The Pannonian Basin (marked III.), enclosed by the Carpathians and the Transylvanian Plateau (IV.) to the east and north. Also shown are the Romanian Lowlands (II.) and the Subcarpathian depressions (I.) beyond the Carpathians (also known as Transcarpathia). Sometimes included^{[by whom?]} as peri-Pannonian is the Sava basin to the south (not indicated).

Topography of the basin and surrounding mountains

Landscape - Farm on the Hortobágy, Hungary

Landscape - Danube-Tisa-Danube Canal near the village of Rumenka, close to Novi Sad, Serbia

The Pannonian Basin or Carpathian Basin^[1][2][3][4] is a large basin in East-Central Europe. The geomorphological term Pannonian Plain is more widely used for roughly the same region though with a somewhat different sense - meaning only the lowlands, the plain that remained when the Pliocene Pannonian Sea dried out. It is a geomorphological subsystem of the Alps-Himalaya system. The river Danube divides the plain roughly in half. Most of the plain consists of the Great Hungarian Plain (in the south and east, including the Eastern Slovak Lowland) and the Little Hungarian Plain (in the northwest), divided by the Transdanubian Mountains.

The Pannonian Basin is situated in the southeastern part of Central Europe, or at the boundary between Central Europe, Eastern Europe and Southeastern Europe (Balkans). It forms a topographically discrete unit set in the European landscape, surrounded by imposing geographic boundaries - the Carpathian Mountains, the Alps, the Dinarides and the Balkan mountains. The rivers Danube and Tisza divide the basin roughly in half. It extends roughly between Vienna in the northwest, Zagreb in the southwest, Belgrade in the southeast and Satu Mare in the northeast.

In terms of modern state boundaries, the basin is centered in the territory of Hungary, but it also extends to Vojvodina, Republic of Serbia, Central Croatia and Slavonia in the Republic of Croatia, western Slovakia, the Eastern Slovak Lowland (including the southwestern tip of Ukraine), besides the border regions of northern Bosnia and Herzegovina, western Transylvania in Romania, and the eastern tips of Slovenia and Austria.

Terminology[link]

In English, the terms "Pannonian Basin" and "Carpathian Basin" are used synonymously. The name "Pannonian" is taken from that of Pannonia, a province of the Roman Empire. The historical province overlapped but was not coterminous with the geographical plain or basin.^[5] The term Pannonian Plain refers to the lowland parts of the Pannonian Basin as well as those of some adjoining regions like Lower Austria, Moravia, Bosnia. The lands adjoining the plain proper are sometimes also called peri-Pannonian.

The term Carpathian Basin is used in Hungarian literature, while the South Slavic languages, Slovak, Romanian and German use Pannonian: In Hungarian, the basin is known as Kárpát-medence, in Serbian and Bosnian as Панонски басен/ Panonski basen and Panonska nizija, in Croatian as Panonska nizina, in Slovak as Panónska kotlina, in Slovenian as Panonska kotlina and in German as Pannonisches Becken, in Romanian as Câmpia Panonică or Bazinul Panonic.

In Hungarian geographical literature various subdivisions of the Carpathian Mountains (Inner Western Carpathians, Inner Eastern Carpathians, Southern Carpathians, Western Carpathians and Transylvanian Plateau) are also considered parts of the Carpathian Basin on the basis of traditional geopolitical divisions.

Geography[link]

Biogeographic regions of Europe (including Asian part of Turkey)

Climate and natural resources[link]

Although rain is not plentiful, it usually falls when necessary and the plain is a major agricultural area; it is sometimes said that these fields of rich loamy loess soil could feed the whole of Europe. For its early settlers, the plain offered few sources of metals or stone. Thus when archaeologists come upon objects of obsidian or chert, copper or gold, they have almost unparalleled opportunities to interpret ancient pathways of trade.

Geomorphology[link]

Wheat field near Temerin

The Pannonian plain is divided into two parts along the Transdanubian Mountains (Hungarian: Dunántúli-középhegység). The northwestern part is called Western Pannonian plain (or province) and the southeastern part Eastern Pannonian plain (or province). They comprise the following sections:

• Western Pannonian Plain (province):
  • Vienna Basin
  • Little Hungarian Plain
• Eastern Pannonian Plain (province):
  • Great Hungarian Plain
  • Pannonian Island Mountains (Serbian: Panonske ostrvske planine)
  • Transdanubian Mountains (Hungarian: Dunántúli-dombság)
  • Drava–Mura lowlands

Note: The Transylvanian Plateau and the Lučenec-Košice Depression (both parts of the Carpathians) and some other lowlands are sometimes also considered part of the Pannonian Plain in non-geomorphological or older divisions.

