WI Huns were completely destroyed in 451 AD?

In June 21 451 AD following the inconclusive battle of Catalaunian Fields the previus day Attila was trapped in his camp waiting for the Romans to approach the Visigoths searched for their missing king and his son Thorismund. After a long search, they found Theodoric's body beneath a mound of corpses and bore him away with heroic songs in sight of the enemy. Upon learning of his father's death, Thorismund wanted to assault Attila's camp, but Aetius dissuaded him. According to Jordanes, Aetius feared that if the Huns were completely destroyed, the Visigoths would break off their allegiance to the Roman Empire and become an even graver threat. So Aetius convinced Thorismund to quickly return home and secure the throne for himself, before his brothers could. Otherwise, civil war would ensue among the Visigoths. WI Aetius took a risk that day by allowing Thorismund to annihilate Attila while on the same time attempting to raise a civil war amongst the Visigoths in order to weaken them?
How is this altering History? Could the annihilation of Attila and a potential Visigothic civil war revive the dying Western Roman Empire?
 
Probably not much changes. Either way, you have the displaced barbarian groups that were formerly under Hun hegemony scrabbling to gain new homelands, and these homelands could only come from invading the Roman Empire. The only way to save Rome in the West at this point is to restore Africa to the Empire. Once Carthage fell in 439, the writing was on the wall.
 
Vandals were against Visigoths during that era... Maybe Aetius could reach an agreement with the Vandal King in Africa and form a new balance of power in WRE... It would be a Rome-Vandals alliance against the Visigothic Kingdom which after suffering a civil war for the crown would be weak enough to oppose them... Maybe they could cede southern Gaul to Romans in exchange for help or non-attack... But anyway there were the Franks too waiting in the north...
 
Don_Giorgio said:
Could the annihilation of Attila and a potential Visigothic civil war revive the dying Western Roman Empire?

That could probably buy the Western Roman Empire a few years... But not that much. In 451, the Western Roman Empire was far too damaged to survive the Barbarian Invasions. Not to mention that the Romans relied more and more on the settled Barbarians than the Legions to protect the Empire.
 
That could probably buy the Western Roman Empire a few years... But not that much. In 451, the Western Roman Empire was far too damaged to survive the Barbarian Invasions. Not to mention that the Romans relied more and more on the settled Barbarians than the Legions to protect the Empire.

Agree... Aetius could display a perfect example of diplomacy by having Huns destroyed, Visgoths sunk in civil war and make an alliance with the Vandals in Africa (maybe buying wheat from Carthage in exchange of trade agreements and privileges?) against Franks... Assuming that Eastern Empire is willing to help the Western Romans who have bought some extra time to live i guess that WRE can reborn... Remember that in OTL Eastern Romans helped by gathering a fleet of 1113 ships against Vandals but the incompetence of their commanders blew it away... If such a scenario happens chances are better for Romans since a great threat is off the picture and the other one is neutralised... So they could use Vandal help and gold to beat off Franks thus recovering much of Gaul and its resourses while on the same time they keep having Visigoths fighting each other... Finally with help from the Eastern Emperor they could get rid of Vandals too if they prove to be a pain in the ass leaving WRE only with a weakened Visigothic state to deal with...
 
Such a scenario is the perfect example of "divide and conquer"... perhaps i should write a timeline about it...

I think you're getting ahead of yourself a little. The Huns did, after all, collapse just eighteen months after your POD, and it did nothing to salvage the fortunes of the Western Empire Indeed, it made things worse, because with the Hunnic Empire gone, there was no force left to restrain the Germanic peoples from crossing into the Empire. Remember, many of the dominant polities of the future like the Franks, Burgundians and Ostrogoths only became established within the Empire after their Hunnic overlords had collapsed.
 
Top