Original subtitles

I remember the river swelling with blood.

The terrifying howls of the Hun warriors and the droning gallop of their horses.

The chilling whistle of their arrows still rings in my ears.

I was 16 years old and it was my first battle.

My name is Yurik.

And I fought on the Catalonian plains.

It's said that wherever his horse went, the grass would not grow back.

The legend of Attila, remembered in Europe as the scourge of God, haunted

lands he fought to control long after he died.

He was the king of the Huns, nomadic people from the steppes of Asia, who had

overrun Central Europe in just a matter of decades.

Nothing seemed to curb Attila's boundless ambitions.

Then, in 451, he launches another military campaign into Europe.

His target is Gaul in modern -day France.

In the middle

of the 5th century, the Roman Empire is a dying giant.

It stretches from the Atlantic to the Black Sea, a territory so vast that it

needs two emperors to administer it, one in the east and another in the west.

Attila controls a territory stretching from the Caucasus Mountains to the banks

of the Rhine.

Hungry for tribute, he puts constant military pressure on his neighbors.

The Eastern Roman Empire has so far resisted him, so he turns his attention

the West, Gaul in particular.

There, he will come up against another powerful leader, General Aetius, one of

the last strongmen of the fading Western Roman Empire.

The ensuing confrontation was never simply a clash between Huns and Romans.

It was a fight that would ensnare nearly all of Western Europe.

First of all, the Hunnic empire of Attila is the confederation itself.

It doesn't just consist of Huns. It consists of Huns and an awful lot of

conquered subject peoples.

Since the arrival of the Huns in Europe in the 4th century, many so -called

barbarians fled westward and gradually settled in the Roman Empire.

Among them were the Visigoths.

a Germanic people who originated in central Europe.

They entered Roman territory in 376 and gradually migrated to Aquitaine in

southwest Gaul.

It was my father's father who guided our clan here, to Aquitania.

This land is ours now, and neither Attila nor his savage hordes will drive

from it.

Theodoric, our king, has decided to join the army of Aetius, the Roman, and I

will proudly follow him.

The Visigoths lived in villages that resembled this one.

Farming land granted to them by the Roman Empire.

It's not yet an independent kingdom. The Goths have a king, but he's not the

king of Aquitaine.

At the Museum of the Barbarian Era, Gontreau Meunier and his team bring the

people and the culture of the Visigoths back to life.

Drawing on archaeological discoveries and ancient texts, they have

a world far different from ancient stereotypes.

Yes, we fight against clichés about barbarians. Now, it's still the same

How did they dress?

Were they naked?

Did they have animal skins?

Did they wear makeup like in the movies?

In fact, not at all.

At the end of antiquity, barbarians, in the broadest sense of the term, are

Romanized.

We have laundry, we wash ourselves, we wear short hair because most of us are

already Christians. So short hair is the mark of Christianity.

They have a status, they have territories, Arab lands, they have

So yes, they are welcomed, a little bit of force sometimes, but indeed they are

present legally.

The Romans, by and large, accept the Visigoths within the Empire, but there

price to pay. The Romans demand soldiers in return.

The Visigoth king, therefore, maintains an army ready to be placed at the

service of the Empire.

The size of the Visigoth army is unknown, but including the levy, it

easily numbered in the thousands.

But would that be enough to take on Attila?

Attila had also assembled a massive army.

An army bolstered by soldiers provided by the Germanic peoples he had

subjugated. The Ostrogoths, the Alemanni, and the Gepids.

He sets off from Pannonia, south of what is now Hungary.

His army travels along the Danube River, then crosses the Rhine near Mainz.

By spring 451, the Hun army stands at the gates of Gaul.

Some of the village elders have already faced these Huns, and what they say

about them chills me to the bone.

They worship pagan gods who demand sacrifices.

They live for killing, raping, and pillaging.

They are beasts.

They eat raw meat that they heat between their thighs and their horses while

riding.

I've heard they don't even get off their horses to sleep.

They're said to be very short.

They're said to have very bandy legs because they sit on horses all day.

They can't walk properly. The language is very reflective of fear.

Rumours spread that the Huns are monsters.

and their king is a demon risen from the underworld to wreak divine vengeance on

corrupt humanity.

But what is actually motivating Attila's quest?

Priscus, a Byzantine diplomat gives us a first -hand account of the real Attila.

In 449 he was sent to Pannonia to meet the infamous king of the Huns.

These court grandees around Attila are all covered in what we call bling,

gold and silver just dripping off them. But Attila dressed very plainly, none of

this jewellery. In other words, Attila is so powerful, he does not need these

trappings of status.

But to maintain his power, Attila needs two things above all else.

Gold and soldiers.

Attila's job is actually to stop the subject peoples from breaking away.