Regions[link]

Relatively large or distinctive areas of the plain that do not necessarily correspond to national borders include:

• Bačka/Bácska (Serbia, Hungary)
  • Šajkaška (Serbia)
  • Telečka (Serbia)
  • Gornji Breg (Serbia)
• Banat (Romania, Serbia, Hungary)
  • Pančevački Rit (Serbia)
  • Veliki Rit (Serbia)
  • Gornje Livade (Serbia)
• Baranya/Baranja (Hungary, Croatia)
• Burgenland (Neusiedler Basin), Austria
• Crişana (Romania)
• Jászság (Hungary)
• Kunság (Hungary)
• Little Hungarian Plain (Kisalföld/Malá dunajská kotlina - Hungary, Slovakia)
• Mačva (Serbia)
• Međimurje (Croatia)
• Moravia (part), Czech Republic
• Moslavina (Croatia)
• Podravina (Croatia, Hungary, around Drava river)
• Podunavlje (Serbia, Croatia, around Danube river)
• Pokuplje (Croatia, around Kupa river)
• Pomoravlje (part), Serbia, around Morava river
• Pomorišje (Romania, Hungary, Serbia, around Mureş river)
• Posavina (Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, around Sava river)
• Potisje (Serbia, around Tisa river)
• Prekmurje (Slovenia)
• Semberija (Bosnia and Herzegovina)
• Slavonia (Croatia)
  • Palača (Croatia)
• Srem/Srijem (Serbia, Croatia)
  • Podlužje (Serbia)
  • Šokadija (Croatia)
  • Spačva (Croatia)
• Transdanubia (Hungary)
• Vienna Basin (part), Austria
• Vojvodina (Serbia)
• several more inside Hungary, see: Counties of Hungary, Regions of Hungary
• several more inside Slovakia, see: Traditional regions of Slovakia, Regions of Slovakia

History[link]

Prehistory[link]

Approximate extent of Pannonian Sea during the Miocene Epoch

The Pannonian Basin has its geological origins in the Pannonian Sea, a shallow sea that reached its greatest extent during the Pliocene Epoch, when three to four kilometres of sediments were deposited.

Antiquity[link]

The plain was named after the Pannonians, a northern Illyrian tribe. Various different peoples inhabited the plain during its history. In the first century BC, the eastern parts of the plain belonged to the Dacian state, and in the first century AD its western parts were subsumed into the Roman Empire. The Roman province named Pannonia was established in the area, and the city of Sirmium, today Sremska Mitrovica, Serbia, became one of the four capital cities of the Roman Empire in the 3rd century.

Middle Ages[link]

In the Age of Migrations and the early Middle Ages, the region belonged to several realms such as the Hun Empire, the Kingdom of the Gepids, the Kingdom of the Ostrogoths, the Kingdom of the Lombards, the Avar Kingdom, the Slavic state of Samo, the Bulgarian Empire, the Frankish Empire, the Great Moravia, the Balaton Principality, the Pannonian Principality and the Kingdom of Syrmia.

The Principality of Hungary established in 895 by the Magyars was centered around the plain and included almost all of it (as did the former Avar Kingdom as well). It was established as the Christian kingdom of Hungary in AD 1000, with the coronation of Stephen I of Hungary.

A csikos in the puszta of Hungary, ca. 1852

The kingdom of Hungary by the 11th century comprised the entire Pannonian basin, but the changing fates of this part of Europe during the Ottoman wars of the 14th to 17th centuries left the Pannonian basin divided between numerous political entities. After the Battle of Mohács in 1526, the central and eastern regions of the kingdom and the plain on which they lay were incorporated into the Ottoman Empire, while the remainder to the north-west was subsumed into the holdings of the Habsburg Monarchy and retitled Royal Hungary. Under Ottoman administration, the plain was reorganized into the Eyalet of Budim, the Eyalet of Egri, the Eyalet of Sigetvar, and the Eyalet of Temeşvar.

Modern history[link]

The Pannonian Plain was frequently a scene of conflict between the two empires. At the end of the 17th century the Habsburgs won decisive battles against the Ottomans, and most of the plain gradually came under Habsburg rule. Under Habsburg rule the region was eventually reorganized into the Kingdom of Hungary, the Banat of Temeswar, the Military Frontier, the Kingdom of Croatia, the Kingdom of Slavonia and Serbian Voivodship and Tamiš Banat.

