1. Choking to Death on His Own Blood
In 447, Attila returned to the Balkans, which he ravaged until he reached the walls of Constantinople. In 450, the Western Roman Emperor’s sister sought to escape a betrothal by begging Attila’s help, and sent him her engagement ring. He interpreted that as a marriage proposal, accepted, and asked for half of the Western Roman Empire as dowry. When the Romans balked, Attila invaded, visiting his customary depredations, before he was finally stopped at Chalons in 451.
The following year, he invaded Italy, sacking and burning as he advanced down the peninsula, before he was persuaded by the Pope to withdraw. He planned to attack Constantinople again in 453, but his rampage finally ended that year, when he drank himself into a stupor while celebrating his wedding to a new wife. In a fittingly poetic ending, blood-thirsty Attila got a nosebleed, and choked to death on his own blood.
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Where Did We Find This Stuff? Some Sources and Further Reading
Ancient History Encyclopedia – Attila the Hun
Armenian National Institute – Genocide Research
Bingen, Jean – Hellenistic Egypt: Monarchy, Society, Economy, Culture (2007)
Bogosian, Eric – Operation Nemesis: The Assassination Plot That Avenged the Armenian Genocide (2015)
Gábor Ágoston, Bruce Masters – Encyclopedia of the Ottoman Empire (2008)
Bowman, Alan – Egypt After the Pharaohs: 332 BC – AD 64, From Alexander to the Arab Conquest (1996)
Clements, Jonathan – The First Emperor of China (2007)
Encyclopedia Britannica – Charles II, King of Navarre
Encyclopedia Britannica – Jonathan Wild, English Criminal
Encyclopedia Britannica – Pierre Laval
Gonick, Larry – The Cartoon History of the Universe, Part II (1994)
Barrett, Anthony A. – Caligula: The Corruption of Power (1989)
New York Times, Times Topics – Armenian Genocide of 1915: An Overview
Orkneyjar – Earl Sigurd the Mighty, the First Earl of Orkeny
Suetonius – The Lives of the Twelve Caesars (2013)
