The Huns were a nomadic central Asian people who, in the middle of the fourth century A.D., moved westward. They first defeated the Alani (a group in the Caucasus Mountain region, between the Black and the caspian Seas), and then conquered and drove out the Goths. Unified by the ruler Attila in 434, the Huns gained control of a large part of central and eastern Europe by about 450. The Italian countryside was ravaged in the process, and many people sought refuge on the numerous islands in the Lagoon of Venice; the settlement later became the city of Venice.

With the death of Attila in 453, the subjects of the Huns revolted and defeated them. The Huns were later absorbed into the various peoples of Europe.