The best way to do that is actually to mount campaigns, keep them busy,

Romans instead of fighting him. It also then generates huge flows of wealth.

And to justify his actions in Gaul, Attila, a shrewd manipulator,

invents a most romantic pretext.

As we know from the British royal family, it's always minor royals who

problems.

In

Rome,

Emperor Valentinian hears of these extravagant demands and declares them

completely unacceptable.

To

conquer

Gaul, Attila would need to defeat not only the Visigoth army, but also Rome's

most decorated general.

Aetius. Flavius Aetius was a magister militum. That is the highest rank in the

Roman army of late antiquity. Other than the emperor, he was commanding the

field army and was responsible for the defense of the empire.

This is probably how such a magister militum would have been equipped when

to battle.

Aetius is a soldier through and through.

but also a savvy political strategist who had forged a relationship with the

Huns in the past.

As a teenager, he even spent some time at the court of Attila's uncle.

In his youth.

He must have known Attila before the beginning of the reign of the latter.

They were great friends. It's much less certain. But what is certain is that

Aetius knew Lea very well.

Aetius knew their fighting technique and their military values.

Aethius and Attila, former allies, now on the edge of war.

Having exhausted all diplomatic channels, Attila launches his attack in

spring of 451.

He crosses the border into the Roman Empire, injecting his troops into

northeastern Gaul, ravaging everything in his path and destroying entire cities

like Metz and Reims.

What's striking about the start of the invasion is how little resistance there

is. It covers this huge amount of territory.

Ancient sources describe the Huns as fearsome warriors who paralyzed their

opponents. And recent archaeological finds have revealed additional details

about this mysterious culture.

Silvan Jania is a historian specializing in the military tactics of late

antiquity.

The only archaeological remains left by the Huns are tombs and funeral deposits.

These equestrian ornaments have enabled historians to reconstruct the equipment

used by these nomadic warriors, in particular the special saddles that

them to ride without stirrups.

In Hungary, near Budapest, Attila Kiss leads a class of historical archers.

His aim is to reproduce the exact techniques used by Hun fighters.

To do this, he has reconstructed their bows and arrows using the materials and

methods of the period.

Then the bone sheets were put on, and then the veneering

was done.

Its specificity is that it is composed of very different materials, but which

are complementary to each other.

In fact, the body of the arch is made of a very flexible wood, which is still

softened by years of treading, and on which we are going to glue inside the

tendons, which will strengthen the elasticity of this wood and above all

it to accumulate more energy.

The bow is asymmetrical.

The lower branch is shorter than the upper branch, which obviously makes it

easier to use on horseback.

The bow is the absolute weapon of the Attila army.

And it is a bow whose practical range probably reaches 100 to 150 meters.

Along with these bows, the Huns used special arrowheads with three blades

capable of piercing armor and chain mail.

They also carried whistling arrows that caused dread and panic among their

enemies.

The Arcs of the Huns greatly contributed to their military victory, because, of

course, it was one of the most powerful weapons of the time, which, due to its

power, greatly disturbed the Romans.

And indeed, this gave the Huns a technical advantage.

The advantage of the Huns is above all the fact that he was practically born

with an arch in his hands, even that he was practically born on horseback, and

that he was admirably able to use it.

Today,

experimental archaeology offers a window into the genius of these ancient

archers. To master their art, the Huns trained intensely.

This know -how gave the Huns a decisive strategic advantage over their

opponents.

Imagine hundreds of horsemen on the battlefield charging at full gallop,

coordinating their fire to disrupt enemy lines.

By surprise, by the invulnerable power of their arrows, they provoke in the

opponent the will to stop fighting, to flee.

All this makes the unique armies, at the beginning, really irresistible.

They are used to making a lot of victims and killing everything that remains.

When the invasion of Gaul begins, the Roman army is not prepared for the shock

of the Hun horsemen.

Aetius is still embroiled in endless negotiations with the Visigoths, who,

despite their allegiance, have been slow to mobilize their troops.

You can see what the problem is. For the last 30 years, the empire has been

using the Huns to...

beat them and stop them from expanding further in southwestern Gaul. So

to reverse that relationship and get the Visigoths willing to fight with the

Romans against the Huns, this is a strategic reversal of colossal

With Aetius struggling to field his army, Rome's prospects appear to be

But then he receives an unexpected piece of good news.

On his way through Gaul, Attila fails to take Orléans.

He attacks Orléans. So there, it poses a problem because Orléans is a fortified

city with a capacity to resist for a few months.

It is this resistance that allows Aetius to gain enough time to gather his army

and to obtain the intervention of the Visigoths.

The Roman army has arrived.

Attila is forced to retreat and it is for him...

Way down by the treasure they'd pillaged since the start of their campaign, the

Huns turned back.

