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Attila: The Barbarian King Who Challenged Rome, by John Man
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A stunning biography of history's most infamous warlord, Attila the Hun
For a crucial twenty years in the early fifth century, Attila held the fate of the Roman Empire and the future of all Europe in his hands. He created the greatest of barbarian forces, and his empire briefly rivaled Rome's. In numerous raids and three major campaigns against the Roman Empire, he earned himself an instant and undying reputation for savagery. But there was more to him than mere barbarism. Attila was capricious, arrogant, brutal, and brilliant enough to win the loyalty of millions. In the end, his ambitions ran away with him. He did not live long enough to found a lasting empire―but long enough to jolt Rome toward its final fall.
In this riveting biography, masterful storyteller John Man draws on his extensive travels through Attila's heartland and his experience with the nomadic traditions of Central Asia to reveal the man behind the myth.
- Sales Rank: #852837 in Books
- Published on: 2009-02-17
- Released on: 2009-02-17
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 8.50" h x .76" w x 5.50" l, .65 pounds
- Binding: Paperback
- 336 pages
From Publishers Weekly
Attila the Hun was "the Genghis Khan of Europe," says British historian Man in this fast-paced though often prosaic account of the rise and fall of the Huns and their infamous leader. Man traces the origin of the Huns, following these restless nomads from the steppes of Mongolia to present-day Hungary. Attila led his people in terrifying raids into new lands in the fifth century. Relying on scant written sources, Man (Genghis Khan; Gobi: Tracking the Desert) portrays Attila as a man of "extreme contradictions" and moods, skillful at deceiving both his closest advisers and his greatest enemies. In his military campaigns, Attila moved quickly to loot as many villages as he could in order to satisfy his followers. His armies of mounted archers, a throng that could shoot up to 12,000 arrows a minute, wrought destruction and terror wherever they went. He terrified the Romans as he approached their city, but Man says Attila would never have been able to penetrate the fortresses of Rome or Constantinople, and he died of a burst varicose vein in his stomach before he could even try. Full of military adventures and political maneuverings, Man's lively narrative provides a glimpse of a leader whose name has become synonymous with ruthlessness. Illus., maps. (July 18)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Review
“Entertaining and lucid account of a phenomenal militarist unable to resist a crumbling empire's vast, unprotected wealth.” ―Kirkus Reviews
“Full of military adventures and political maneuverings, Man's lively narrative provides a glimpse of a leader whose name has become synonymous with ruthlessness.” ―Publishers Weekly
“Man's book is a highly readable account of a bellicose steppe people and their leader who, long after they departed from the West, continue to haunt the European imagination.” ―Library Journal
“One could not wish for a better storyteller or analyst than John Man. . . . His Attila is superb, as compellingly readable as it is impressive in its scholarship.” ―Simon Sebag Montefiore, author of Stalin
About the Author
John Man is a historian and travel writer with a special interest in Mongolia. His book Gobi: Tracking the Desert was the first book on the subject in English since the 1920s. He is also the author of Atlas of the Year 1000, Alpha Beta, The Gutenberg Revolution, Genghis Khan, The Terracotta Army, and The Great Wall, among others.
Most helpful customer reviews
17 of 18 people found the following review helpful.
No Great Revelations, Just Solid Biography
By Stratiotes Doxha Theon
In this biography of the infamous Hun leader, little time is given to conjecture or speculative history. Just a solid, simple, traditional, and well-written biogrpahy is here. The author is an experienced communicator making the flow very pleasant. The history student interested more in the military aspects such as battle descriptions will wish for more maps of the individual battles and perhaps more detailed descriptions. But, for general history coverage and an enjoyable biographical sketch of a rather inigmatic character, this one would be hard to beat. A solid biography and great addition to the ancient history libary.
19 of 21 people found the following review helpful.
Enjoyable read
By Peter Uys
Although it is highly informative and an enjoyable read, this work on Attila does not quite succeed in making history come alive. The author is obviously enthusiastic about his subject but the narrative is somewhat scattered, digressing into various detours and much intent on mythbusting.
Part One: The Menace, describes the world of that time, when Europe was in disarray with the various movements of tribes into and within the Roman Empire. It also explores the origins of the Huns. They were most likely descended from what the Chinese called the Xiongnu of Mongolia and it seems fairly certain that they were a Turkish tribe, judging by the linguistic evidence. Ptolemy called them the Khoinoi. Part of this section is devoted to mounted archery with reference to the Hungarian Lajos Kassai who has revived the art.
Part Two: Rivals, discusses their settlement on the Hungarian plain amidst the political and religious rivalry of the Western and Eastern Empires of which the northern borders were in constant upheaval. The author draws on the acount of St Jerome of a Hunnish incursion into Anatolia and on the Byzantine History of Priscus. The Hunnish hordes consisted of a great alliance of Huns, Ostrogoths and Alans and was thus a confederation of Turkic, Germanic and Iranian tribes.
Part Three: Death and Transfiguration examines the great battle on the Plain of Mery where the general Aetius and his Visigothic allies defeated the combined forces of Huns, Ostrogoths and Gepids. It also deals with the later Hunnish incusion into Italy, with reference to various legends and myths like the omen of the stork and Pope Leo's encounter with Attila. The case of Honoria and the rivalries within the Roman Empire are discussed as well.
The following maps enhance the text: Distant Roots of the Huns, Coming Of The Huns, The Hun Heartland in the Balkans 435 - 451, The Huns Strike West and Attila's Empire 445 - 453. There are colour plates that include Hun artefacts, objects from Mongolia, a view of the Dnieper, a Hun cauldron, various imperial coins, a painting by Raphael and the aforementioned Lajos Kassai in action. The book concludes with a bibliography and index.
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful.
More about the Huns and their times than Attila
By Loves the View
With little information available, Man gives as informative a book as might be expected. Maybe 1/3 of it is about Attila, including what is known of his family, his headquarters, his entertainments and of course his battles.
While the history of Huns and the rise and fall of Attila are the themes of the book, the author presents this period of the Roman Empire in a very readable way. Last year I had read the Peter Heather book on Rome and the barbarians, and for description of Rome in this period, these two books complement each other nicely.
Rome, overly large and waning in ability to defend itself, hires Huns, pays ransom $ to Huns, bribes Huns and fights Huns. There are diplomats, an assassination attempt, competition and integration of other peoples and tribes and turning points. There are marriages, hostages and proposals. There scorched earth seizures and battles.
Man has interesting friends who share his passion for Hun history. The run museums from Mongolia to Hungary, dig up artifacts and study mounted bow hunting. He introduces us to them in diversionary parts of the narrative.
The best part for me, aside from the description of the Hun compound, was the summation at the end. Unlike Ghengis Khan, Attila had no long term vision and built no adminstrative structure. Nothing much really followed him. Man has some interesting phrases for experssing the ephemeral nature of it all. Attila created a bunch of "speed bumps" in the building of Europe and that his life was "a perfect balance of pluses and minuses, signifying nothing."
A chapter called "Aftermath" citing the numerous poems, paintings and songs that celebrate his image, however misinformed, has the best epiteph of all. Due to these cultural creations from the middle ages to Kipling and Wagner, his name resounds as an "archetype of a certain sort of power." Its really apt... "a certain sort of power."
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