Battle of the Catalaunian Plains The Battle of the Catalaunian Plains ( or Fields ) , also called the Battle of Châlons or the Battle of Maurica , took place in AD 451 between a coalition led by the Roman general Flavius Aëtius and the Visigothic king Theodoric I against the Huns and their allies commanded by their leader Attila . It was one of the last major military operations of the Western Roman Empire though Visigothic soldiers also formed the core of the allied Roman army . The battle was a strategic victory for the Romans , stopping the Huns ' attempt to conquer Roman Gaul . The Huns were later destroyed by a coalition of Germanic peoples at the Battle of Nedao in 454 . Prelude . By 450 Roman control of Gaul had been restored in much of the province , although control over all of the provinces beyond Italy was continuing to diminish . Armorica was only nominally part of the empire , and Germanic tribes prowling around Roman territory had been forcibly settled and served as foederati under their own leaders . Northern Gaul between the Rhine north of Xanten and Marne rivers ( Gallia Belgica ) had unofficially been abandoned to the Franks . The line of effective Roman control ran from Cologne to Amiens and to the coast at Boulogne . The Visigoths in Gallia Aquitania were growing restive . The Burgundians in Sapaudia were more submissive , but likewise awaiting openings for revolt . The parts still securely in Roman control were the Mediterranean coastline , a wide band of varying width running from Aurelianum ( present - day Orléans ) upstream along the Loire as far north as Amiens and one downstream along the Rhône River including the Auvergne , Provence and Languedoc . The historian Jordanes states that Attila was enticed by the Vandals ' king Gaiseric to wage war on the Visigoths . At the same time , Gaiseric would attempt to sow strife between the Visigoths and the Western Roman Empire ( " Getica " 36 . 184 – 6 ) . Other contemporary writers offer different motivations : Honoria , a troublesome sister of the emperor Valentinian III , had been married off to the loyal senator Herculanus a few years before . This kept her in respectable confinement . In 450 , she sent a message to the Hunnic king asking for Attila ' s help in escaping her confinement . She offered her hand in marriage , and half of the empire as dowry . He demanded Honoria to be delivered along with the dowry . Valentinian rejected these demands , and Attila used it as an excuse to launch a destructive campaign through Gaul . Another possible explanation is that in 449 , the King of the Franks , Chlodio , died . Aetius had adopted the younger son of the Franks to secure the Rhine Frontier , and the elder son had fled to the court of Attila . Attila crossed the Rhine early in 451 with his followers and a large number of allies , sacking Divodurum ( Metz ) on April 7 . Other cities attacked can be determined by the hagiographic " vitae " written to commemorate their bishops : Nicasius was slaughtered before the altar of his church in Rheims ; Servatus is alleged to have saved Tongeren with his prayers , as Genevieve is to have saved Paris . Lupus , bishop of Troyes , is also credited with saving his city by meeting Attila in person . Attila ' s army had reached Aurelianum by June . This fortified city guarded an important crossing over the Loire . According to Jordanes , the Alan king Sangiban , whose foederati realm included Aurelianum , had promised to open the city gates ; this siege is confirmed by the account of the " Vita S . Anianus " and in the later account of Gregory of Tours , although Sangiban ' s name does not appear in their accounts . However , the inhabitants of Aurelianum shut their gates against the advancing invaders . Attila began to besiege the city , while he waited for Sangiban to deliver on his promise . Battle . Upon learning of the invasion , the " Magister militum " Flavius Aëtius moved quickly from Italy into Gaul . According to Sidonius Apollinaris , he was leading forth a force consisting of few and sparse auxiliaries without one regular soldier . He immediately attempted to convince Theodoric I to join him . The Visigothic king learned how few troops Aëtius had with him and decided it was wiser to wait to oppose the Huns in his own lands . Aëtius turned then to the powerful local magnate Avitus for help , who was not only able to convince Theodoric to join with the Romans , but also a number of other wavering " barbarians " resident in Gaul . The combined armies then marched for Aurelianum ( Orléans ) , reaching that city about June 14 . According to the author of the " Vita S . Anianus " , they had reached the besieged Aurelianum literally at the last possible minute . Attila ' s men had made a breach in the city ' s walls and had positioned a party within the city . At this very moment , news of an advancing hostile army reached the Huns . They were virtually in control of the city , but to keep it meant to be besieged in it . Hence they