On this day in 451, Roman general Flavius Aetius and the Visigoth ruler Theodoric I defeat Atilla the Hun on the Catalaunian Plains (near Châlons in present-day France). It’s one of the last major battles to be fought by an army of the old Western Empire.

2 comments

1. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Catalaunian_Plains

2. Whether the battle was strategically conclusive remains disputed: the Roman army possibly stopped the Huns’ attempt to establish vassals in Roman Gaul. Most probable, it checked the Hunnic advance in Europe.

   However, the Huns successfully looted and pillaged much of Gaul and crippled the military capacity of the Western Roman Empire and Visigoths. Nevertheless, it is unlikely that Attila’s horde could have made any deep impression upon the Latin and urban character of Gaul.