The Habsburg Monarchy was subsequently transformed into the Austrian Empire (in 1804) and later became Austria-Hungary (in 1867). Most of the plain was located within the Hungarian part of Austria-Hungary, since all other Habsburg possessions in the plain were integrated into the Kingdom of Hungary until 1882. The autonomous Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia, which was one of the Lands of the Crown of St. Stephen, comprised the south-western portion of the plain.

With the dissolution of Austria-Hungary after World War I, the region was divided between Hungary, Romania, Czechoslovakia, Austria, and the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (renamed to Yugoslavia in 1929). The borders drawn in in 1918 and 1919 are mostly preserved as those of the contemporary states of Hungary, Serbia, Croatia, Slovakia, Romania and Austria.

Major cities[link]

This is a list of cities in the Pannonian Basin with a population larger than 100,000:

• Budapest Hungary (1,733,685)
• Vienna Austria (1,714,142)
• Zagreb Croatia (804,000)
• Northern Belgrade Serbia (564,320)
• Bratislava Slovakia (457,426)
• Novi Sad Serbia (380,508)^[6]
• Timişoara Romania (312,113)
• Košice Slovakia (233,659)
• Debrecen Hungary (207,270)
• Szeged Hungary (169,731)
• Miskolc Hungary (169,226)
• Pécs Hungary (157,680)
• Győr Hungary (130,478)
• Nyíregyháza Hungary (117,832)
• Osijek Croatia (114,616)
• Maribor Slovenia (112,642)
• Kecskemét Hungary (112,233)
• Székesfehérvár Hungary (101,973)

See also[link]

• Geography of Europe
• Central Europe
• Pannonian Sea
• Transdanubian Mountains
• Pelso unit
• Tisza unit

References[link]

External links[link]

• Zentai László's account of the Basin formation In Hungarian.
• Anthropological sketch of the prehistoric population
• Körös Regional Archaeological Project: Neolithic and Copper Age archaeology in the Pannonian plain

Coordinates: 46°30′N 20°00′E / 46.5°N 20°E / 46.5; 20

Coordinates: 47°00′N 25°30′E / 47°N 25.5°E / 47; 25.5

Carpathians
Range
Inner Western Carpathians, High Tatras, Poland
Countries	Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Ukraine, Romania, Serbia[1]
Highest point	Gerlachovský štít
- elevation	2,655 m (8,711 ft)
Satellite image of the Carpathians

The Carpathian Mountains or Carpathians are a range of mountains forming an arc roughly 1,500 km (932 mi) long across Central and Eastern Europe, making them the second-longest mountain range in Europe (after the Scandinavian Mountains, 1,700 km (1,056 mi)). They provide the habitat for the largest European populations of brown bears, wolves, chamois and lynxes, with the highest concentration in Romania,^[2][3][4] as well as over one third of all European plant species.^[5] The Carpathians and their piedmont also concentrate many thermal and mineral waters, with Romania home to over one-third of the European total.^[6][7] Romania is likewise home to the largest surface of virgin forests in Europe (except Russia), totaling 250,000 hectares (65%), most of them in the Carpathians,^[8] with the Southern Carpathians constituting Europe’s largest unfragmented forested area.^[9]

The Carpathians consist of a chain of mountain ranges that stretch in an arc from the Czech Republic (3%) in the northwest through Slovakia (17%), Poland (10%), Hungary (4%) and Ukraine (11%) to Romania (53%) in the east and on to the Iron Gates on the River Danube between Romania and Serbia (2%) in the south. The highest range within the Carpathians is the Tatras, on the border of Poland and Slovakia, where the highest peaks exceed 2,600 m (8,530 ft). The second-highest range is the Eastern Carpathians in Romania, where the highest peaks exceed 2,500 m (8,202 ft).

The Carpathians are usually divided into three major parts: the Western Carpathians (Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia), the Central Carpathians (southeastern Poland, eastern Slovakia, Ukraine, Romania), and the Eastern Carpathians (Romania, Serbia).^[1]

The most important cities in or near the Carpathians are: Bratislava and Košice in Slovakia; Kraków in Poland; Cluj-Napoca, Sibiu and Braşov in Romania; and Miskolc in Hungary.

Name[link]

The name "Carpathian" may have been derived from Carpi, a Dacian tribe. According to Zosimus, this tribe lived until 381 on the eastern Carpathian slopes. The word could come from an indo-European word meaning "rock". In the Thracian Greek Καρπάτῆς όρος (Karpates oros), means "rocky mountain",^[10]

View of Tatry from Bukowina Tatrzańska

The range is called Karpaty in Czech, Polish, Russian, Slovak and Ukrainian, Carpați pronounced [karˈpat͡sʲ] in Romanian, Karpaten in German and Dutch, Kárpátok in Hungarian and Karpati (Карпати) in Serbian.

