Attila Invades the West
In 451 CE, Attila the Hun led a massive confederate army across the Rhine into Roman Gaul, devastating cities including Metz, Reims, and Orleans before being met by a coalition under the Roman general Flavius Aetius and Visigothic king Theodoric I. The two armies clashed on the Catalaunian Plains in one of the largest battles of late antiquity. Though tactically inconclusive, the battle halted Attilas westward advance; the Visigothic king Theodoric died in the fighting but his warriors held. Attila withdrew, invaded Italy the following year, but turned back before Rome. The battle is sometimes called the Salvation of the West, though the Hunnic empire collapsed rapidly after Attilas death in 453 CE.
- Category: Military
