Hunnica: The Barbarian Rome

On June 20, 451, the Huns and the Romans fought a massive battle in Gaul (now called France). Neither side won definitely, but the Hunnic Invasion of Gaul was stopped. But what if Aetius had not convinced Avitus to get help from the Gaullish barbarians? This ATL explores the possibility of a the Hunnic Empire becoming the new Rome.

POD
General Aetius of Rome swiftly moved his large army north from the Alps to the Catalaunian fields. There he had expected to be greeted by Goths and Frankish allies. But unlike our Tl, this was not so. Attilas forces are slightly stronger in ATL and intimidate the Visigoths and Franks not to fight for the Romans. Orleans eventually fell without sufficient troops to protect it. The Huns and their allies sacked Orleans to resupply their armies. Aetius saw no option but to flee to Troyes. Attila heard of this plan, and ambushed the Romans at the crossing of the Seine. Paris and Troyes fell soon after the Roman defeat. The Hunnic conquest of Gaul had begun.

Invasion of Gaul
After the Hunnic victory at Chalons, Attila pushed even further into Gaul. Some Frankish tribes joined voluntarily, others were sacked and completely destroyed. The Ostrogoths rode the wave of Attilas Horde. The Visigoths were completely ravaged by the invasion. Almost all of Gaul was ravaged and conquered by the seemingly endless Hunnic hordes. Many Huns moved into the ravaged Gaulish cities to fulfill the hordes many needs. Gaul was completely absorbed into the Hunnic empire by February 452.

Invasion of Spain
In March 452, the Huns and headed even more south after defeating the Visigoths in eastern Gaul. Spain, still ravaged from the Vandals, offered little resistance. The rest of the Roman army stayed in Italy and the Alps to protect the core of the empire. The Iberian peninsula was more or less destroyed by the time the Huns arrived. The entire region fell by June, 452, a year after the Battle of the Catalaunian Fields.

Invasion of Carthage
After Spain was in Attila's hands, the Huns looked across the sea. They saw the rich and large Vandals in North Africa. The huge Vandal fleet was a huge motivational factor. On July 3, 452, the Huns crossed Gibraltar. Rather than simply moving on like other tribes, they increased the size of their empire. Tens of thousands of Huns and allies landed in north Morrocco. Mounted on the fastest horses available, Attilas army moved on to Carthage. Sweeping through the Vandal kingdom, sacking along the way, it took only a few weeks to reach the walls of Carthage. There Attila's horde broke through the city's defenses. The attack was so fast and vicious that the vast Vandal sea fleet was still in port when the Huns captured the city. All of the Vandal kingdom ended up in Attilas hands. But most importantly, the Huns now had a powerful navy.

Invasion of Rome
In 453, after Gaul, Iberia, and Carthage fell to Attila, he turned his eye to Rome itself. The army still in Carthage would sail north into Italy, and the rest of the horde poured down from the Alps. Milan and Aquilea were both completely razed and sacked. Rome was completely surrounded in May, 453. Unlike OTL, Attila did not stop after he met the pope. Attila himself rode into the royal palace to meet Honoria. Emperor Valentinian 3 was killed by the horde. Honoria was dragged back to Gaul to be married to Attila. With the Roman royal family decimated except for Honoria, the only choice of emperor was....Attila the Hun. As his first order, Attila commanded that the Byzantine rejoin the Roman/Hunnic Empire. Emperor Marcian of Byzantine refused. The Huns mobilized for even more conquest.

Invasion of Egypt
The Huns began another invasion of the Eastern Roman Empire after Marcian refused more tribute and refused to rejoin empires with the west. The Huns had a large army still stationed in the eastern Mediterranean, and mobilized it to modern day Libya. The first Huns entered Egypt on July 453. Unlike most of the other recent Hunnic conquest, this one took much longer. The Huns and Byzantines were about evenly matched. Major cities along the coast were sacked ravagely by the Hun hordes. Attila personally halped to fight in the Egypt campaign. Alexandria was besieged from July 453 to early April 454. Vandals fleeing from the Huns also attacked the Byzantines in Egypt. After Alexandria fell in early 454, the Huns completely controlled Egypt. Cairo was destroyed and sacked. Alexandria grew in size after the attack due to mass immigration of Hun-controlled tribes and growing wealth from nerby cities that were razed. The Hunnic Navy used Alexandria as a naval base during the sea war with the Byzantines.

Attilas Empire
After the Conquest of Egypt, the Huns could not take any more land from the Romans or Byzantines (mostly because there was almost none left to take). The Hunnic Empire covered all of the former Western Roman Empire (except for England) in addition to Egypt and much of the land north of the Byzantines and east of the Rhine river. The tribes that could not flee the Hunnic onslaught were ravaged or absorbed. The Franks, Visigoths, Vandals, Lombards, and many more were forced to farm and serve the Huns. Since the Huns were more or less devoid of culture and religion, the empire was greatly influenced by its conquered peoples.