But the forces of the Roman Empire are hot on their heels.

Realizing that he cannot escape, Attila decides to confront the Romans head on.

Around the 20th of June, 451, the battle begins.

The exact location of the battlefield has been lost to history, but in ancient

sources, it's referred to as the Catalonian Fields, or the Moriacus

We know that the battle took place somewhere in Champagne.

This plain, near the village of Mongueux, seems the most likely

The name of the nearby village, La Rivière de Coeur, or the River of

could be a reference to the battle's many casualties.

And some believe the name of the village of Mongueux can be translated to mean

the Hill of the Goths.

A reference, perhaps, to the central role that high ground played in this

We know how this battle played out, thanks to a chronicle written by a

few decades later.

who is undoubtedly an Ostrogoth, but who worked in Constantinople in the 550s.

So we have to measure the age.

It's really a century after the Fae. He is based on Roman sources, on the one

hand, and on the oral tradition of Goths, on the other hand. So he is

well -informed.

We can only speculate how Attila reacted to these predictions.

Did he see it as an omen of Aethius' death?

Did he worry about defeat?

Whatever the case, we do know that Attila paused for hours before finally

launching his assault.

By early afternoon, tens of thousands of fighters were lining up on either side.

Visigoths, Franks, Gepids, Alans, Burgundians, Ostrogoths.

More than just a clash between empires, it would be a clash between people from

across Europe.

In his chronicle, Jordanus describes the precise formation of the armies.

To the east, Attila and his Hun horsemen are in the centre. All others are

spread to the sides.

On the other side,

the Roman Empire's forces are also arranged in three blocks.

But with the pattern reversed.

The leaders are not in the center, but on the sides.

Aetius and the Romans on the left wing King Theodoric and the Visigoths on the

right wing, and in the centre, their remaining allies.

They may have different approaches, but both sides share the same objective, to

take and hold the hill.

We've got to beat them up that hill.

Fear reaches down into my gut.

I grit my teeth and join my brothers in battle.

The bulk of the Visigoth troops are infantrymen, mobilized by the levy and

carrying their own weapons.

Short, 35 -40 cm approximately.

It's what we find in the lowest classes and in the highest classes too.

And then the weapon that we will find for all ancient weapons is the spear.

So of course, it's used for the first lines to stab.

We have sharp and sharp spears that will be used to come and look for points of

opening on the cuirasses. The goal is not to kill the opponent, the goal is to

hurt him.

The equipment used by the Visigoths is typical of those fighting for the

Armed and ready, they set off for the hill.

The Huns try to take the top of the hill, so a dominant position.

They are prevented by Aetius and Taurismon. Taurismon, who is one of the

the king of the Visigoths.

So it is the Romano -Visigoths who control the top of the hill and who, it

seems, in the first place, push the Huns back.

Attila is forced to retreat.

Jordanes recounts that he then delivers a long speech to galvanize his troops.

The tortoise he's referring to is the defensive formation used by the

legionaries as they advance.

It's a classic Roman military technique widely used at the beginning of the

empire, 400 years earlier.

But it's not as effective against the weapons used by 5th century fighters.

At Karnuntum in Austria, Gesa Frank...

leads training sessions with reenactors specializing in late antiquity.

According to him, by this time, the tortoising tactic marked by Attila no

very popular.

The Romans had developed a different formation, more suited to the weaponry

the time.

The fulcrum.

We have to imagine that there is, of course, many more men.

We just don't have them at our disposal today.

But if you imagine 8 to 16 rows that go into the depth, you can imagine a real

wall of shields there. And it's very important that they're overlapping.

The oval form of the shields is perfect for that.

You can see that there's almost no room for any arrows to penetrate.

Ready!

Attila's mockery about the supposed weakness of Roman formations is not

accurate. These Roman formations would act like tanks on the battlefield.

Very difficult to dislodge.

While the shields are

protecting the soldiers, the spears are ramped to the ground. And when horses

are approaching, they cannot dislodge the spears because the spears are

in the ground.

You have a very defensive formation here. At the same time, you have at the

the lighter troops, which are ready to counter fire.

They are armed either with these little darts, which are called plumbate, which

can be thrown quite effectively against horses, for example, or infantry.

But they could also have javelins or be equipped with bows and arrows or even

with slings, firing these kind of projectiles.

So while the formation of the front blocks the enemy, at the back you have

immediate effective counterfire.

At the time, the fulcrum tactic

is in fact practiced on both sides of the conflict.

These were two largely equivalent armies, made up of infantrymen, heavy

light cavalry.

And, of course, archers.

Jordanus does not provide a detailed play -by -play of the fighting that

after Attila's pep talk.

He simply states that the battle is terrible, complex, furious, stubborn,

no other before it.

It was a very intense and very bloody combat.

