January 1, 406 - Attila the Hun
At his peak, he commanded an empire stretching from the steppes of Central Asia to the edges of Western Europe, extracting tribute from the Eastern Roman Empire and pushing deep into the West before being halted in Gaul. His campaigns reshaped the political geography of late antiquity, accelerating pressures on an already-strained Roman order. The scale of destruction he brought to the Balkans and his near-unchecked momentum across two decades of warfare made him a singular force of disruption in the fifth century.
From Wikipedia
Attila ( ə-TIL-ə or AT-il-ə; c. 406 – 453), frequently called Attila the Hun, was the ruler of the Huns from 434 until his death in early 453. He was also the leader of an empire consisting of Huns, Ostrogoths, Alans, and Gepids, among others, in Central and Eastern Europe.
As nephews to Rugila, Attila and his elder brother Bleda succeeded him to the throne in 435, ruling jointly until the death of Bleda in 445. During his reign, Attila was one of the most feared enemies of the Western and Eastern Roman Empires. He crossed the Danube twice and plundered the Balkans but was unable to take Constantinople. In 441, he led an invasion of the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire, the success of which emboldened him to invade the West. He also attempted to conquer Roman Gaul (modern France), crossing the Rhine in 451 and marching as far as Aurelianum (Orléans), before being stopped in the Battle of the Catalaunian Plains.
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