Rouran epochGöktürk epochUyghur epochKirghiz epoch
RouranFirst GöktürkTang ruleSecond GöktürkUyghurKirghizHunsWestern GöktürkTürgeshKarlukKhazar
  • 400
  • 500
  • 600
  • 700
  • 800
  • 900

The western Roman empire was the western half of the Roman empire after its division in 395. In that year the Huns crossed the Volga.[1] In the generation of Attila, its emperor was Valentinian III. Its leading commander was Aetius.[2]

The western court used the Huns for twenty years. Contingents of Hun cavalry let Aetius and the landowners of Gaul hold their own against the Burgundians, the Visigoths and the Bagaudae. In 433 the western government surrendered the province of Pannonia Prima to the Huns.[3] Priscus says that the region of Pannonia on the river Save obeyed Attila “by the treaty made with Aetius, general of the western Romans”.[4] Attila held the honorary rank of a western commander, with its pay.[5] In 451 he invaded Gaul. In 452 he invaded Italy, where Aquileia was destroyed.[6]

In 476 Odoacer became king of Italy. He had served under Attila as a general and came from the tribe of the Turk-ilingi. In becoming king, he did what Attila had failed to do in 452. According to some historians, the Huns were indirectly responsible for the fall of Rome, because they drove the Germanic peoples further into the empire.[7] A different argument is that the Huns held the Germanic invasions back between 430 and 455 and sped them up before and after those years.[8]

Relations with other states

Red is war, blue alliance, gold trade. Where several held at once, the line shows what prevailed; alliance and trade can run side by side. Each line rests on an article. Point at a state to see its weightiest relation, select it to see its events. The slider shows what stood in a given year, and Play runs through the years.

  1. Hunnic Empire451 to 452

  2. Byzantium452

References

  1. ^ Yavuz 2025, p. 95
  2. ^ Bury 1923, p. 288, 299
  3. ^ Thompson 1948, p. 64–65
  4. ^ Priscus; Müller 1851, fr. 7, p. 76
  5. ^ Thompson 1948, p. 128
  6. ^ Jordanes; Mierow 1915, § 184–223, p. 103–114
  7. ^ Yavuz 2025, p. 104
  8. ^ Thompson 1948, p. 214

Sources

Literature

  • Karl Müller (ed.), Fragmenta Historicorum Graecorum, Bd. IV (darin: Menandri Protectoris fragmenta, griechisch mit lateinischer Übersetzung) (1851)
  • Charles Christopher Mierow, The Gothic History of Jordanes in English Version, with an Introduction and a Commentary (1915)
  • J. B. Bury, History of the Later Roman Empire from the Death of Theodosius I to the Death of Justinian, vol. I (1923)
  • E. A. Thompson, A History of Attila and the Huns (1948)
  • Emre-E. Yavuz, The Gokturk Empire: 2nd Edition (2025)

Related

What links here9

Persons
Aetius · Gaiseric · Galla Placidia · Honoria · Orestes · Theodoric I · Thorismund · Valentinian III
Places
Aquileia

Cite this article

Yavuz, Emre-E. “Western Roman Empire.” Turkic Atlas, revised 8 November 2026. https://turkicatlas.org/polities/western-roman-empire/

Last revised: 8 November 2026