The Huns in Western Consciousness: Images, Stereotypes, and Civilization

In this paper, I will study the question of why the Western consciousness attributes only negative images and stereotypes to the Huns. I will argue that the question of why Western stereotypes of the Huns are so negative is related to Western geopolitical traditions concerning Eurasia. The British geographer Halford John Mackinder was the first to formulate such Western geopolitical theories consciously, in his 1904 study, entitled: "The Geographical Pivot of History". In Mackinder's framework, Eastern Europe and Central Asia play a crucial role. This is precisely the area where, in the course of history, the so-called equestrians appeared. This framework is also very useful in order to understand the drives of the Huns. The military manoeuvres of Atilla, striving for world power, can be analysed insightfully in Mackinder's framework as well. Therefore, it is clear why Atilla, from the time of his appearance on the world stage until today, is represented in Western history books as the world's most notorious barbarian and an enemy of the West. It is even more striking that the first Hungarian history books, the medieval Hungarian chronicles, associate the Hungarians with the Huns, and the Hungarian royal Arpad dynasty with Atilla, although these chronicles were written after the Hungarians had established a strong kingdom in the heart of Europe around 950 AD, which became integrated into the Western political and religious system. Hungarian scholars tried to disconnect the tradition of the Hun ancestry from the Hungarians in the second half of the nineteenth century in order to eliminate a Hun-Hungarian kinship. This had to do with the theory of the ancient Aryans that was developed in Germany. German Aryanism tried to incorporate the traditions of the equestrian culture of the Steppes. Hence, the ancient Hungarians were pushed out of the Steppes. Finally, I will argue that historiography has to free itself from settled Western stereotypes and prejudices concerning the equestrian peoples of the Steppes. From this, it follows, that the features and events of the equestrian civilization have to be studied a new. Only then will it be possible to understand the larger connections of history that have contributed to the political, societal and mental development in the Eurasian space. It is only by ridding ourselves of the stereotypes that we will be able to study insightfully the mental and physical factors of the equestrian civilization.

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