The name Carpates may ultimately be from the Proto Indo-European root *sker-/*ker-, from which comes the Albanian word karpë (rock), and the Slavic word skála (rock, cliff), perhaps via a Dacian cognate^[which?] which meant mountain, rock, or rugged (cf. Germanic root *skerp-, Old Norse harfr "harrow", Middle Low German scharf "potsherd" and Modern High German Scherbe "shard", Old English scearp and English sharp, Lithuanian kar~pas "cut, hack, notch", Latvian cìrpt "to shear, clip"). The archaic Polish word karpa meant "rugged irregularities, underwater obstacles/rocks, rugged roots or trunks". The more common word skarpa means a sharp cliff or other vertical terrain. Otherwise, the name may instead come from Indo-European *kwerp "to turn", akin to Old English hweorfan "to turn, change" (English warp) and Greek καρπός karpós "wrist", perhaps referring to the way the mountain range bends or veers in an L-shape.^[11]

In late Roman documents, the Eastern Carpathian Mountains were referred to as Montes Sarmatici (meaning Sarmatian Mountains). The Western Carpathians were called Carpates, a name that is first recorded in Ptolemy's Geographia (2nd century AD).

In the Scandinavian Hervarar saga, which describes ancient Germanic legends about battles between Goths and Huns, the name Karpates appears in the predictable Germanic form as Harvaða fjöllum (see Grimm's law).

13th-15th century Hungarian documents named the mountains Thorchal, Tarczal or less frequently Montes Nivium.

Geography[link]

Lake Bucura, Southern Carpathians, Romania

This unreferenced section requires citations to ensure verifiability.

The Carpathians begin on the Góra Świętego Marcina 384 m. in Tarnów - northern edge of Pogórze Ciężkowickie. They surround Transcarpathia and Transylvania in a large semicircle, sweeping towards the southeast, and end on the Danube near Orşova in Romania. The total length of the Carpathians is over 1,500 km (932 mi) and the mountain chain's width varies between 12 and 500 km (7 and 311 mi). The highest altitudes of the Carpathians occur where they are widest. The system attains its greatest breadth in the Transylvanian plateau and in the meridian of the Tatra group – the highest range, in which Gerlachovský štít in Slovakia is the highest peak at 2,655 m (8,711 ft) above sea level. The Carpathians cover an area of 190,000 km² (73,359 sq mi) and, after the Alps, form the next most extensive mountain system in Europe.

Although commonly referred to as a mountain chain, the Carpathians do not actually form an uninterrupted chain of mountains. Rather, they consist of several orographically and geologically distinctive groups, presenting as great a structural variety as the Alps. The Carpathians, which attain an altitude of over 2,500 m (8,202 ft) in only a few places, lack the bold peaks, extensive snowfields, large glaciers, high waterfalls, and numerous large lakes that are common in the Alps. No area of the Carpathian range is covered in snow all year round and there are no glaciers. The Carpathians at their highest altitude are only as high as the middle region of the Alps, with which they share a common appearance, climate, and flora.

The Carpathians are separated from the Alps by the Danube. The two ranges meet at only one point: the Leitha Mountains at Bratislava. The river also separates them from the Balkan Mountains at Orşova in Romania. The valley of the March and Oder separates the Carpathians from the Silesian and Moravian chains, which belong to the middle wing of the great Central Mountain System of Europe. Unlike the other wings of the system, the Carpathians, which form the watershed between the northern seas and the Black Sea, are surrounded on all sides by plains, namely the Pannonian plain to the southwest, the plain of the Lower Danube (Romania) to the south, and the Galician plain to the northeast.

Cities and towns[link]

People of the Carpathian Mountains

A horse atop the Krasna mountain range in Ukraine's Zakarpattia Oblast

Carpathian mountains of western Ukraine

Maramureș Mountains in north of Romania

Tatra Mountains in southern Poland

View of Spiš Castle in Slovakia, from the Branisko-pass

Important cities and towns in or near the Carpathians are, in approximate descending order of population:

Highest peaks[link]

This is an (incomplete) list of the highest peaks of the Carpathians (limited to summits over 2,500 m), their heights, geologic divisions, and locations.

