine later joined the Mongols (also called Tartars) who invaded eastern Europe in the 13th century AD, first they attacked Poland (which lay more to the east in that time) and defeated Boleslav V and his army of Poles and other Slavonic mercenaries, after that he invaded Silesia (a province of the German empire) where duke Heinrich II von Schlesien engaged them with Polish mercenaries, German farmers, French knights, and the famous Teutonic knights of the German Order, in 1241 the Germans and Mongols clashed at the battle of Liegnitz (nowadays the Polish city of Legnica), Heinrich's army was defeated and 25.000 of his men were killed, after the battle the Mongols cut off the ears of the fallen Germans and Heinrich's head was empaled on a pike and carried around Liegnitz.
Despite their victory the Mongols did not invade further westwards and concentrated on Hungary instead, eventually the Mongols retreated from Europe and never came back again.
Culture: the original Huns were Turkish peoples but they are also believed to have had many Mongols among their ranks, other peoples that joined them were Iranian nomads (where the Gypsies may originate from) and Slavonic peoples, even some Germanic tribes have allied themselves with the Huns during their invasions of Europe, nowadays the word "Huns" is sometimes used as an insulting word for the modern Germans but those are not related to the real Huns.
The Huns lived in "yurts", which were round tents that they could deploy wherever they decided to spend the night, though many Huns also slept on their horses, the camp of Attila was an exception because it also had wooden houses and even one made of stone, this were the houses of the important Huns and they were richly decorated.
Attila only ate meat and most other Huns shared that diet, they often put pieces of meat under their saddles until it became soft and tender, the Huns rode on rugged little horses that had much in common with the modern Przewalski's horse, they fought on it, slept on it, ate on it, and almost never left their horses, the Romans even believed that some Huns were attached to their animals.
The Huns were not a united people but consisted of several tribes that were led by kings and warlords, they were only united for a short time under their king Attila.
They were a nomadic people who did not know farming or writing, they lived from their cattle and their allies (i.e. subjected enemies), who provided them with the necessary goods, when they attacked a people they often plundered their posessions and left the land completely razed, the Huns weren't known for their mercy either; when they had defeated a people they often caused a massacre, plundered everything of value, raped the women, and sold many children as slaves, the Huns were also known to decapitate the civilians of a city and impale their heads on stakes outside the city.
The Huns also flattened the skulls of their children while they were still soft so that they would get extremely long skulls when they grew up, just like in some ancients cultures in central America the Huns considered this to be very beautiful, they also made cuts in the cheeks of their children because in the Hunnic warrior culture one had to learn to endure pain, though it was probably also done to prevent beard growth (which was not considered beautiful by the Huns), because of this customs the Huns had very long skulls and their faces were covered with scars, many of them also carried drooping moustaches and pony tails.
After their great leader Attila had died the Huns took their knives and mutilated their faces, because they believed that a great warrior should not be mourned with the tears of women but with the blood of men...
Language: most historians agree that the Huns spoke an Altaic language, although their exact language is unknown it was probably old Turkish with Mongolian influences, the modern Altaic languages are related to Uralic and consist of Turkish, Mongolian, and Tungusian.
I shall now give three examples of Altaic languages; Turkish and Uzbek (both Turkish languages), and Mongolian (a Mongolian language).
Example of Altaic languages:
(Universal Declaration of Human Rights article 1)
All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
Turkish:
Bütün insanlar hür, haysiyet ve haklar bakimindan esit dogarlar. Akil ve vicdana sahiptirler ve birbirlerine karsi kardeslik zihniyeti ile hareket etmelidirler.
Uzbek:
Barcha odamlar erkin, qadr-qimmat ba huquqlarda tang bo'lib tug'iladilar. Ular aql va vijdon sohibidilar va bir-birla iga birodarlarcha muomala qilishlari zarur.
Religion: although very little is known about the religion of the Huns it is safe to assume that it was closely related to that of the Turkish and Mongolian peoples of central Asia, they almost certainly used shamans and some sources mention that they also used female fortunetellers who predicted the future by looking at the entrails of animals, animism (the belief in spirits and life-containing objects in nature) was probably also a part of their religion.
The Huns believed that they were the descendants of a wolf, this belief is of Turkish origin and is based on a legend about a boy who was saved by a she-wolf, this wolf raised the boy as her own and she also got pregnant of him, one day the humans found them and killed the boy, the wolf managed to escape and gave birth to 10 children, who were the ancestors of the Turkish peoples.
Description of the main Hunnic gods:
Unfortunately nothing is known about the Hunnic gods, it is believed that the Huns worshipped a sungod and it is certain that they also had a wargod;
One day, a Hunnic shepherd saw that one of his sheep was wounded and went to see what had caused it, he saw a piece of metal sticking out of the ground and when he dug it up he saw that it was a sword, he brought it to Attila who claimed that it had to be a gift from the Hunnic wargod, the sword was worshipped by the Huns and celebrations were held for it, animals were also sacrificed to it.
History: The Huns were originally a group of Turkish nomads living in central- and eastern Asia, Chinese sources from the 3rd century BC mention a nomadic tribe named Hiung-Nu, it is possible that the later Huns were related to this tribe but that is still controversial.
Other remnants of the Huns in Russia and the Ukraine later joined the Mongols (also called Tartars) who invaded eastern Europe in the 13th century AD, first they attacked Poland (which lay more to the east in that time) and defeated Boleslav V and his army of Poles and other Slavonic mercenaries, after that he invaded Silesia (a province of the German empire) where duke Heinrich II von Schlesien engaged them with Polish mercenaries, German farmers, French knights, and the famous Teutonic knights of the German Order, in 1241 the Germans and Mongols clashed at the battle of Liegnitz (nowadays the Polish city of Legnica), Heinrich's army was defeated and 25.000 of his men were killed, after the battle the Mongols cut off the ears of the fallen Germans and Heinrich's head was empaled on a pike and carried around Liegnitz.
The Huns also flattened the skulls of their children while they were still soft so that they would get extremely long skulls when they grew up, just like in some ancients cultures in central America the Huns considered this to be very beautiful, they also made cuts in the cheeks of their children because in the Hunnic warrior culture one had to learn to endure pain, though it was probably also done to prevent beard growth (which was not considered beautiful by the Huns), because of this customs the Huns had very long skulls and their faces were covered with scars, many of them also carried drooping moustaches and pony tails.