broke camp and proceeded back homewards , doubtless looking for an advantageous spot to make a stand . Theodoric and Aëtius followed in close pursuit . The two forces at last met at the Catalaunian Fields on June 20 , a date first proposed by J . B . Bury and since accepted by many , although some sources claim September 20 . The night before the main battle , one of the Frankish forces on the Roman side encountered a band of the Gepid s loyal to Attila . Jordanes ' recorded number of 15 , 000 dead on either side for this skirmish is not verifiable . In accordance to Hunnic customs , Attila had his diviner s examine the entrails of a sacrifice the morning before battle . They foretold disaster would befall the Huns and one of the enemy leaders would be killed . At the risk of his own life and hoping for Aëtius to die , Attila at last gave the orders for combat , but delayed until the ninth hour so the impending sunset would help his troops to flee the battlefield in case of defeat . According to Jordanes , the Catalaunian plain rose on one side by a sharp slope to a ridge . This geographical feature dominated the battlefield and became the center of the battle . The Huns first seized the right side of the ridge , while the Romans seized the left , with the crest unoccupied between them . Jordanes explains that the Visigoths held the right side , the Romans the left , with Sangiban of uncertain loyalty and his Alans surrounded in the middle . The Hunnic forces attempted to take the ridge , but were outstripped by the Romans under Aetius and the Gothic Left flank under Thorismund . The Huns remained unable to take the ridge , but routed the Alans under Sangiban . Theodoric , while leading his own men after the disordered enemy , was killed in the assault without his men noticing . Jordanes states that Theodoric was thrown from his horse and trampled to death by his advancing men , but he also mentions another story that had Theodoric slain by the spear of the Ostrogoth Andag . Since Jordanes served as the notary of Andag ' s son Gunthigis , even if this latter story is not true , this version was certainly a proud family tradition . The Visigoths outstripped the speed of the Alans beside them and fell upon Attila ' s own Hunnic household unit . Attila was forced to seek refuge in his own camp , which he had fortified with wagons . The Romano - Gothic charge apparently swept past the Hunnic camp in pursuit ; when night fell , Thorismund , son of king Theodoric , returning to friendly lines , mistakenly entered Attila ' s encampment . There he was wounded in the ensuing mêlée before his followers could rescue him . Darkness also separated Aëtius from his own men . As he feared that disaster had befallen them , he spent the rest of the night with his Gothic allies . On the following day , finding the battlefields " were piled high with bodies and the Huns did not venture forth " , the Goths and Romans met to decide their next move . Knowing that Attila was low on provisions and " was hindered from approaching by a shower of arrows placed within the confines of the Roman camp " , they started to besiege his camp . In this desperate situation , Attila remained unbowed and " heaped up a funeral pyre of horse saddles , so that if the enemy should attack him , he was determined to cast himself into the flames , that none might have the joy of wounding him and that the lord of so many races might not fall into the hands of his foes " . While Attila was trapped in his camp , the Visigoths searched for their missing king and his son Thorismund . After a long search , they found Theodoric ' s corpse beneath a mound of corpses and bore him away with heroic songs in sight of the enemy . Upon learning of his father ' s death , Thorismund wanted to assault Attila ' s camp , but Aëtius dissuaded him . According to Jordanes , Aëtius feared that if the Huns were completely destroyed , the Visigoths would break off their allegiance to the Roman Empire and become an even graver threat . So Aëtius convinced Thorismund to quickly return home and secure the throne for himself , before his brothers could . Otherwise , civil war would ensue among the Visigoths . Thorismund quickly returned to Tolosa ( present - day Toulouse ) and became king without any resistance . Gregory of Tours ( " Historia Francorum " 2 . 