Mountain passes[link]

In the Romanian part of the main chain of the Carpathians, the most important mountain passes are (starting from the Ukrainian border): the Prislop Pass, Rodna Pass, Tihuţa Pass (also known as Borgo Pass), Tulgheş Pass, Bicaz Canyon, Ghimeş Pass, Uz Pass and Oituz Pass, Buzău Pass, Predeal Pass (crossed by the railway from Braşov to Bucharest), Turnu Roşu Pass (1,115 ft., running through the narrow gorge of the Olt River and crossed by the railway from Sibiu to Bucharest), Vulcan Pass, Teregova Pass and the Iron Gate (both crossed by the railway from Timişoara to Craiova).

Geology[link]

The area now occupied by the Carpathians was once occupied by smaller ocean basins. The Carpathian mountains were formed during the Alpine orogeny in the Mesozoic^[12] and Tertiary by moving the ALCAPA, Tisza and Dacia plates over subducting oceanic crust (see maps).^[13] The mountains take the form of a fold and thrust belt with generally north vergence in the western segment, northeast to east vergence in the eastern portion and southeast vergence in the southern portion.

The external, generally northern, portion of the orogenic belt is a Tertiary accretionary prism of a so called Flysch belt created by rocks scraped off the sea bottom and thrust over the North-European plate. The Carpathian accretionary wedge is made of several thin skinned nappes composed of Cretaceous to Paleogene turbidites. Thrusting of the Flysch nappes over the Carpathian foreland caused the formation of the Carpathian foreland basin.^[14] The boundary between the Flysch belt and internal zones of the orogenic belt in the western segment of the mountain range is marked by the Pieniny Klippen Belt, a narrow complicated zone of polyphase compressional deformation, later involved in a supposed strike-slip zone.^[15] Internal zones in western and eastern segments contain older Variscan igneous massifs reworked in Mesozoic thick and thin-skinned nappes. During the Middle Miocene this zone was affected by intensive calc-alkaline^[16] arc volcanism that developed over the subduction zone of the flysch basins. At the same time, the internal zones of the orogenic belt were affected by large extensional structure^[17] of the back-arc Pannonian Basin.^[18]

Iron, gold and silver were found in great quantities in the Western Carpathians. After the Roman emperor Trajan's conquest of Dacia, he brought back to Rome over 165 tons of gold and 330 tons of silver.^[19]

Divisions of the Carpathians[link]

Map of the main divisions of the Carpathians.
1. Outer Western Carpathians
2. Inner Western Carpathians
3. Outer Eastern Carpathians
4. Inner Eastern Carpathians
5. Southern Carpathians
6. Western Romanian Carpathians
7. Transylvanian Plateau
8. Serbian Carpathians

The largest range is the Tatras.

A major part of the western and northeastern Outer Carpathians in Poland, Ukraine and Slovakia is traditionally called the Beskids.

The geological border between the Western and Eastern Carpathians runs approximately along the line (south to north) between the towns of Michalovce, Bardejov, Nowy Sącz and Tarnów. In older systems the border runs more in the east, along the line (north to south) along the rivers San and Osława (Poland), the town of Snina (Slovakia) and river Tur'ia (Ukraine). Biologists, however, shift the border even further to the east.

The border between the eastern and southern Carpathians is formed by the Predeal Pass, south of Braşov and the Prahova Valley.

Ukrainians sometimes denote as "Eastern Carpathians" only the Ukrainian Carpathians (or Wooded Carpathians), meaning the part situated largely on their territory (i.e., to the north of the Prislop Pass), while Romanians sometimes denote as "Eastern Carpathians" only the part which lies on their territory (i.e., from the Ukrainian border or from the Prislop Pass to the south), which they subdivide into three simplified geographical groups (north, center, south), instead of Outer and Inner Eastern Carpathians. These are:

• Carpathians of Maramureş and Bukovina (Romanian: Carpaţii Maramureşului şi ai Bucovinei)
• Moldavian-Transylvanian Carpathians (Romanian: Carpaţii Moldo-Transilvani)
• Curvature Carpathians (Romanian: Carpaţii Curburii, Carpaţii de Curbură)

Notable people[link]

• Ludwig Greiner, identified Gerlachovský Peak as the highest mountain in the Carpathians.

