Huns+Romans-Would This Work?

So, basing this off a LOT of assumptions and might or might not involve handwaves.....BUT....

What if the White Huns, or the Hephthalite Empire as they're also known as, managed to subdue Sassanid Persia in much the same way Attila was able to stomp over the Eastern and Western Roman Empires, during there invasions and forays into the Persian nemesis of the Romans?

And, what if Attila managed to become emperor of the Romans through his marriage to Honoria (or somehow becomes aligned to the Romans) and manages to live longer, until he is able to consolidate his rule? That way, the Hunnic empire becomes part of the Roman Empire, along with all the goths, vandals, and other barbarians that would cause the downfall of the WRE. Also, the Roman Empire just got boosted to unseen heights of strength in land, wealth, and power (because Huns!). So, with the Sassanids dead, Islam butterflied away, and a revitalized Roman Empire, how would this world proceed? Also, Aeitus lives in this TL! Even better!

Or is this just too crazy?

Go!
 
That was the premise behind Coronation of the Hun. I might buy him marrying Honoria but the Roman elite would never accept a barbarian taking the purple nor would the eastern emperor Constantinople ever see Attila as his equal. That would mean he would have to butcher them all to the point that they are forced to accept his rule. Once he dies, any chance of a long-term Roman-Hunnic empire as Attila's successor would have to deal with uppity Germanic vassals and a disobedient Roman aristocracy and subject population that will rebel at the first opportune moment. The Huns might also rebel because they don't want to be ruled by some pseudo-Romanized emperor.
 
So, basing this off a LOT of assumptions and might or might not involve handwaves.....BUT....

What if the White Huns, or the Hephthalite Empire as they're also known as, managed to subdue Sassanid Persia in much the same way Attila was able to stomp over the Eastern and Western Roman Empires, during there invasions and forays into the Persian nemesis of the Romans?

And, what if Attila managed to become emperor of the Romans through his marriage to Honoria (or somehow becomes aligned to the Romans) and manages to live longer, until he is able to consolidate his rule? That way, the Hunnic empire becomes part of the Roman Empire, along with all the goths, vandals, and other barbarians that would cause the downfall of the WRE. Also, the Roman Empire just got boosted to unseen heights of strength in land, wealth, and power (because Huns!). So, with the Sassanids dead, Islam butterflied away, and a revitalized Roman Empire, how would this world proceed? Also, Aeitus lives in this TL! Even better!

Or is this just too crazy?

Go!
Why would the Romans accept or treat with a Non-Roman leader as an equal? They weren't racists per se but Atilla was never going to find himself so culturally or politically aligned with Romans that they would accept him as anything more than "just another barbarian king" who would be, in his time, or in his children's time, put beneath the grand old SPQR. Look at Cleopatra for gods' sakes! She was a descendant of the political line of Alexander, and the Romans treated her (with exceptions) as just some whore!
 
That was the premise behind Coronation of the Hun. I might buy him marrying Honoria but the Roman elite would never accept a barbarian taking the purple nor would the eastern emperor Constantinople ever see Attila as his equal. That would mean he would have to butcher them all to the point that they are forced to accept his rule. Once he dies, any chance of a long-term Roman-Hunnic empire as Attila's successor would have to deal with uppity Germanic vassals and a disobedient Roman aristocracy and subject population that will rebel at the first opportune moment. The Huns might also rebel because they don't want to be ruled by some pseudo-Romanized emperor.


Why would the Romans accept or treat with a Non-Roman leader as an equal? They weren't racists per se but Atilla was never going to find himself so culturally or politically aligned with Romans that they would accept him as anything more than "just another barbarian king" who would be, in his time, or in his children's time, put beneath the grand old SPQR. Look at Cleopatra for gods' sakes! She was a descendant of the political line of Alexander, and the Romans treated her (with exceptions) as just some whore!

Can Attila rule through a puppet emperor or have himself become regent of a younger Emperor sort of like Orestes and Romulus Augustus, or Stilicho and Honorius? I think that can solve a lot of the problems regarding whether the Romans will be content with him and he won't have to kill everyone just to be accepted. And I am thinking of him and Honoria having a son that can possibly be heir to the throne or at least successor for whoever Attila's hypothetical regency will be for? And I think that even if Attila is "barbarian" if he can restore the Roman Empire and break the power of the Germanic tribes the Roman people will not just rebel and throw the empire into chaos again. Can the Germans be reorganized into foederati in the Roman fashion, considering that there is now almost unlimited land to give out and settle thanks to Attila? And I think that the Huns will follow any leader that makes them powerful, gives them land, wealth, and plenty of action in war, so I will go out on a limb and say that Attila and Honoria's son is that kind of competent emperor.....

How did the White Huns and Huns view each other? Brothers, friends, allies, rivals? Because as they also took down the Sassanids in this scenario if they became allied the Eastern Emperor will have a lot more on his hands then a barbarian Western Roman emperor......
 
There's a possibility there but why would Attila be competent ruling through a puppet emperor when he can put on the purple himself? Maybe if Bleda is King, Attila is sent to the Roman court in Ravenna as a hostage to the western emperor and also to bugger off the Hunnic throne. He strikes up a friendship with Aetius and assists him in usurping the throne in exchange for a position in the Roman army. Once he's in good enough favor with Aetius, he may use the Empire's resources to murder Bleda and provide the Huns with a permanent homeland to graze in. Attila won't be a conqueror but another Romanized barbarian like Ricimer. Down the line, Attila's descendants may intermarry with Aetius' descendants and one day take the imperial throne. We talking long-term of course.
 
Shevels - Gepids+Gallo-Romans+Huns
Cantarian - Suebi+Huns+Romano-Iberic+Celt-Iberic+Lusitans+Few Vandals+Few Alans.
 
There's a possibility there but why would Attila be competent ruling through a puppet emperor when he can put on the purple himself? Maybe if Bleda is King, Attila is sent to the Roman court in Ravenna as a hostage to the western emperor and also to bugger off the Hunnic throne. He strikes up a friendship with Aetius and assists him in usurping the throne in exchange for a position in the Roman army. Once he's in good enough favor with Aetius, he may use the Empire's resources to murder Bleda and provide the Huns with a permanent homeland to graze in. Attila won't be a conqueror but another Romanized barbarian like Ricimer. Down the line, Attila's descendants may intermarry with Aetius' descendants and one day take the imperial throne. We talking long-term of course.

Hmmm...not exactly not what I am looking for, although it is a very interesting alternative! In this scenario Aetius will be emperor-always a good thing-and maybe he can prevent the loss of North Africa to the vandals without having to deal with the Huns ITTL? And Attila is a romanized barbarian controlling much of the non-foederati Germans under his vast empire stretching from the Rhine to Russia.....

So the Romans don't lose their breadbasket and bastion of strength, the barbarians are successfully turned into foederati or killed by the Huns, and the Huns that wrecked the WRE will be their greatest ally.....Roman heavy infantry even at the end was renowned and experienced as well as well trained, while Hunnic cavalry will be supplementing their cowardly Roman counterpart, and a vast pool of manpower is now unlocked with foederati from across Europe. Their traditional enemy, the Sassanids, are conquered and being absorbed by the White Huns. Under these different circumstances, how long can this new empire last?....
 
Though for much of the 5C the Roman army was largely Hunnic. Iirc it was alleged (I don't know how reliably) that Odovacar was a Hun.
 
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