173- The Broken Bow

Hello, and welcome to the History of Rome. Episode one seventy three, the broken bow. After laying waste to Aquileia in the April '52, Attila and the Huns moved west across Northern Italy, sacking every settlement they passed along the way. Though the imperial capital had moved to Ravenna forty years earlier, the city of Milan remained the richest, largest, and most powerful city in the region, and that's exactly where Attila was headed. Aetius and what forces he was able to muster, gamely tried to harass, hinder, and trip up the Hun advance, but there was only so much they could do. Though they made Attila's life difficult, and in time, the constant harassment would wear the Huns down, but it was not enough to stop the Huns from reaching Milan. The former capital's defenses were impressive, but once again insufficient to hold off Attila. The only feather in the city's cap was that it held out long enough for the siege to become called a protracted siege. But in due time, the Huns once again prevailed and Milan was sacked. Down in Rome, a Valentinian and his exiled court could do little more than tremble behind the Aurelian walls. It was clear that no army or wall was going to stop Attila's inevitable march on Rome. So maybe it was time for some good old fashioned high diplomacy. It was worth a shot. It's not like they had anything to lose. So a deputation of a few distinguished senators was sent North, famously led by the Bishop of Rome, Leo the first. The diplomatic mission traveled North, crossed the Po River, and located the Hun camp. What happened next is the stuff of legend. Attila met with Leo, heard what he had to say, and then amazing wondrous miracle of miracles decided to withdraw from Italy. This immediately became a watershed moment in the history of the Catholic church, and a key step in the process that saw the popes emerge as dominant political figures in the post imperial West. Now, this is not to take anything away from Leo, or to ignore the guts it must have taken to walk up to Attila unarmed and ask him to please leave Italy. But it was going to take a lot more than the request of a single priest to move Attila. So what was it? The Huns had just run roughshod over all of Northern Italy. Nothing could stop them. So why were they pulling back? If it wasn't the personal diplomacy of Leo, then what was it? A few things immediately come to the surface. First of all, Leo's words were almost certainly backed with a large quantity of gold, which will get anyone interested in listening to what you have to say. Second, as had been the case with the campaign in Gaul, Attila was having trouble feeding his army. The Huns did not have the kind of supply network the Romans enjoyed, and instead lived …