1.4.5 Battle

The Huns fought their way into central Europe, reached as far as Ctesiphon in Persia and Orleans in France, gazed upon the walls of Constantinople, and threatened Rome. They fought each other, Germans, Alans, both Roman empires, Slavs, Kushans, Persians and Franks among others, and if you accept the theory that the Huns were related to the Hsiung-nu, you can include the Chinese as well. They were well versed and successful in battle.

The Hunnic fighting methods remained unchanged during the period of contact with the Romans. They used mobility, noise and deception, missile fire and melee to engage and defeat the enemy, as Ammianus describes: When provoked they sometimes fight singly but they enter the battle in tactical formation, while their medley of voices makes a savage noise. And as they are lightly equipped for swift motion, and unexpected action, they purposely divide suddenly in scattered bands and attack, rushing about in disorder here and there, dealing terrific slaughter! And because of their extraordinary rapidity of movement, they cannot be discerned when they break into a rampart or pillage an enemy's camp. And on this account you would not hesitate to call them the nost terrible of all warriors because they fight from horseback with missiles having sharp bone, instead of their usual points, joined to the shafts with wonderful sklll; then they gallop over the intervening spaces and fight hand to hand with swords regardless of their own lives and while the enemy are guarding against wounds from sword-thrusts, they throw strips of cloth plaited into nooses over their opponents and so entangle them that they fetter their limbs and take from them the power of riding or walking. (30).

It is interesting to note that the three translations I have of these passages all differ. Rolfe and Maenchen-Helfan are very cloae, except in the opening sentence. Ferrill is freer with his translation, but bar the first sentence, the content and meaning are similar. Rolfe describes the Huns forming up in "wedge-shaped masses"; Ferrill maintains that the Huns formed in "order of column"; Maencben-Helfen as in "tactical formation" (31). The translation seems to hinge on the word "cuneatim", which my Routledge's dictionary renders as "in the form of a wedge." It seems to be that wedge is more appropriate. Ammianus, a milltary man, was describing a milltary formation. Furthermore, the wedge was a well known tactical formation. What is not known is if the Huns formed up for battle in tribal units or as ad hoc units.

The bow was the Hunnlc weapon par excellence. Shapely bows and arrows were the delight of the Huns and they were the beat archers. Huns knew how to shoot with the greatest accuracy, even when dismounted. They were expert horsemen, and able without difficulty to direct their bows to either side while riding at full speed, and to shoot at opponents whether in pursuit or in flight.(32).

Notice, from the passage, that Ammianus describes Huns as possessing missiles "having sharp bone, instead of their usual points, joined to the shaft with wonderful skill..." This is often used as proof of the Huns primitiveness that they were not capable of making their own iron weapons. So are the swords mentioned in the above passage bartered or captured? I think not.

Maenchen-Helfen suggests that in fact Ammianus was misinformed about the bow. The Hunnic bow was a specialised weapon, used only for war (and not for hunting etc. ). It was a powerful weapon, a reflexed compsite bow, 140 to 160 cm in length, with a wooden core backed by sinews and bellied with horn. Its distinctive feature was seven bone plaques which stiffened the ears and the handle. The string is permanently fastened to one end, the stiffer end. The other, lower, end of the bow is shorter and more flexible. These weapons were made with skill and taken even more to construct. They could only have been made by professional bowyers (33).

The bow, with the bone plaques, does not seem to have been used by the Germanic tribesmen. Thus Maenchen-Helfen suggests tnat Ammianus has confused his description of Hunnic bows, a description received from his Gothic sources (34), and assumed the bone fitting to be part of the arrow. This fits in with his desire to portray the Hun as primitive as mentioned earlier, finding of Hun arrowheads are all metallic.

The feigned flight would also be used by the Huns, a common and well understood steppe tactic. Night attacks, flank attacks and encirclements are alao stock-in-trade tactics. Unlike any other horse archer nations, they were fully prepared to fight hand-to-hand, "regardless of their own live".

The Huns, in common with most other people of the barbaricum, formed defensive camps using wagons, arranged in a circle, so that they were secure from surprise.

An enemy that broke and ran from a battle with the Huns was potentially in serious trouble, because the Hunnic horsemen could maintain a pursuit. However, often the pursuit had to be broken off because they were loaded down with booty.

More Huns

The Huns Part 1: Introduction, Sources, At War
The Huns Part 1: On Campaign
The Huns Part 2: Fortifications and Sieges
The Huns Part 2: In Battle
The Huns Part 3: Equipment and Wargaming
The Huns Part 3: Battle of Naissus
The Huns Part 3: Wargaming Campaign