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The End of Empire: Attila the Hun & the fall…
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The End of Empire: Attila the Hun & the fall of Rome (original 2008; edition 2010)

by Christopher Kelly (Author)

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353372,531 (3.8)4
A bold new account of Attila the Hun as empire builder and political threat to Rome reframes the warrior king as a political strategist, capturing the story of how a small, but dedicated, opponent dealt a seemingly invincible empire defeats from which it would never recover.
Member:mfd101
Title:The End of Empire: Attila the Hun & the fall of Rome
Authors:Christopher Kelly (Author)
Info:New York: WW Norton, 2010, c2008 & 2009
Collections:Your library
Rating:****
Tags:Greco-Roman empire C4th-5th, Huns C4th-5th, Attila the Hun d.453 [ruler Hunnic empire 434-453], Attila historiography sources evidence, Adrianople 378, Flavius Aetius gen [magister militum] c391-454 [consul 432 437 446], Flavius Aetius - Attila, Alaric I 370/395-410 king of Visigoths, Ammianus Marcellinus 325/30-391+, Arcadius 377/395-408 Byzantine emperor, Flavius Aspar gen c400-471, Attila death, Attila - treaties of 447 & 450, Attila's residence [Hungarian Plain], bagaudae [peasant insurgents], Balkans C4th-5th, barbarians - Huns Germans Goths, Bleda [Attila's brother], bows - composition & manufacture, Burgundians - Hun massacre of, Carthage - Vandals, Catalaunian Plains 451, China - Xiongnu [Hsiung-Nu] C3rd BCE-C1st CE, Christianity C4th-5th - barbarian conversions, Chrysaphius [chief minister to Theodosius II 443-450], Constantine VII ('Porphyrogennetos') 905/913-959 Byzantine emperor, Constantinople C4th-5th, Danube provinces C4th-5th - Goths & Huns, Danube river C5th, Edeco [Hun emissary], France C5th - Aetius' campaigns, France C5th - Goth/Roman alliance, France C5th - Hun campaigns, Aelia Galla Placidia 388-450 [empress regent Western Roman Empire 425-437], Genseric (Gaiseric) c389/428-477 king of Vandals, Edward Gibbon 1737-94, Goths C4th-5th, Gratian (Fl. Gratianus Aug) 359/375-83 Roman emperor [Valentinian dynasty], Honorius (Fl. Honorius Augustus) 384/395-423 Western emperor, Hunnic empire C5th - Gothic influence, Hunnic empire C5th - dissolution, Hun mercenaries, Hun gods, Huns anthropology & arcaeology, Huns nomadism pastoralism & horses, Huns social & political organization, Huns - warfare, Huns - westward migration, Italy C5th - Hun campaign, Jordanes fl.mid-C6th, Marcian [Fl. Marcianus Aug] c392/450-57 Eastern Roman Emperor, Margum 439, Maximinus [East Roman emissary to Attila 448], Milan 452, Naissus [Niš] 443, Nth Africa C4th-5th, Onegesius [Attila's 2iC mid-C5th], Persia C5th, Priscus of Panium fl.C5th, Priscus of Panium - History of Attila [mid-C5th], Ravenna C5th, Rhine River C5th, Roman army C4th-5th - logistics & multiple fronts, Roman empire C5th - capitals government frontiers, Rome C4th-5th, Rome 410, Rugila [Rua; Ruga] [Hun leader d.late 430s], Serdica [Sofia] 447, Sidonius Apollinaris c430-89, steppe nomads, central Asian steppes, Flavius Stilicho gen c359-408, Syria 395, Tervingi [Danubian Goths C3rd-4th], Theoderic (Theodoric) the great 454/475-526 king of Ostrogoths [king of Italy 493-526; regent of Visigoths 511-526], Theoderic (Theodoric) I c390/418-451 king of Visigoths, Theodosian Walls [Constantinople - C5th construction], Theodosius I the great (Fl. Theodosius Augustus) 347/379-395 Roman emperor, Theodosius II the younger (Fl. Theodosius Iunior Aug) 401/408-450 eastern Roman emperor, Theodosius II - government campaigns Attila, Uldin [Hunnic ruler late C4th/early C5th], Valens (Fl. Iulius Valens Aug) 328/364-378 eastern Roman emperor, Valentinian III (Fl. Placidius Valentinianus Aug) 419/425-55 [western Roman emperor], Vandals C5th - Nth Africa & Sicily, history of warfare C4th-5th - Huns

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The End of Empire: Attila the Hun and the Fall of Rome by Christopher Kelly (2008)

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In writing about Attila The Hun the popular historian is faced with one major problem; there just isn't much source material to work with. The battles are known, but the motivations and personality of a leader who managed to rule most of Northern Europe albeit for a brief period, are not. The vast majority of contemporary accounts are lost to us - and how frustrating it is that no eyewitness accounts of , for example, the meeting of Attila and Pope Leo, survive. Never the less, Kelly does an excellent job in bringing Attila, and the short lived Hun Empire, to life. He draws heavily on the work of Priscus, a Roman scholar who was part of an embassy to Attila's court. Although little of Priscus' 8 volume History of Attila survives, the little that does is illuminating as Priscus clearly had no interest in demonising Attila as the half human barbarian most classical writers depicted him as. Attila comes across as sophisticated and a master tactician; well aware of the weakness of the Western Roman Empire he alternately allies with them, extorts them, traps them and attacks them. Kelly presents Attila as cruel when he needed to be, a master in holding his warlike nation together, but ultimately a "Prince" of whom Machiavelli would have approved

In fact the title of the book is something of a misnomer. The Huns did not cause the end of the Empire; the Vandals, the Goths and the decision of Constantine to split the Empire between East and West (with the East having greater income and less threat) did that. But they certainly rapidly accelerated its demise. In less than a generation from the death of Attila , the last Roman Emperor was peacefully deposed; much like the last Emperor of China he just wasn't important enough to bother assassinating.

This is an excellent read; if at times Kelly goes down some interesting, but not especially relevant byways, such as about Gothic and Hunnic jewellery making skills, we know this is to make up for the lack of direct source material. He's painting a picture of a time and place that have long been hidden. He does it very well indeed ( )
  Opinionated | Jul 1, 2014 |
Very good, well written and a fast pace. Excellent reference to ancient historical writtings allows you to feel as though you were there.Author Kelly makes this period very interesting indeed. ( )
  mapconsultant | Mar 12, 2010 |
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Now what will become of us without barbarians?
Those people were some kind of solution.


--CONSTANTINE CAVAFY, "Waiting for the Barbarians" (1898)
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FOR MY MOTHER
(1937-2009)
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A bold new account of Attila the Hun as empire builder and political threat to Rome reframes the warrior king as a political strategist, capturing the story of how a small, but dedicated, opponent dealt a seemingly invincible empire defeats from which it would never recover.

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W.W. Norton

2 editions of this book were published by W.W. Norton.

Editions: 0393061965, 0393338495

 

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