Alans

About the year AD 372, the Huns, an enormous Tartar horde from beyond the Don and the Volga, burst into the lands north of the Yuksin and began to work their way westward.

The first tribe that lay in their way, the nomadic race of the Alans, they almost exterminated.

Then they fell upon the Goths.

The Ostrogoths made a desperate attempt to defend the line of the Dniester against the oncoming savages, men with faces that can hardly be called faces, rather shapeless black collops of flesh with little points instead of eyes, little in stature, but lithe and active, skillful in riding, broad-shouldered, good at the bow, stiff-necked and proud, hiding under a barely human form the ferocity of the wild beast.

The cities willingly opened their gates, and the diseased civilization of Roman Spain yielded with hardly a blow.

The truth was that the road of Goth had been too well prepared by previous hordes of barbarians, Alans, Vandals, and Suevi, to need much exertion on their own parts.

The Romanized Spaniard had fully learned what a barbarian invasion entailed.

They had seen their cities burned, their wives and children carried captives, those few leaders who showed any manly resistance massacred.

So what were they? Were they nine feet, 10 feet? And so already right there, you had a report of some big people.

And we can jump forward to a group called the Alans.

Now, the Alans were descendants of the Scythians, or they were connected to the Scythian Sarmatians, which all these people are related.

They just have different kingdoms at different times.

So it would take a long time to get into all of that.

He's Roman.

He was a Roman historian.

And he described the Alans of almost all of their men are of great stature.

It was drawn from the shattered bits and pieces of Roman legions stretching across the empire.

You had Greeks and Armenians, Assyrians and Alans, and probably some Italians in there, united on the battlefield by this.

Latin.

Cool.

The cities willingly opened their gates and deceased civilization of Roman Spain yielded with hardly a blow.

The truth was that the road of God had been too well prepared by previous hordes of barbarians Alans Vandals and Suevi to need much exertion on their own paths.

The romanized Spaniard had fully learned what a barbarian invasion entailed.

They had seen their cities burnt, their wives and children carried captives those few leaders who showed any manly resistance massacred.

The cities willingly opened their gates, and the deceased civilization of Roman Spain yielded with hardly a blow.

The truth was that the road of Goth had been too well prepared by previous hordes of barbarians, Alans, Vandals, and Suevi, to need much exertion on their own parts.

The Romanized Spaniard had fully learned what a barbarian invasion entailed.

They had seen their cities burned, their wives and children carried captives, those few leaders who showed any manly resistance massacred.

Additional Frankish auxiliaries, Saxons, contingents of outlaws from Amorica, Leticians and Burgundians were persuaded to join, as well as smaller Sarmatian, Celtic, Swabian, and German tribes.

Also the Olibrions, who were former Roman soldiers, and the Alans from the Loire Valley.

Once Attila arrived, he knew that the defensive position at Aurelianum favored the Romans.

There is some evidence to suggest that he was unsettled by being confronted with Aetius' combined army on unfavorable forested ground around the Loire.

Most of them dismounted to form a shield wall to protect themselves from the Hunnic archers.

A small cavalry contingent remained in reserve, commanded by the king himself.

The mounted Alans were placed in the center right.

Perhaps doubtful of Sangoban's dedication to the cause, Aetius may have wanted to surround the Alan leader with a host of faithful troops.

The Western Empire now divided into many kingdoms, and to turn them to wormwood and blood, and make them bitter.

Accordingly, Jenseric, the king of the Vandals and Alans in Spain, AC 427, entered Africa with an army of 80,000 men, where he invaded the Moors and made war upon the Romans, both there and on the sea coasts of Europe.

for fifty years together almost without intermission taking hippo a c four thirty one and carthage the capital of africa a c four thirty nine in a c four fifty five with a numerous fleet and an army of three hundred thousand vandals and moors he invaded italy took and plundered rome naples capua and many other cities carrying thence their wealth with the flower of the people into africa and the next year a c for fifty six he rent all africa from the empire totally expelling the romans then the vandals invaded and took the islands of the mediterranean sicily sardinia corusca abusus majorca minorca c and ricimer besieged emperor antimus in rome took the city and gave his soldiers the plunder a c for seventy two the visigoths about the same time drove the romans out of spain

and now the western emperor the great star which fell from heaven burning as it were a lamp