See also[link]

• Transylvania

References[link]

Notes

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Carpathian Mountains

• The Framework Convention for the Protection and Sustainable Development of the Carpathians
• Orographic map highlighting Carpathian mountains
• Alpinet - Romanian mountain guide
• Carpati.org - Romanian mountain guide

v t e Divisions, Groups, and Ranges of the Carpathian Mountains Western Carpathians Inner Western Slovak Ore Mountains • Fatra-Tatra Area • Slovenské stredohorie • Lučenec-Košice Depression • Mátra-Slanec Area and North Hungarian Mountains Outer Western South-Moravian Carpathians • Central Moravian Carpathians • Slovak-Moravian Carpathians • West-Beskidian Piedmont • Western Beskids • Central Beskids • Eastern Beskids • Podhale-Magura Area Eastern Carpathians Inner Eastern Vihorlat-Gutin Area • Bistriţa Mountains • Căliman-Harghita Mountains • Giurgeu-Braşov Depression Outer Eastern Central Beskidian Piedmont • Low Beskids • Eastern Beskids and the Ukrainian Carpathians • Moldavian-Muntenian Carpathians Southern Carpathians Bucegi Mountains • Făgăraş Mountains group • Parâng Mountains group • Retezat-Godeanu Mountains group Romanian Western Carpathians Apuseni Mountains  • Poiana Ruscă Mountains • Banat Mountains Other Transylvanian Plateau (disputed) • Serbian Carpathians (disputed) • Outer Carpathian depressions

Hunnic Empire
around c. 370 AD–469
The Hunnic Empire at its peak under Attila
Capital	Not specified
Language(s)	Hunnic, Gothic[1][2]
Government	Monarchy
High King
- 445-453	Attila
- 458-469	Dengizich
History
- Huns destroy a tribe of Alans to their west	around c. 370 AD
- King of the Huns, Dengizich dies	469

The Hunnic empire was formed under the reign of Attila, centered in present-day Hungary; its territory included parts of Germany, the Balkans, and Ukraine. It bordered the Eastern Roman Empire to the southeast and the Western Roman Empire to the west and southwest; its other boundaries are uncertain. The empire dissolved after Attila's death in 453 as a result of struggles over succession and leadership, finally disappearing around 469.

Origins[link]

The origins of the Huns that swept through Europe during the 4th Century remain unclear; they may have been connected with the Xiongnu and the later Northern Xiongnu, defeated and dispersed by China some three centuries before. However, most mainstream historians consider them as a group of nomadic tribes from Central Asia with mixed origin.^{[citation needed]} There was a Hunnic language, and Gothic seems also to have been used as a lingua franca.^[3]

History[link]

European expansion[link]

Early campaigns[link]

European accounts first mention the Huns in the lands north-west of the Caspian Sea about 370, when they conquered a tribe of Alans to their west. Pushing further westward, the Huns subjugated many Ostrogoths. In 395, a Hun raid across the Caucasus mountains devastated Armenia, then captured Erzurum, besieged Edessa and Antioch, and even reached Tyre.

In 408, the Hun Uldin invaded the Eastern Roman province of Moesia but his attack was opposed and Uldin was forced to retreat.

Consolidation[link]

For all their early exploits, the Huns were politically disunited. Rather than an empire, the Huns were more a confederation of tribes. They often served as mercenary troops under Roman command.

From 420, a chieftain named Oktar began to unite the Hunnic tribes under his banner. He was succeeded by his brother, Rugila who became the leader of the Hun confederation, uniting the Huns into a cohesive group with a common purpose. He led them into a campaign in the Western Roman Empire, through an alliance with Roman General Aetius. This gave the Huns more wealth and power. He planned a massive invasion of the Eastern Roman Empire in the year 434, but died before his plans could come to completion. His heirs to the throne were his nephews, Bleda and Attila, who ruled in a dual kingship. They divided their peoples between them, but still regarded the empire as a single entity.

Under dual kingship[link]

Attila and Bleda were as ambitious as king Rugila. They forced the Eastern Roman Empire to sign the Treaty of Margus, giving the Huns trade rights and an annual tribute from the Romans. The Romans also agreed to give up Hunnic refugees (individuals who could have threatened the brothers' grip on power) for execution. With their southern border protected by the terms of this treaty, the Huns could turn their full attention to the further subjugation of tribes to the west.

However, when the Romans failed to deliver the agreed tribute, and other conditions of the Treaty of Margus were not met, both Hunnic kings turned their attention back to the Eastern Romans. Reports that the Bishop of Margus had crossed into Hun lands and desecrated royal graves further angered the kings. War broke out between the two empires, and the Huns overcame a weak Roman army to raze the cities of Margus, Singidunum and Viminacium. Although a truce was signed in 441, two years later the Romans again failed to deliver the tribute and war resumed. In the following campaign, Hun armies came alarmingly close to Constantinople, sacking Sardica, Arcadiopolis and Philippopolis along the way. Suffering a complete defeat at the Battle of Chersonesus, the Eastern Roman Emperor Theodosius II gave in to Hun demands and the Peace of Anatolius was signed in autumn 443. The Huns returned to their lands with a vast train full of plunder.

