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A group called the European Huns and led by Attila the Hun is considered, with little certainty, to be the western extension of the royal Xiong family centered around Karaganda. Establishment of the first Hun state is one of the first well-documented appearances of the culture of horseback migration in history. These tribespeople achieved superiority over their rivals (most of them highly cultured) by their splendid state of readiness, amazing mobility and weapons like the Hun bow.
Attila's European Huns, like the eastern Xiong's 'Nu' ( i.e. slaves) formed from groups of unrelated tributary peoples. In the European case Alans, Slavs and especially Gothic tribes all united under the Hun family military elite. Subsequently the term "Huns" became one of the derogatory terms for Germans (see, for example, " KrautThe German word Kraut is a generic term that is often used in compound nouns for cabbage, cabbage products and many herbs: Weisskraut green cabbage Blaukraut or Rotkraut red cabbage Sauerkraut The word is almost never used alone, but the plural form, Krau"). AmericanThe United States of America also referred to as the United States U. America ¹ or the States is a federal republic in central North America, stretching from the Atlantic in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west. It shares land borders with Canada in and BritishThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a state in Western Europe, usually known simply as the United Kingdom the UK Britain or less accurately as Great Britain . The UK was formed by a series of Acts of Union which united the formerly forces during World War IWorld War I (also known as the First World War , the Great War the War of the Nations and the "War to End All Wars") was a world conflict occurring from 1914 to 1918. No previous conflict had mobilized so many soldiers, or involved so many in the field of and World War IIWorld War II was the most extensive and costly armed conflict in the history of the world, involving the great majority of the world's nations, being fought simultaneously in several major theatres, and costing tens of millions of lives. The war was fough commonly used the name, but this usage has declined recently.
The earliest reference in Chinese sources to a people called the Xiong-Nu (Hsiung-nu) goes back to early 12th century BC13th century BC 12th century BC 11th century BC other centuries) ( 1200s BC 1190s BC 1180s BC 1170s BC 1160s BC 1150s BC 1140s BC 1130s BC 1120s BC 1110s BC 1100s BC other decades) ( 3rd millennium BC 2nd millennium BC 1st millennium BC) Events 1200 BC An, in writings about the campaign by King Wuding (武丁 wu3 ding1) of the Shang DynastyShang Dynasty ( Chinese: ) or Yin Dynasty ( 1600 BC 1046 BC) followed the legendary Xia Dynasty and preceded Zhou Dynasty in China. Information about the Shang Dynasty comes from bronze artifacts and oracle bones, were turtle shells or cattle scapula on w against the Gui Fang 鬼方 (gui3 fang1) tribe, which is regarded as a name of one of the Huns' vassal Nu () tribes. Some vague archeological sources support this account, but await verification. Bronze inscriptions and oracle turtle-back bones from polytheistic worship prove the historical existence of the campaign but the Gui Fang did not necessarily equate to the core Hun clan per se.
Many scholars identify the Xiong Nu Xiong with the Huns because of similar descriptions of their appearance and living habits. (more input here....) Other scholars, confusing the Xiong with their Nu serf and vassal tribes, find differences. Still others argue that any common appearance and habits also appear among various other tribes residing on the Mongolian steppes, rather than identifying characteristics specific to the Xiong and the Huns. Nevertheless, all agree that the two peoples shared aspects that are more than a coincidence.
With the exception of the 43- 118 AD "North-South" feud, the Hun dynasty survived as a fairly tightly-knit political power until the 4th C. when the Nu () tribes decisively threw off the yoke of the Xiong dynasty. Whether increasing squabbling amongst the Xiong dynasty caused their subjects to lose faith in them, or some other cause occurred, Hun unity came to an end. The rock was shattered and clans claiming the Hun name (Hunnoi, Chionites, Choni, Xiong, etc.) dispersed as nothing more than piratical raiding bands. They appear south in Persia (the Xiyon camel tribes – Chionites – in AD 320, also known as Red Huns), while a portion remained east in China (the Xiong deer people), and finally in one last brilliant flare west in Russia (the Hun horse tribes in AD 360).
The Hua managed to succeed to the Hun heritage in a campaign which spread from Bactria to Europe. After the failure of Xiong's Zhou county the influence of the Hua dragon tribe started to expand. The influence of the northern deer-people retreated north up the Yenisei as the Hua chased a western portion of the Hunnoi (Alchon/Alchoni often called "White Huns" and confused with Hephthalites) into what is present-day Uzbekistan in the late 4th century, while the easternmost branch would later found the Xiong's last eastern dynasty Xia ( 407- 431). The colour names of the European Persian, Bactrian and Chinese Hun tribes may have something to do with their flank designations. Though apparently fleeing China from the Hua in the mid-4th century, later the Huns' Alchon component are recorded as in union with them (Varkun) against the western-most branch.
By 460 the Hua had begun to take over Central Eurasia. The Yuezhi's Hephthal family had become their ruling clan in Xinjiang by 507 and sometime during his rule ( 507- 531) the Hua, now a unit with the Choni, left under Sarosios's father to conquer the Hunnic remnants in the West, leaving their Hephthalite brethren to fend off Juan Juan advances alone and relocate their seat of power with the Indian branch.
After this the Huns as a power unit disappear from history, though certain nations and noble families of Turanian origin continued to carry variations of the name into the present.
For more information on the formation of the eastern Huns' 'Nu' () empire see also: Wu Hu