7 ) claims Aëtius used the same stratagem to dismiss his Frankish allies , and collected the booty of the battlefield for himself . Forces . Both armies consisted of combatants from many peoples . Besides the Roman troops , Jordanes lists Aëtius ' allies as including ( besides the Visigoths ) both the Salian and Ripuarian Franks , Sarmatians , Armorica ns , Liticians , Burgundians , Saxons , librones ( whom he describes as " once Roman soldiers and now the flower of the allied forces " ) , and other Celtic or German tribes . Jordanes ' list for Attila ' s allies includes the Gepids under their king Ardaric , as well as an Ostrogoth ic army led by the brothers Valamir , Theodemir ( the father of the later Ostrogothic king Theodoric the Great ) and Widimer , scions of the Amali . Sidonius offers a more extensive list of allies : Rugians , Gepids , Geloni ans , Burgundians , Sciri , Bellonotians , Neuri ans , Bastarnae , Thuringians , Bructeri , and Franks living along the Neckar River E . A . Thompson expresses his suspicions that some of these names are drawn from literary traditions rather than from the event itself : On the other hand , Thompson believes that the presence of Burgundians on the Hunnic side is credible , noting that a group is documented as remaining east of the Rhine ; likewise , he believes that the other peoples Sidonius alone mentions — the Rugians , Scirans and Thuringians — were likely participants in this battle . However , the number of participants for either side — or in total — is entirely speculative . Jordanes reports the number of dead from this battle as 165 , 000 , excluding the casualties of the Franko - Gepid skirmish previous to the main battle . Hydatius , a historian who lived at the time of Attila ' s invasion , reports the number of 300 , 000 dead . No primary source offers an estimate for the number of participants . The figures of both Jordanes and Hydatius are implausibly high . Thompson remarks in a footnote , " I doubt that Attila could have fed an army of even 30 , 000 men . " As a reference , in the early 3rd century , the Roman Empire maintained thirty three legions with just under 5 , 200 actual men for each legion with the total of 171 , 600 soldiers ; if we follow the general assumption that the number of auxiliaries matched the number of legionaries , then add the Praetorian Guard as 15 , 000 strong , and six Urban Cohorts which totalled 9 , 000 , we find that the Empire at its height fielded a grand total of 395 , 000 soldiers across its territories . However in the early 3rd century the number of auxiliaries was larger than legionaries by 50 , 000 and the figures given by Thompson do not include men in the navy . Harl in Coinage in the Roman Economy gives the estimates on page 231 as 481 . 000 . There are many estimates of the size of the armed forced under Diocletian that range between 389 , 000 to 645 , 000 ( Agathias ) . The point is that the regular Roman army in 450 A . D . in the West was run down to half its size 50 years previously . A better sense of the size of the forces may be found in the study of the " Notitia Dignitatum " by A . H . M . Jones . This document is a list of officials and military units that was last updated in the first decades of the 5th century . " Notitia Dignitatum " lists 58 various regular units , and 33 " limitanei " serving either in the Gallic provinces or on the frontiers nearby ; the total of these units , based on Jones analysis , is 34 , 000 for the regular units and 11 , 500 for the " limitanei " , or just under 46 , 000 all told . However , this figure is the estimate for the year 425 A . D . The regular Roman field army present at the battle would have been 15 , 000 , if that . The rest , 30 , 000 , were federates . While the Roman forces in Gaul had become much smaller by this time , if we accept this number as the total of all of the forces fighting with Theodoric and Aëtius , we should not be too far off . Assuming that the Hunnic forces were roughly the same size as the Romano - Gothic , the number involved in battle is just under 100 , 000 combatants in total . This excludes the inevitable servants and camp followers who usually escape mention . Site of the Catalaunian Fields . The actual location of the Catalaunian Fields is unclear : Historian Thomas Hodgkin located the site near Méry - sur - Seine , but current consensus places the battlefield at Châlons - en - Champagne . In 1842 , a labourer uncovered a burial at Pouan - les - Vallées ( Aube ) , a village on the south bank of the Aube River , that consisted of a skeleton with a number of jewels and gold ornaments and buried with two swords ; by the nature of its grave goods , it was determined that this elite burial was that of a princely Germanic warrior who had lived in the 5th century . The Treasure of Pouan is conserved in the Musée Saint - Loup ( Musée d ' Art d ' Archéologie et de Sciences Naturelles ) , Troyes . The archaeologist who described this find , Achille Peigné - Delacourt ( 1797 – 1881 ) , claimed that these were the remains of Theodoric , but twentieth - century historians generally have expressed their scepticism over this identification . Historical importance . Traditional view : The battle was of macro - historical importance . This battle , especially since Edward Gibbon addressed it in " The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire " and Sir Edward Creasy wrote his " The Fifteen Decisive Battles of the World " , has been considered by many historians to be one of the most important battles of Late Antiquity , at least in the Latin - speaking world . Creasy quoted Herbert ' s " Attila " concerning this