The Huns came to Europe from the east. No one knows exactly where. They were expert cavalrymen using Mongolian bows -- short and powerful -- and around 400 AD they pillaged every village, so to speak, in Mittel Europa and the Balkans.
They acquired followers as they went and were soon a formidable army, with not just cavalry but infantry. That meant they could lay siege to fortified cities. They constituted a threat to the Eastern Roman Empire and won a tribute of two thousand pounds of gold annually. Their territory was centered in what is now Hungary, probably named after the Huns.
Then they invaded Western Europe. By this time, Rome was in decline but they still managed to stave off the Huns at a battle in France.
Around 450 AD they were led by Attila, whom the church called "The Scourge of God," punishment sent for the sins of the Romans, much as the Westboro Baptist Church of today blames our own military deaths on our tolerance of homosexuality. And of course the Romans and their emperor picture Atilla as a marauding demon with bulging eyes, unkempt beard, and satanic ears.
In fact, Attila was a sophisticated politician and the brutish ways of the early cavalrymen were now behind the Huns. Their empire -- the adjectival form is "Hunnik" -- covered about as much territory as the United States, and Attila was more interested in establishing a settled agricultural empire than in pillaging and eating roots and raw meat.
He didn't make it. His followers were laid low by an epidemic and he himself died choking on his own blood. The true test of any system of governance is not how well it works under its leader but how well the transfer of power works when the leader is gone. The Huns failed the test. Attila had many sons and they fought one another until, evidently, they gave up out of fatigue and blended into whatever regional society they found themselves in.
The narrative is clear enough but most of the documentary is a little off-putting. It's not an expensive production. Every scene we witness -- whether on the plains or in the village -- is dark and smoky. The actors are decked out in furs. The men wear lots of hair. They all look as if they're ridden with fleas.
Clancy Brown does the narration in an overly dramatic tone, like something you'd expect from a tabloid TV presentation.
It's informative, but it's not among the best historical documentaries, of which there are plenty.