西元370年入侵東南歐的遊牧族羣。第四世紀中期出現在中亞，最初入侵阿蘭尼族的土地，佔領伏爾加河（Volga）和頓河（Don）之間的平原，後來並驅逐居住在頓河和涅斯特河（Dniester）一帶的東哥德族（Ostrogoths）。約在西元376年，他們又打敗居住在今羅馬尼亞附近的西哥德族（Visigoths），併到達羅馬帝國境內的多瑙河流域。匈奴人是優秀的戰士，當時橫掃歐洲幾乎未遇敵手；他們騎射十分精準，加上快速、殘酷的戰術，因此幾乎攻無不克。他們的勢力後來也擴張到中歐日爾曼人地區，並與羅馬人勢力結合。西元432年之前，匈奴人各族被魯亞王（Rua，亦稱魯吉拉王Rugila）統一，434年魯亞王死後，王位由兩名侄兒繼承，即佈雷達（Bleda）和阿提拉（Attila）。其後他們與東羅馬帝國締結和平條約，羅馬同意撥付兩倍的補貼金給匈奴人；後來由於羅馬未能付出約定的金額，因此阿提拉在441年對羅馬多瑙河流域發動大型攻擊，也使他們的勢力得以控制希臘和義大利。阿提拉死後，他的子嗣爭權造成帝國分裂，並開啟內戰戰火。匈奴人後來被在潘諾尼亞（Pannonia）大戰役中，遭到吉皮第人（Gepidae）、東哥德人及希路里人（Heruli）等族組成的聯軍擊潰，東羅馬帝國收回封給匈奴人的領地，匈奴人也慢慢分解，成為一般性的社會及政治單位。
Huns
Nomadic pastoralist people who invaded southeastern Europe c. AD 370. Appearing from central Asia after the mid-4th century, they first overran the Alani, who occupied the plains between the Volga and Don rivers, and then overthrew the Ostrogoths living between the Don and Dniester rivers. About 376 they defeated the Visigoths living in what is now approximately Romania and reached the Danubian frontier of the Roman empire. As warriors they inspired almost unparalleled fear throughout Europe; they were accurate mounted archers, and their rapid, ferocious charges brought them overwhelming victories. They extended their power over many of the Germanic peoples of central Europe and allied themselves with the Romans. By 432 the leadership of the various groups of Huns had been centralized under a single king, Rua (Rugila). After his death (434), he was succeeded by his two nephews, Bleda and Attila. By a peace treaty with the eastern Roman empire, the Romans agreed to double the subsidies they had been paying the Huns; when they apparently failed to pay the stipulated sums, Attila launched a heavy assault on the Roman Danubian frontier (441), and other attacks spread the Huns' control into Greece and Italy. After Attila's death (453), his many sons divided up his empire and began a series of costly struggles with their subjects. The Huns were finally routed in 455 by an alliance of Gepidae, Ostrogoths, Heruli, and others in a great battle in Pannonia. The eastern Roman government then closed the frontier to the Huns, who gradually disintegrated as a social and political unit.
