Battle of Merv, 484 AD – Attila of the East – Greatest Hunnic Conqueror?

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📢 Narrated by David McCallion

📚 Research: Dr. Byron Waldron

🎼 Music:
Epidemic Sound
Filmstro

📚 Sources:
Brunner, C. J. 1984/2011: Akšonvar, Encyclopaedia Iranica 1.7, 729-730, https://iranicaonline.org/articles/aksonvar-the-imperfect-recording-in-arabic-tabari-i-p.

de la Vaissière, E. 2003: Is There a “Nationality of the Hephtalites”? Bulletin of the Asia Institute 17, 119-132.

Encyclopaedia Iranica 2018: Khušnawar/Khušnawaz, Encyclopaedia Iranica, Online Edition, https://iranicaonline.org/articles/kusnawar.

Litvinsky, B. A. 1996: The Hephthalite Empire, in Litvinsky, Z. Guang-da & R. S. Samghabadi (eds.), History of Civilizations of Central Asia III: The Crossroads of Civilizations: A.D. 250-750, Paris, 135-162.

Millward, J. A. 2007: Eurasian Crossroads: A History of Xinjiang, New York.

Payne, R. 2015: The Reinvention of Iran: The Sasanian Empire and the Huns, in M. Maas (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to the Age of Attila, New York, 282-300.

Potts, D. T. 2014: Nomadism in Iran: From Antiquity to the Modern Era, Oxford & New York.

Rezakhani, K. 2017: ReOrienting the Sasanians: East Iran in Late Antiquity, Edinburgh.

Whitfield, S. 2018: Silks, Slaves, and Stupas: Material Culture of the Silk Road, Oakland, CA.

Hyun Jin Kim 2013: The Huns, Rome and the Birth of Europe

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50 thoughts on “Battle of Merv, 484 AD – Attila of the East – Greatest Hunnic Conqueror?”

  5. Hi all. I wrote the script for this battle. If you have any questions please ask! My other collaborations with HistoryMarche include Aurelian, the Third Samnite War, Satala, Edessa, Abritus, and the Margus. If you're interested, I have a book on the Tetrarchy titled 'Dynastic Politics in the Age of Diocletian', which is now available for 25 pounds on the Edinburgh University Press website.

    As always, HistoryMarche has produced an excellent video. However, an editor made some changes to the script that resulted in a couple of mistakes, and so in the interests of accuracy, here are the corrections:

    – Khushnawar was not the king who assisted Peroz in becoming king in 459. It was an earlier Hephthalite king named Faganish. Khushnawar may have been king by the time of the war against the Kidarites (c. 464-468), but he is first securely attested in 474, the first Persian-Hephthalite war.

    – Al-Masudi reports that the final battle was fought at Merv al-Rudh, not Merv. I suggest that the Hephthalites took up position where the mountains of Gharjistan and the Marghab River meet the steppe of the Karakum Desert, as it was near Merv al-Rudh and was a position that could not be easily outflanked. (I probably spend too much time thinking about geography.)

    Incidentally, the sources vary on whether the Hephthalites had produced a long trench with a gap, or a series of trenches and ditches. In any case, it was a truly impressive and cinematic tactic! I realised this too late to include it in the script, but according to al-Tabari, Khushnawar ordered the Hephthalite army to begin a withdrawal (al-Tabari 879). So, a missing piece in reconstructing this battle could be that the Hephthalite army as a whole appeared like they were withdrawing (in addition to the actions of the Hephthalite vanguard, which of course remind one of the Numidians at the Trebia). Unfortunately, no source speaks clearly of casualties (except with regard to the deaths of royalty), but with such a chaotic battle and such a high body count among the royalty, a reliable Sasanian report of casualties was probably impossible (and probably most of those who weren't killed were captured).

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  10. From the way they treated their enemies and tamaining of Hephthalite rule as city states and smaller kingdoms like KabulShahis they were not the same as Huns in Europe. They were not a confederacy and adopted the Bactrian way of rulership just like their Kushan predecessors.
    As an Afghan it is the first time I see a notable channel covers my countries history. I thank you❤

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  12. Can you make a video about the Battle of Kharistan one of the most important battles in early Islamic history, which contributed to keeping Central Asia under Arab control for another century

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  20. While acknowledging khushnawars shrewd and tactical superiority, it is important to note the stupidity and thoughlessness of Peroz. When he ought to have resigned due to chronic incompetence and lack of any tact, he instead led all his family and friends into ruin. Pure definition of failure

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  29. How was that joke with the bear, the hunter and the 2 options he was given? 😅 I like Kushnawar. He did everything to spare that clown of a king… He really did 🙃
    Thanks for yet another great clip!

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  31. WHİP OF GOD ATTİLA HUN CHRİSTANS + ROMANS that talking ABOUT PAPA LEO Pope Leo said: Please Attila, don't burn Rome, I beg you. Because ATTILA KHAN, who brought the end of the Western Roman Empire in the best way of all in Milan and brought the Visigothic barbarians to Italy!.

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  35. I would have to wonder if, based on hindsight and the long-term, if the destruction of so much of the nobility, potentially entire male family houses, enabled Khosrow's centralizing reforms during his reign. Additionally, it was adventagous that the Roman eastern empire was in it's own perpetual issues as the Sassanid's faced this threat.

    Likely if either Persian or Roman had faced another confederation at the same time, like the Western Romans did either empire could have fallen. Which makes it even more ironic that once the two were able to centralize and re-stabilize their empires because they no longer face such existential threats from steppe horseman, they would go on to battle for he next 100ish years only to utterly exhaust the other and be gobstomped by the Arabians.

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  36. The Sassanians are famous for breaking their word and paying dearly for it. More than a century later, they repeated the same with arabs and lost their entire empire because of that.

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