Another version of his death is what gives us, eighty years after the event, the Roman chronicler Count Marcellinus : "Attila the Hun and plundering of the provinces of Europe, was pierced by the hand and the dagger from his wife" . Rome was the dowry which he planned to present to his bride, Honoria, the granddaughter of the great Theodosius! In fact if we mind the legend the Pope had the wrong name: Leo, and the very superstitious Attila got a prophecy from a seer who said that if he hadn't listened to the council of a beast he would have conquered the mightiest empire existing. In the words of Bury, the Huns were "scattered to the winds. The wedding day was spent in heavy drinking and partying, and the King of the Huns took his new bride to bed that night in drunken lust. He climbed steadily northward, over the mountains, and found the Mongolian chief below Mantua, at the point where the Mincio River, flowing down from its Alpine source - Lago di Garda ­ emptied itself in the Po.

On his march to Rome he was boasting as he advanced, that the total conquest of Italy was to be his crowning work of destruction.

Rome was saved by its Bishop, the Holy Roman Pontiff, Pope Leo I. Rome was saved from destruction, probably, by the mediation of Pope Leo I, who went out to meet Attila. Attila's position was weaker than the Romans realized, undoubtedly because of the serious losses he had suffered the previous year at Châlons.

The Pope went personally to him but failed to convince him to stop. This was the end of the eight-year duration of the invasions of the Huns, barbarians who did go back and die in Rome. Perhaps Rome's last great service to the West was to serve as a buffer between the Asiatic Huns and the Germanic Barbarians whose destiny was to lay the medieval foundations of the modern, western nations. The brigand chief answered that all the while the Pope was speaking, he, Attila, the generator of terror in others, was himself consumed in fear, for there had appeared in the air above the Pope's head a figure in the dress of a priest, holding in his hand a drawn sword with which he made as if to kill him unless he consented to do as Leo asked. In 453 Attila prepared once more to invade Italy, but he died before the plan could be carried out.

In an act that added immeasurably to the influence of the fledgling papacy, an obliging Attila led his army out of Italy. Atilla invaded Italy after his defeat in Gaul.
Surely the undoubted personality of St. Leo the Great had more to do with the withdrawal of Attila the delivery to it of a large quantity of gold, as assumed by some authors, as was already at your fingertips in full possession of the power The gold that flowed. There had been a famine in Italy in 450-51, and logistical support had never been a strong point for Barbarian armies. All Rome awaited the coming of the Mongol King in hopeless terror. The expansion of Roman Empires and their eventual reunification caused the Emperors to actually re-creating the Senatorial system, with representative legislature to well, properly represent various people and member nations of the Roman Empire. What if he succeeded? Pope Leo threatened Attila with the power from St Peter, the Prince of the Apostles, if he did not turn back and leave Italy unmolested.

Maybe the disease and famine which coincided with the invasion weakened his army, or sent troops beyond the Danube Marciano forced him to return, or perhaps both. The question is how would the Pope succeed? // When these factors are added to the disastrous loses the year earlier at Châlons, it is obvious why Attila was able to see merit in the humanitarian arguments of Pope Leo. Aetius remained in the field, but not enough military power to fight. Neither do I see them becoming more sedentary and reinvigorating the Western Roman Empire. Attila's servants, so the story is told, asked him why he had reversed his custom and capitulated so easily to the Bishop of Rome. Finally, Attila stopped at the Po , where he attended an embassy formed, among others, by the prefect Trigecio , the consul Avieno and Pope Leo I . The only way I see him not doing it is if he dies, which opens up a whole new can of worms. Alternate History Discussion: Before 1900. In his drunkenness he had choked to death in his own nosebleed. Atilla invaded Italy after his defeat in Gaul. Much of the Po Valley - Milan, Verona, and Padua - was devastated and depopulated. Attila's troops, hardened veterans seasoned in plunder and sack and rape, were ready and waiting to cross the Po when Saint Leo, in his papal robes, entered the disordered camp and stood before the King of the Huns, http://www.laughtergenealogy.com/bin/histprof/misc/italy.html. Aetius remained in the field, but not enough military power to fight. From there again planned to attack Constantinople and to demand the tribute which Marcian had not paid. And then, in the darkest hour ­ as would often be the case through the centuries ahead - the Eternal City was saved, not by its legions, its tribunes, its senators, or its suffering citizens. Aëtius lacked the strength to offer battle, but managed to harass and slow Attila's advance with only a shadow force. Attila's Invasion of Italy. Valentinian fled from Ravenna to Rome . His empire did not survive Attila. Without him doing that I don't see his people converting either.