In 445, Bleda died, leaving Attila the sole ruler of the Hun Empire.

As Attila's empire[link]

Empire of Attila

With his brother gone and as the only ruler of the united Huns, Attila possessed undisputed control over his subjects. In 447, Attila turned the Huns back toward the Eastern Roman Empire once more. His invasion of the Balkans and Thrace was devastating. The Eastern Roman Empire was already beset by internal problems, such as famine and plague, as well as riots and a series of earthquakes in Constantinople itself. Only a last-minute rebuilding of its walls had preserved Constantinople unscathed. Victory over a Roman army had already left the Huns virtually unchallenged in Eastern Roman lands and only disease forced a retreat, after they had conducted raids as far south as Thermopylae.

The war finally came to an end for the Eastern Romans in 449 with the signing of the Third Peace of Anatolius.

Throughout their raids on the Eastern Roman Empire, the Huns had still maintained good relations with the Western Empire; this was due in no small part to a friendship with Flavius Aetius, a powerful Roman general (sometimes even referred to as the de facto ruler of the Western Empire) who had spent some time with the Huns. However, this all changed in 450 when Honoria, sister of the Western Roman Emperor Valentinian III, sent Attila a ring and requested his help to escape her betrothal to a senator. Although it is not known whether Honoria intended this as a proposal of marriage to Attila, that is how the Hun King interpreted it. He claimed half the Western Roman Empire as dowry. To add to the worsening relations, a dispute arose between Attila and Aetius about who should inherit the kingship of the Salian Franks. Finally, the repeated raids on the Eastern Roman Empire had left it with little to plunder.

In 451, Attila's forces entered Gaul, with his army recruiting from the Franks, Goths and Burgundian tribes en route. Once in Gaul, the Huns first attacked Metz, then his armies continued westwards, passing both Paris and Troyes to lay siege to Orléans.

Aetius was given the duty of relieving Orléans by Emperor Valentinian III. Bolstered by Frankish and Visigothic troops (under King Theodoric), Aetius' own Roman army met the Huns at the Battle of the Catalaunian Plains also known as the Battle of Châlons. Although a tactical defeat for Attila, thwarting his invasion of Gaul and forcing his retreat back to non-Roman lands, the macrohistorical significance of the allied and Roman victory is a matter of debate.^[4][5][6]

The following year, Attila renewed his claims to Honoria and territory in the Western Roman Empire. Leading his horde across the Alps and into Northern Italy, he sacked and razed the cities of Aquileia, Vicetia, Verona, Brixia, Bergamum, and Milan. Hoping to avoid the sack of Rome herself, Emperor Valentinian III sent three envoys, the high civilian officers Gennadius Avienus and Trigetius, as well as the Bishop of Rome Leo I, who met Attila at Mincio in the vicinity of Mantua, and obtained from him the promise that he would withdraw from Italy and negotiate peace with the emperor. Prosper of Aquitaine gives a short, reliable description of the historic meeting, but gives all the credit of the successful negotiation to Leo. Priscus reports that superstitious fear of the fate of Alaric—who died shortly after sacking Rome in 410—gave him pause. In reality, Italy had suffered from a terrible famine in 451 and her crops were faring little better in 452; Attila's devastating invasion of the plains of northern Italy this year did not improve the harvest. To advance on Rome would have required supplies which were not available in Italy, and taking the city would not have improved Attila's supply situation. Therefore, it was more profitable for Attila to conclude peace and retreat back to his homeland. Secondly, an East Roman force had crossed the Danube under the command of another officer also named Aetius—who had participated in the Council of Chalcedon the previous year—and proceeded to defeat the Huns who had been left behind by Attila to safeguard their home territories. Attila, hence, faced heavy human and natural pressures to retire from Italy before moving south of the Po. Attila retreated without Honoria or her dowry.

The new Eastern Roman Emperor Marcian then halted tribute payments. From the Carpathian Basin, Attila mobilised to attack Constantinople. However, in 453 he married a German girl named Ildico, and died of a nosebleed on his wedding night.

