Since the split of the glorious Roman Empire into Western Rome and Eastern Rome in 395, Western Rome has inevitably stepped into a ruined road. At the beginning of the fifth century, the territory of Western Rome began to collapse, the city of Rome was looted, and places such as Sicily, the Spanish Peninsula, and North Africa were all invaded by barbarians. By the time Valentinian III took over Western Rome in 423, the empire of the past had been devastated.
Since Valentinian III came to the throne at a young age, the actual control of Western Rome was held by the powerful aristocrat Aetius. Since Aetius came to power, he has been busy with border affairs. He used force and ingenuity to deal with various barbaric tribes, successively quelling the border troubles of the Quartet, and restored the prestige of the Western Roman Empire in Gaul and Spain. He also tried his best to avoid conflicts with Attila, the prestigious Hungarian king at that time, and maintained friendly relations with him. (For details, please read the last Romans of the last generals of the Roman Empire-Aetius)
But Attila was ambitious and was never satisfied with the surrender of Eastern Rome, coveting the wealthy land of Western Rome. As a result, in 451, Attila finally led an army of 700,000 to attack Western Rome and ravage Gaul. All Aetius realized that the Western Romans alone could not resist the Huns, so they ran around, lobbying various barbarian kingdoms and establishing a united front against the Huns. When Attila sent troops to Orleans, the Roman coalition of Aetius had reached more than half a million people.
After Attila learned that the Roman coalition forces were approaching the city of Orleans, he immediately withdrew to the north, and at the same time ordered the Huns looting from all over Gaul to gather on the Champagne Plain. Aetius led an army to follow, and the two armies finally met in the Plain of Chalons on the Marne River. Attila saw that the West Roman and Visigoth coalition forces were prepared and not weak. Knowing that the raid would not be successful, Attila carefully surrounded the iron chariots into a chariot formation. (For details, please read Stilico, the last general of the Roman Empire and Attila, "The Whip of God")
After the two sides settled, Attila found a high ground nearby and immediately sent Hungarian cavalry to occupy it. At the same time, Aetius also discovered that this high ground can overlook the Huns’ Checheng. He immediately sent the Visigoth prince Torresmond to seize this advantageous position. Torresmond lived up to expectations and led the Visigoth army to wage a fierce battle with the Huns surrounding the highlands. He drove the Huns downhill and seized the highlands, greatly boosting the morale of the coalition forces. Although Attila did not occupy the right place, he was still unwilling to show weakness, and used his power to speak to his subordinates to cheer them up. Until the afternoon, Hungarians walked out of the car.
Attila
At this time, the Roman army was led by Aetius to form the left wing, the Visigothic army was on the right-wing, and the Aran and other barbarians were in the center. This deployment of Aetius was quite risky, because he put the weakest part of the Roman coalition in the middle, and it was very easy for the Huns to break through from the center and cut off the Roman front. But on the other hand, the Hungarian troops that broke through at the center are also in danger of being outflanked by the Romans. The Romans can launch a pincer offensive to encircle the Huns. On the other hand, Attila tit-for-tat led the Huns in the center, placed the Ostrogoths on the left flank to face their compatriots, while other barbarian armies formed the right flank.
The Roman army at that time was completely different from the time of Caesar. The organization of the Roman Legion had been reduced to more than a thousand by this time. The equipment of the infantry has also changed, and the wooden shield is replaced by a metal-skinned shield. Although the protection is enhanced, the weight is also greatly increased, which is very unfavorable for infantry to charge. The heavy javelin used by the Roman infantry was also replaced by an ultralight javelin. Although this kind of javelin has poor penetration, it has a range of up to 50 meters. At this time, the tactics of the Roman army had become very conservative, generally forming a shield formation and waiting for the enemy to attack.
In sharp contrast to the Roman army is the Visigoth army. With a large number of heavy cavalry as the core, iron cavalry attacked the enemy's formation during the battle, and the infantry then covered and killed, reflecting the characteristics of war in the post-classical era.
When the battle finally started, the Hungarian coalition forces first launched an offensive. Under the cover of the rain of arrows covering the sky and the sun, the Huns rushed towards the center of the Roman coalition forces. The central front formed by the mobs of various barbarians could not resist it and was deeply inserted by the Hungarian cavalry in a wedge-shaped formation.
At this time the Huns began to rotate to the left, outflanking the Visigoth army. Attila knows that the Roman Legion is no longer what it used to be. Only the Visigoths can still fight. If they can be wiped out, they can win the battle. At this time, the two wings of the Hungarian coalition forces also began to press up. So far, the battle has become a melee, and the Roman coalition forces are in a critical situation.