battle Creasy also stated : John Julius Norwich , the historian known for his works on Venice and on Byzantium , said of the battle of Chalons : He goes on to say that though the battle in 451 was " indecisive insofar as both sides sustained immense losses and neither was left master of the field , it had the effect of halting the Huns ' advance . " There are a couple of reasons why this combat has kept its epic importance down the centuries . One is that — ignoring the Battle of Qarqar ( Karkar ) , which was forgotten at this time — this was the first significant conflict that involved large alliances on both sides . No single nation dominated either side ; rather , two alliances met and fought in surprising coordination for the time . Arthur Ferrill , addressing this issue , goes on to say : Addressing Attila ' s fearsome reputation , and the importance of this battle , Gibbon noted that it was from his enemies we hear of his terrible deeds , not from friendly chroniclers , emphasizing that the former had no reason to elevate Attila ' s reign of terror , and the importance of the Battle of Chalons in proving Attila to be defeatable . Opposing view : The battle was " not " of macro - historical importance . However , J . B . Bury expresses a quite different judgement : The number of combatants , while not as small as many conflicts over the following centuries , is not large compared to the entire forces of the Roman empire . And it did not halt Attila ' s campaign against the Roman Empire : the following year a weakened Attila invaded Italy , and caused much destruction , only ending his campaign after Pope Leo I met with him at a ford of the river Mincio . It was only after Attila ' s sudden death in 453 , and after the divided and competing Hunnic forces fell upon each other at the Battle of Nedao in the following year , that the Huns vanished as a threat to Europe . Further , following this victory the Roman Empire did not emerge with renewed military might , but instead was likewise weakened , though more slowly than the Huns : despite the assassinations of first Aëtius , then Emperor Valentinian III , then the Sack of Rome by Geiseric in 455 , a generation later there were still sufficient useful remains of the Western Roman Empire for the warlords to fight over . As Bury further observes : It is highly notable that Bury , who does not believe the Battle of Chalons to be of macrohistorical importance , characterizes Aëtius ' rule thus : " From the end of the regency to his own death , Aëtius was master of the Empire in the west , and it must be imputed to his policy and arms that Imperial rule did not break down in all the provinces by the middle of the fifth century . " Bury goes on to say , after noting that the emperor had cut off his right hand with his left by murdering the only man who held the dying empire together , " Who was now to save Italy from the Vandals ? " Bury made clear that there was no one capable of taking Aëtius ' place . Several other respected historians have similar views . Aftermath and reputation of the battle . " " Cadavera vero innumera " , " the Romans said afterwards : " Truly countless bodies ! " Gibbon succinctly states : The following year , Attila renewed his claims to Honoria and territory in the Western Roman Empire . Leading his troops across the Alps and into Northern Italy , he conquered the cities of Aquileia , Vicetia , Verona , Brixia , Bergomum and Milan . Finally , at the very gates of Rome , he turned his army back only after negotiating with the pope . Another reason the ferocity of this campaign left a deep impression upon its contemporaries is that not only did Attila savage much of Europe in a manner unrepeated for centuries , but the battle acquired a reputation for carnage almost immediately . Considering the extravagant totals for casualties , Gibbon remarked that they " suppose a real and effective loss , sufficient to justify the historian ' s remark that whole generations may be swept away by the madness of kings in a single hour " . Two contemporary descriptions survive showing that this battle had an unparalleled reputation for its carnage . The first is from Jordanes : The second comes from the philosopher Damascius , who not many years afterwards heard that the fighting was so severe " that no one survived except only the leaders on either side and a few followers : but the ghosts of those who fell continued the struggle for three whole days and nights as violently as if they had been alive ; the clash of their arms was clearly audible " . A further reason for the reputation of this battle is that it was the first major battle since the death of Constantine I where a predominantly Christian force faced a predominantly pagan opponent . This factor was very much apparent to the contemporaries , who often mention prayer playing a factor in this battle ( e . g . , Gregory of Tours ' story of the prayers of Aëtius ' wife saving the Roman ' s life in " Historia Francorum " 2 . 7 ) .