The Huns, who invaded Europe in the last third of the 4th century A.D. and whose main body seems to have been related to the Hsiung-nu by origin, mherited all of the latter's' principal achievements in the sphere of martial art and techniques. The Hun army consisted of light-armed mounted contingents, equipped with a big powerful bow as the principal weapon, as well as with swords (sometimes each rider could have a double set of bladed arms — a long two-edged sword and a short one-edged broadsword) and a lasso. In tactics, they gave preference to fighting at a long distance with keeping permanent high mobility and manoeuvrability. Because of the tactical reasons, any heavy armour did not spread in the bulk of Hun troops, except for some of the noble warriors who wore costly metal helmets and corselets, doing so rather under Roman inspiration. The rest, rank-and-file men, had curved fur-caps serving them as protectors, as well as not so big round shields made from wood and leather. The Hun cavalry always charged first, riding in loose order, and could use in the course of action various stratagems (feigned retreat, encircling an enemy order, laying ambushes).
Strategy of the Huns was grounded on the factor of surprise, which was achieved at the expense of their extraordinary speed of riding. As a rule, their raids were well planned with the obligatory employment of intelligence information. During their invasions, the Huns aimed at penetrating into the hostile territory as deep as possible.
Owing to their superiority in the long-distance weapons and tactics, the Huns had defeated the Alano-Sarmatian and Eastern Germanic peoples and turned within the late 4th century to 450s into the mightiest power of Southeastern and Central Europe. However» it should be noted that the Hun tactical methods became quite different under the great king Attila. It was caused by those changes, which occurred in the army of the Huns themselves who began to rely not only upon cavalry but also upon infantry recruited from the midst of subdued Eastern Germanic tribes such as the Ostrogoths, the Gepids, the Scyri, and others. These infantry forces were very needful, especially for siege operations, fighting in forests and mountains, etc. Nevertheless, the transition to the wide employment of soldiers on foot marked a decline of the Hun military power. In the open battle on the Cata-launian Fields in 451, when large masses of infantry played a significant role and cavalry was hardly able to make the entire volume of their favourite tactical stratagems (ambushes, simulated retreat, encirlement), the Huns lost their previous advantage before the foes. True, contrary to R. P. Lindner's theory, which is widely accepted at present, it seems that there are no sufficient proofs to state that Attila's properly Hun soldiers were transformed in a considerable degree from cavalrymen into combatants on foot.
Closer towards the end of their history the European Huns entirely digressed from the practice of long-term conquests. Having strongly taken possession of so important horse-breeding regions of Southeastern Europe as the Northern Pontic area and the Danube valley, including the Great Hungarian Plain, Attila was no longer aiming at the capture of new territories. His last large-scale campaigns, against Gaul (451) and Italy (452) — i. e. the countries providing no sufficient natural resources to support very numerous mounted hordes of Huns during any long time — were intended to get the plunder, as well as to receive in the future the big tribute from the western Romans to be defeated (like the Huns took from the Byzantines). However, these campaigns of Attila were not successful and, therefore, his plans proved to be unrealizable.
The available testimonies of how the European Huns stormed enemy fortifications allow us to assert that, at least in Attila's days, they had at their disposal practically all the needful means of the contemporary highdeveloped siege craft and were able so to take even well-fortified strongholds. It was due to Roman military technical influence.
At the same time, the Huns influenced very deeply, by their introduction into European fighting practice of the powerful and longrange bows first and foremost, both offensive armament and tactics not only of the peoples subject to them, but also — through battling against imperial armies and providing them with mercenary forces from their own midst — of the Late Roman and Early Byzantine military.
Валерий Павлович Никоноров родился в 1953 г. в городе Ленинграде (ныне Санкт-Петербург). В 1983 г. закончил исторический факультет Ленинградского государственного университета, а в 1988 г. в Ленинградском отделении Института археологии АН СССР защитил диссертацию на соискание ученой степени кандидата исторических наук на тему «Вооружение и военное дело в Парфии». Работает старшим научным сотрудником Института истории материальной культуры Российской Академии наук. Принимал участие в археологических исследованиях на территории Туркменистана, Узбекистана, России, Украины, Молдавии и Вьетнама. Является автором более чем 50 научных работ, опубликованных в России и за рубежом, в том числе монографии:
The Armies of Bactria, 700 B.C-450 A.D. Vol. 1–2. Stockport, 1997.
Юлий Сергеевич Худяков родился в 1947 г. в поселке Медвежка Кемеровской области. В 1974 г. закончил Новосибирский государственный университет (НГУ), а в 1977 г. — аспирантуру при НГУ. Доктор исторических наук, профессор, возглавляет кафедру археологии и этнографии НГУ и одновременно работает главным научным сотрудником Института археологии и этнографии Сибирского отделения Российской Академии наук. Является автором 20 монографий, учебников и учебных пособий, а также более чем 600 статей. Научный редактор 10 монографий и научных сборников. Его основные монографии:
Вооружение енисейских кыргызов VI–XII вв. Новосибирск, 1980.
Кыргызы на Табате. Новосибирск, 1982.