Battle of the Catalaunian Plains

Battle of the Catalaunian Plains
Part of the Hunnic invasion of Gaul
and Fall of the Western Roman Empire

The Battle of the Catalaunian Plains as depicted in the Chronica Hungarorum
Date20 June 451 AD
Location
Around Champagne-Ardenne, northeastern France
49°00′N 4°30′E / 49.000°N 4.500°E / 49.000; 4.500
Result Disputed, see § Outcome
Belligerents
Commanders and leaders
Strength
Modern estimates vary: see § Forces Modern estimates vary: see § Forces
Map showing the possible routes taken by Attila's forces as they invaded Gaul, and the major cities that the Huns and their allies sacked or threatened

The Battle of the Catalaunian Plains (or Fields), also called the Battle of the Campus Mauriacus, Battle of Châlons, Battle of Troyes[5] or the Battle of Maurica, took place on June 20, 451 AD, between a coalition, led by the Roman general Flavius Aetius and the Visigothic king Theodoric I, against the Huns and their vassals, commanded by their king, Attila. It proved to be one of the last major military operations of the Western Roman Empire, although Germanic foederati composed the majority of the coalition army. The exact strategic significance is disputed. Historians generally agree that the siege of Aurelianum was the decisive moment in the campaign[citation needed] and stopped the Huns' attempt to advance any further into Roman territory or establish vassals in Roman Gaul. However, the Huns successfully looted and pillaged much of Gaul and crippled the military capacity of the Romans and Visigoths. Attila died only two years later, in 453. After the Battle of Nedao in 454 AD, the coalition of the Huns and the incorporated Germanic vassals gradually disintegrated.

  1. ^ Jordanes, De Origine Actibusque Getarum, 38.199
  2. ^ Jordanes, De Origine Actibusque Getarum, 36.199
  3. ^ Kim, Hyun Jin (2013). The Huns, Rome, and the Birth of Europe. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 81.
  4. ^ Chronica Gallica 511, s.a. 451.
  5. ^ Magill, Frank Northen (1993). Magill's History of Europe. Grolier Educational Corporation. ISBN 978-0717271733.

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