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What would have been the consequences if Attila and his Hunnish army had defeated the Roman army under Aetius and its Visigothic and other allies at the battle of the Cataluanian Plains (or Fields) in June 451? An alternative name is the battle of Chalons. Also if Aetius was killed in the battle. The Vigothic king was actually killed.

Would the Huns have conquered all of Gaul and then invaded Italy? With the death of Aetius who would have taken his place as commander-in-chief of the Roman armies? Could the Huns have conquered Italy?

In OTL the Western Roman Emperor Valentinian III murdered Aetius in Rome in September 454, and was himself killed in March 455 by two barbarian guards who had been close to Aetius. With the death of Aetius on the Catalunian Plains, these events did not happen, so if Valentinian is still Emperor he could theoretically have reigned for many more years. He was only 35 years old when he was killed. It is probable that Ricimer would have ruled through Valentinian as a puppet emperor.

Alternatively if Atilla and the Huns had invaded and conqured Italy and killed Valentinian, would that have meant the end of the Western Roman Empire? Marcian, the Eastern Roman Emperor from 450-457 had an isolationist policy towards the West and left it to its fate. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcian .

According to one account Attila's died on the night of his wedding to his wife Ildico in 453. He had drunk heavily and had a severe nosebleed from which he suffocated. If he had won at the Catalaunian Plains, and not met and married Ildico, then his death would not have happened when it did. Another theory is that Ildico stabbed or poisoned Attila.
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