After Attila[link]

Attila was succeeded by his eldest son, Ellak. However, Attila's other sons, Dengizich and Ernakh challenged Ellak for the throne. Taking advantage of the situation, subjugated tribes rose up in rebellion. The year after Attila's death, the Huns were defeated in the Battle of Nedao. In 469, Dengizik, the last Hunnic King and successor of Ellak, died. This date is seen as the end of the Hunnic Empire. It is believed by some historians that descendants of the Huns formed the Bulgarian Empire, which stretched over the Balkans, Pannonia and Scythia^{[citation needed]}.

References and notes[link]

Further reading[link]

• E. A. Thompson, A History of Attila and the Huns (1948)
• F. Altheim, Attila und die Hunnen (1951)
• J. Werner, Beiträge zur Archäologie des Attila-Reiches (1956).
• T. Hodgkin, Italy and Her Invaders, Vol. I (rev. ed. 1892, repr. 1967)
• W. M. McGovern, Early Empires of Central Asia (1939)
• Frederick John Teggart, China and Rome (1969, repr. 1983);
• Otto J. Maenchen-Helfen, The World of the Huns (1973).

See also[link]

• Historic states represented in Turkish presidential seal
• Hunnic language
• List of Hunnish rulers

Zoltán Lipták

Personal information
Full name	Zoltán Lipták
Date of birth	(1984-12-10) 10 December 1984 (age 27)
Place of birth	Salgótarján, Hungary
Height	1.93 m (6 ft 4 in)
Playing position	Centre back
Club information
Current club	Újpest FC
Number	34
Youth career
	Somoskőújfalu
	Salgótarjáni BTC
	Szolnoki MÁV
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
2004–2005	Szolnoki MÁV FC	22	(1)
2005–2007	Lombard-Pápa TFC	39	(7)
2007–2008	Southend United	0	(0)
2007	→ Stevenage Borough (loan)	2	(0)
2008–2009	Újpest FC	19	(1)
2009	→ Southampton (loan)	7	(0)
2009–2011	Videoton	60	(4)
2011–	Újpest FC	11	(1)
National team‡
	Hungary U-21	15	(0)
2010–	Hungary	10	(1)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 27 May 2012. † Appearances (Goals). ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 2 September 2011

Zoltán Lipták (born 10 December 1984) is a Hungarian footballer who is playing for Újpest FC.

Club career[link]

He had a trial with League One side Huddersfield Town in January 2007, but the supposed end-of-season loan transfer collapsed mysteriously. In July 2007, he had a trial with Southend United, recently relegated into League One. Manager Steve Tilson said he desperately wanted to sign the 6' 4" defender after impressing in a friendly against Witham Town. The permanent signing of Liptak was completed on 24 July 2007 from Hungarian second division side Lombard-Pápa TFC for a fee of £52,000.

Lipták was sent on loan to Stevenage Borough on the 22 November 2007 for one month and made his debut in front of the Setanta Sports cameras against Altrincham in the 2–1 win on 26 November 2007. He joined Újpest FC in June 2008. In February 2009, he signed for Championship team Southampton on loan until the end of the season.^[1] He made his first appearance for Southampton against Preston North End when they won 3–1. The loan was terminated at the end of April 2009. He has had the honour of winning the Essex Senior Cup with Southend, in which he scored a dubious goal for the Shrimpers in the final against Chelmsford City.^[2]

Videoton[link]

Lipták was signed by Videoton in 2009. He became one of the most important parts of the defense of the club. He won his first Hungarian League title in 2011.^[3] During the coaching of György Mezey, he led the club to win the championship. Since the arrival of the Portuguese Paulo Sousa he has been left out from the squad. Although Lipták was a member of the Hungarian national football team, he could not play in his club. Therefore, he was released by Videoton a couple of days before the important Euro 2012 qualifier against Sweden. Lipták was not affected by the difficulties of his club and he played well during the two Euro 2012 qualifiers against Sweden and Moldova. He was a member of two important victories of the national side. In September, Lipták was on trial with Premier League club Swansea City.^[4][5][6][7]

Újpest[link]

Lipták signed a contract with Újpest FC.

International career[link]

He has gained 15 under-21 caps for his country. Lipták started his first full international game against England at Wembley Stadium. He played 55 minutes before being substitited, Hungary lost the game 2–1.^[8]

Honours[link]

Club[link]

• Videoton
  • Nemzeti Bajnokság I: 2010–11

Individual[link]

• Named in the Hungarian National Championship I all-star team (nemzetisport.hu):
  • 2009–10
  • 2010–11

International goals[link]

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1.	7 June 2011	Serravalle	San Marino	0–3	Win	UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying

References[link]

External links[link]

• Zoltán Lipták career stats at Soccerbase