Histor y’s big gest
David Adams investigates some of the most
magnificent and murderous figures of yore
ATTILA THE HUN
Attila was ruler of the
Huns, a non-Christian
people based on the
Great Hungarian Plain
in the fifth century. He was
a feared enemy of the Western and
Eastern Roman Empires who considered
his people barbarians. At the height
of his reign, the Hunnic Empire stretched
right across Central Europe.
ADAMS SAYS:
“He was a great negotiator and basically
kept everybody off-balance. The Huns
are these fearsome horsemen and they
completely outfox the Romans, and have
them on their knees. He is probably one
of the greatest warring generals and astute
leaders that Europe has ever seen – but
he is cast as this nomadic brigand. And
while [the Huns] were nomadic and living
in vast yurt cities, they were very refined.”
TIMUR, AKA
‘TAMERLANE
THE GREAT’
Timur, also known
as Tamerlane, was
a Turco-Mongol conqueror
in the 14th century, greatly feared and
revered in equal measure. Over 35
years, this Muslim ruler left more than
17 million dead – roughly five per cent
of the world’s population – and carved
out a massive empire from India to the
shores of the Mediterranean.
ADAMS SAYS:
“This brigand from the mountains is an
extraordinary character. No doubt he was
a mass murderer, but he did it in the name
of God: ‘the Sword of Islam’. He has really
done nothing that conquerors before and
after him did. What he built – what we
can travel to on the Silk Road – is the
remains of his ideas.”
EDGAR, AKA
‘KING OF THE
ENGLISH’
Nicknamed ‘Edgar
the Peaceful’, this English
king, who died in 975,
consolidated the political unity achieved
by his predecessors, homogenising an
England divided and bringing about
a period of relative stability.
ADAMS SAYS:
“He came at a time when the Vikings
were attacking and much of his reign
is about bringing the countries together.
You have all these micro-kingdoms
- there are eight or 10 of them in
England – and through diplomacy and
force of character, he manages to unite
England for the first time. If he had
lived, England perhaps could have
taken an even more powerful direction
towards Europe.”
The 16th-century Talipach Gate
in Bukhara, UzbekistanDavid Adams at the
ruins of Corfe Castle
in Dorset, UKAdams at the Roman Baths
that give Bath, UK, its nameHun horsemen used complex
military manoeuvres in battle