ATILLA THE HUN: THE MAN WHO DARED TO TAKE ON ROME
GO HARD OR GO ROME Despite the brutality of the campaign, Attila’s ultimate objective was not to destroy the Empire but to bring it to its knees
ALAMY X1, MÓR THAN/THE FEAST OF ATTILA/SZÉPM VÉSZETIMÚZEUM /MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS, 2016 X1
Early summer AD 452, and the whole of northern Italy is ablaze. The city of Aquileia, one of the largest and wealthiest in the Roman Empire, is the first to fall to the enemy, its treasures looted and population butchered without mercy. The towns of Bergamo, Brescia, Mantua, Milan, Padua, Verona and Vicenza follow, together with the villas, temples, farms and all other centres of population. Those fortunate enough to escape the horror flee to the relative safety of the islands and marshy lagoons of the Adriatic. Many believe this to be Armageddon, the end of days, a war of terror coordinated by none other than Satan himself.