You've got two very large armies going at it with great intensity.

Among

the

dead who littered the battlefield.

is Theodoric, king of the Visigoths.

The cause of his death is uncertain.

According to one story, he was felled by an enemy arrow, and other claims he was

knocked off his feet and trampled by his own troops.

In 1842, a major discovery was made not far from the battlefield, at Poir -les

-Vallées. While working on a building site, a laborer unearthed bones,

and weapons, decorated with precious metals and stones.

On a trouvé dans cet ensemble une épée longue, en fer, damassée, à double

tranchant bien sûr, avec le poignet qui est entouré d 'une toile d 'or assez

finement travaillée.

L 'autre arme, c 'était une sorte de sabre, avec également des éléments de

fourreau. Comme il s 'agit d 'or et de grenats cloisonnés, on est certainement

avec un personnage qui est assez haut placé.

In 1858, the treasure was acquired by Emperor Napoleon III, who donated it to

the Troyes Museum.

However, it took more than a century for these objects to be dated accurately.

In the end, the artifacts came from after the battle, but they still speak

the sophistication of the supposedly barbaric people.

The objects also speak to the reverence with which these people treated their

leaders like Theodoric.

The death

of

the Visigothic King rouse the Gothic contingent to this intense ferocity.

They play a central role because of that ferocity.

And their anger at the king's death in forcing Attila's armies backwards

and inflicting very major casualties upon them.

They killed our king.

We'll make them pay.

Nothing else matters but revenge.

No matter how many arrows rain down on our heads, we will charge as one,

straight at the Huns and their devilish king.

Up until this point, the Visigoths have remained on the right wing of the Roman

forces. But now they break away to lead a bold attack against the center of the

enemy army.

In other words, the troops commanded by Attila.

The Attila's horsemen are pushed by a charge of Ego's infantry, which pursues

their advance, according to a model that is probably quite close to the Falcon.

They have a formation called the Hure de Sanglier.

The force of the charge is so great that Attila and his soldiers are forced to

retreat behind a makeshift fortress, erected from wooden carts like this one.

The chariot camp, in fact, is a defensive device, a little bit of an

We think of this classic image of the Westerns, with the Indians turning in

circles around the chariots of the pioneers.

It simply consists of gathering all the chariots, of which one has the

disposition, to form a vast defensive circle within which they protect

themselves. They use their G -weapons, javelins, especially bows, and they

prevent the Romans from approaching the perimeter.

Behind their fortress of chariots, the Hun archers keep firing, holding their

opponents at bay.

Aetius and Thorismund, King Theodoric's son.

have no choice but to begin a siege.

Why don't we just get it over with?

They're at our mercy.

They can clasp their swords and sound their horns, but it's their turn to be

scared.

Attila, furious, tries to put on a brave face, but the situation appears

hopeless. It's reported that he's going to make a pyre out of these wooden

saddles and he's going to burn himself.

on it, because his invincibility no longer applies.

This aura of divine protection which has brought him so many victories, that's

gone. It's over. And it underlines just how important being victorious is to

Attila's capacity to maintain himself in power.

As night falls, the fighting ceases.

But Attila and his followers remain trapped behind their ring of chariots,

at the mercy of Aetius and the Visigoths.

And yet, the very next day, Attila and his surviving soldiers turn back towards

the Rhine, undisturbed by their besiegers.

It's an incredible, puzzling turn of events.

What is known is that the Visigoths, eager to finish off the Huns and avenge

death of their king, unexpectedly evacuate the battlefield in the dark of

night.

Theodoric, the Visigothic king's son and heir, felt it necessary to return.

as quickly as possible in order to cement his own position as king.

And that, I think, is not a sort of specious excuse in the sense that

had several sons.

What's more surprising is that Aetius, far from blocking their way, is said to

have encouraged the Visigoths to return home, allowing Attila to escape.

While the Visigoths returned to Aquitaine,

The Hun army heads eastward, followed by Aetius' troops all the way to the

Rhine, which marks the border of the empire.

The battle of the Catalonian fields has come to an end without a clear winner.

Nevertheless,

the loss of life on both sides is considerable, if not shocking.

According to ancient sources, the dead number between 160 ,000 and 300 ,000.

Figures that are certainly overestimated, but clearly the scale of

left a lasting mark on the minds of anyone who experienced the battle.

Two years after his foray into Gaul, in 453, Attila dies, most likely murdered.

His empire dies with him.

This victory is ours.

We have saved the empire.

We no longer owe it anything.

From now on, we will be our own masters, and our lands will be our kingdom.

Soon, the Visigoths would extend their kingdom as far as southern Spain.

As for the rest of the Western Roman Empire, it would collapse 22 years

overthrown by Odoacer, a German and former lieutenant of Attila the Hun.