At this time, the Visigoth king Teodoric, who was over sixty years old, personally led the armored cavalry to counterattack. As a result, the arrow fell and was trampled to death by the Visigoth cavalry following him. The Visigoths who had lost their leader showed a moment of panic, but under the command of Prince Torresmoun, they quickly restored order and continued to attack. The Visigoth cavalry pushed the Huns back with a fierce counterattack. At this time, Aetius had lined up the Western Roman army into a dense formation, steadily advancing, and defeated the right-wing of the Huns and encircled them. The retreating Hungarian cavalry in the center panicked and slammed into the shield defense line of the left-wing Roman legion, and fell under the Roman javelin. The main force of the Huns, who had gone deep alone, lost the cover of the two wings and began to collapse.
Hungarian soldiers
At this time, the Eastern Goths on the left of the Huns could not withstand the impact of the Visigoth cavalry and took the lead in defeat. The defeat was determined, Attila had no choice but to lead the remnants back to the camp on the Marne River. He then used the Huns’ caravan to connect end to end, with archers densely populated between them, forming a fairly strong line of defense in the camp. He ordered a lot of saddles to be collected, a large bonfire was lit, and he was ready to jump into the fire and kill himself when the city was breached, so as not to be insulted by the current prisoners.
After nightfall, there was still chaos on the battlefield. Morrison led his Visigoths to chase away from his army in the dark, and ended up straying into the Huns’ camp. If it weren’t for his entourage desperately to rescue him, Torrismon almost went to see his father. King. Aetius was also separated from his Roman legion and had to spend the night in a Visigoth camp. It was not until dawn that the Roman camp realized that they had defeated King Attila of Hungary.
The number of casualties in this battle is different. One said that there were 165,000 casualties on both sides, and another said that a total of 300,000 people were killed. In short, Attila was no longer able to attack, and his retreat was blocked by the Western Roman crossbowmen. Although Attila shrank in the camp and resisted, his fighting spirit remained undiminished. The Huns’ drums of war rang through the sky day and night, and Torrismon led the Visigoth cavalry to try to break through the Huns’ defense several times, but they were all shot back by random arrows.
At the joint military meeting of the Roman camp, everyone talked about it, some advocated aggressive attacks, and some advocated siege. But Aetius had other considerations. He understood that the confidant of the Western Roman Empire was not the Huns, but the Gaul barbarians. Retaining the Huns as a foreign attack can make the barbarians headed by the Visigoths feel jealous and have to continue to cooperate with the Roman Empire. When Attila died, the Hun Empire was bound to collapse, and the Gaul barbarians would definitely turn their spearheads to deal with the Roman Empire. And this battle was almost won by the Visigoths alone. If Attila were to die in their hands, the Visigoths would become famous and it would be more difficult to control in the future. In addition, from personal emotional considerations, Aetius does not want to put his long-time friend Attila to death. He still hopes that Attila can learn the lesson and the two sides can restore the past peaceful coexistence.
As a result, Etius offered to chase the poor and let Attila escape. Overnight, Attila escaped the encirclement with the remnants of the Huns and withdrew to the base camp. The Battle of Sharon was not only the first fiasco of Attila, the "God's Whip", but also saved the Western Roman Empire from destruction. This is all the credit of Aetius.
After Attila withdrew to Hungary, he did not accept the lesson. In the following year, he led his troops to avoid Gaul and crossed the Alps and invaded northern Italy. But Aetius knew that the supplies of the Huns would not be available, and would retreat after getting into trouble. Sure enough, Attila advanced to the vicinity of Rome, but because of the lack of food and grass, the plague prevailed in the army, and he retreated back. Attila himself died unexpectedly in 453.
Attila
The Battle of Sharon was the apex of Etius' honor and the beginning of his tragedy. After the foreign enemy retreated, Aetius gained the reputation of "the pillar of the empire." The protector of the country gathered great power, and the messengers from other provinces all told Aetius about politics and no longer saw the emperor. Many important military and political officers are his subordinates and close friends. His son Gordon Tius is also planning to marry Valentinian III's daughter Placidia the younger, which is really impressive.
His prestige inevitably caused the emperor's jealousy and suspicion. At that time, the emperor had only two daughters, and he believed that Aetius wanted his son to take the throne. Finally, he conspired to kill Aetius under the agitation of the Roman elders and attendants. On September 21, 454, when Aetius heard that Valentinian intended to drop his marriage contract, he went to the palace to meet Valentinian, and the two had a dispute.
