It is not known exactly when he was born; the year of his birth is estimated at somewhere between 390 CE and 405 CE.
His father Mundzuk was brother of Octar and Ruga, who jointly ruled the Huns at the time.
They were pushing westward, having crossed the Volga river somewhere shortly after 370 CE, driving other steppe peoples before them.
The Huns were not a single people, but a mix of tribes, some dominant and others submitted.
One of their leaders, Ruga, united them in 432 CE.
In 434 CE Ruga died and Attila together with his brother Bleda took power.
The two brothers negotiated a treaty with the Romans, who agreed to pay them a tribute.
Happy, the Huns left Roman territory and camped on the Great Hungarian Plain, while the Romans strengthened their defenses.
The Huns attacked the Persian Sassanid empire, though were repulsed, so in 440 CE they returned to Europe and resumed plundering in the Balkans.
Two years later the Romans fought back, but were defeated by the Huns who now were also equipped with siege weapons.
Again they had to pay tribute, more than the previous time and again the Huns withdrew.
In 445 CE Bleda died, leaving Attila as single ruler.
Little is known about his character.
He must have wielded considerable charisma, diplomatic skills and/or prestige, because he was able to hold the unruly Hun confederacy together as long as he lived.
Sometimes he used terror tactics to scare his enemies into submission, but he was generous towards his subjects - probably because he was more than wealthy enough to do so.
For himself he seems not to have desired abundant luxury.
Two years after his brother's death he rampaged through Moesia and threatened Constantinople, but was deterred by its massive walls.
Having bled the Balkans dry, he turned his attention westward.
There is a story that tells that the Roman emperor Valentinian's sister Honoria was promised to a senator bit did not want to marry him and sent a request for help to Attila.
The Hun the interpreted this as a proposal of marriage and requested the half the western Roman empire as dowry, which was of course denied to him.
Whether the story is true or not, in 450 CE Attila invaded Gaul.
He was beaten back at the Battle of the Catalaunian Plains.
Undeterred, he proceeded to ravage northern Italy.
Operating near Ravenna many people fled into the marshes which the Huns sensibly avoided and this eventually led to the founding of Venice.
Italy was suffering from famine and there was little food available, so the Huns did not push on to Rome but retreated.
The Romans claimed to have negotiated a treaty and even to have awed the Huns with religious power, but that seems unlikely, regarding the reputation of the nomads.
In 453 CE the Great Hun suddenly died from an internal bleeding, possibly the result of heavy drinking.
This might have been a cover-up story for an assassination.
After his death the Hun confederation started to disintegrate.
His sons fought among each other, various tribes sought out their own fortunes and the Huns themselves suffered a defeat in the Battle of Nedao in 454 CE.
By 469 CE the Hun empire had completely fallen apart.
The name Attila the Hun kept reverberating throughout the centuries, sometimes as a great conqueror, sometimes as a brutal killer.
War Matrix - Attila
Roman Decline 120 CE - 480 CE, Generals and leaders