White Huns: Rise and Decline 

As usual, more on the way :-)

What do you wish to attack the Chinese, Indian, Persian or the Roman Empire? The Huns: Yes.

Which region of the world you wanna fight? The Huns: Yes

We're making a feature film on this era, we did some hard research with half a dozen professors; so I'd like to give some perspective on these steppe powers. *Hephtalites* aka "Ak Huns" were of the same lineage of the *Great Hun Empire* that contained China and found hegemony. As Attila's forebears moved west with their clans, creating a tidal wave that swept across Europe, there were also clans and khanates that remained. Hephtalites are one of those powers, that chose to dominate and control *Sodgian* trade routes (proto-Silk road). But the simple fact remains that the nobility of Ak Huns, the Rouran Khaganate, *Gokturks* and even the northern Chinese Turko-Sino dynasties (like Xianbei) were *all* related patrilineally. We must note, however, that the ranks of statehood were different. Gokturks and Rouran were *Khaganates* ruled by a *Khagan* which can be transliterated as Empires ruled by an Emperor; whereas Hephtalites were a *Khanate* ruled by a *Khan* which is analogous to a Kingdom ruled by a King.

One million kudos points to you for immediately explaining that the word 'Hun' meant a political grouping and was not a specific race of people. No-one has ever found the remains of an ethnic 'Hun'. 'Hun' was a cultural word used primarily by Central Asians to describe their affiliation. Well done - almost every history gets this wrong.

Iberian and Albanian vassals could be confusing to anyone who doesn't know caucuses history well.

As Ibn Khaldun pointed out centuries later, settled people are soft due to luxury and nomads are tough and wild and when they settle they too become soft.

I really like the art style that was used in this video

I have never heard anything about the Hephthalites and the Kidarites and to hear how much of an impact they had on one of the greatest empires of that time( the Sassanid Empire) is just amazing! Thanks for this incredible video!

"He lost so bad that he had to give up his heir" WHERE HAVE I HEARD THIS STORY BEFORE?

Thank you so much for making history about Nomads. I’m from Kazakhstan and I’m very happy about this. I’ve been watching since 2017 :)

Göktürks: *LET’S GET DOWN TO BUSINESS! TO DEFEAT THE HUNS!* Also Göktürks: Wait, what...

Kidarites attack Sassanids. Sassanids use Hephthalites, it was surprisingly effective. Hephthalites attack Sassanids. Sassanids with surprise Pikachu face use Gokturks. It was surprisingly effective. Gokturks attack Sassanids. Sassaninds: "Ah shit, here we go again."

Pratihar,Palas and Rashtrakut Dynasty fought relentless wars durind 8 th and 10 th Century AD for the Possession of Kannauj called Tripartite Struggle.Can you make a series of this struggle.This struggle is as fascinating as Byzantine-Sassanid war of 602-628 AD.

History is nothing to be embarrassed from. It’s something to learn from to make sure it doesn’t repeat.

this video has crazy beautiful and very appropriate art style for describe nomad (hunnic, turkic, mongol) central asia people

Excellent video as always! Only one thing I would like to point out, that Gurjar Pratihars never managed to get a hold of entire north India, and never set foot in eastern parts. They were engaged in a 3 way deadlock with Rashtrakuta dynasty from South India and Pal dynasty of eastern India. A struggle to control the entirety of north India that weakened all three powers over time.

I like how you said "Colors just means the direction people live" and everyone just got it.

Central Asia 1000-1500 years ago: Level 92 God-Lords Central Asia now: Level 17 Pliz buy my gas boiiis.

Really enjoyable and valuable video. Valuable because it emphasizes the Huns who had a great impact on persia, and northern India, and are almost never mentioned in popular culture. Having read briefly about the hunnic attacks in Indian school history book, I was suprised later when the Huns under Atilla never were at Indian borders. Only today I got the full picture and it's really satisfying..

Oooohhh. Not enough content out there about the Hepththalites. I love this.

I was literally talking about getting Attila Total War a second ago

So glad someone finally touched on White Hun History. K&Gs were just the guys to do it too. Well done Mates!

This has been one of the most interesting and beautifully done videos from you guys recently (and it is tough competition). Great job! I want more on the less known parts of the history :)

Did you know to this day the word "Gavat", which originated from persian king Kavad, means the man who sells his woman/ or someone who is middle man for corrupted affairs in Turkish.

Currently fascinated with Nomadic Steppe history, from the Huns, to the Gokturks, to the Mongols, Jurchens etc.

What about a: Gokturks: Rise and Decline Video????

Another great video over a topic that is not normally discussed and when it is discussed poorly. Well done K&G!

Ima just say it, Huns are overpowered af...

Beautiful animations and great content, please keep it up!

Beautiful artwork with such engaging and awesome artwork!! I love how much I learn from this channel everyday, even about the sassanids as someone who loves persian history! Thank you kings and generals.

they could've ruled the world by spamming their spet xyon archers

Thank you so much! I haven't heard much about Heptalites before even though my own mother is from Altai. Interesting how this little but sacred place (Altai) gave birth to so many great warriors that created huge empires. Gokturks, simply Blue Turks were also from Altai, initially known as iron workers and smiths.

Great video as always. A video on the Gupta Empire and the reconquest though would be really interesting.

Kings and Generals keeps fascinating me with topics I really had no knowledge about what so ever. Thank you for another interesting and well made documentary!

Love all your videos, thank you so much for consistently putting out incredible content over and over again!!!!

man i just found this channel .....a good youtube recommendation after years.....amazing content

YES! More nomadic steppe history. This is my favorite part of history and i can't wait to see more videos on it. Would be great to see some closer battle descriptions, but i know the nomads weren't the best at record keeping :-) Anyway, another fantastic video. Horse archers OP, plz nerf. Also, background music is *on point!*

A upload from this Channel always puts a smile on my face. Today is a good day.

I cant get enough of these videos! Keep up the great work and keep them coming!!

Fantastic video! Cant wait for the next steppe videos! I already read about the Hephtalites in Tom Holland's book ''In the shadow of the sword''. His description of the battles between Peroz and them was quite interesting.

Fun fact: The White Huns' name is due to a mistranslation. Ak means West in old Turkish. This state referred to as the "White Huns" should actually be translated as the Western Huns

Wonderful.... Very interesting doc. Tell us more about the steppe warriors. Tell us how they fought on the Field. And the way they prepared for battles, seiges and made the best logistics. How they prayed to their gods, and how successful they where with smaller battle units. Their breeds of horses, the training and political intrigues. We want more.....

Great video as always! Can you please show the dates of events in the top right hand corner as usually please, it really helps us understand when these events take place

Btw Huna of India who ruled it were mostly the natives of the land and rest of them actually accepted indic values and became the part of Indic civilization with the natives. Like you said Hun wasn't ethnicity but the political grouping.

Skanda gupta didnt drew out the huns but he defeated them twice, second time giving them a major blow that they did not attack India for next 50 years. This was the period, their attention was diverted to sassinid and other domains. Finally when buddha gupta (successor of skanda gupta) died, Empire was struck by succession struggle and the far stretched regions declared independence leading to almost no resistance in northern India. But when the same mihirkula entered further down, was defeated by narsimhabala gupta in alliance with prince yashodharman of malva after which the huns never attacked.

Finally! Been asking for this forever..

Nice video, but some corrections: 1.) Gurjar- Pratihara dynasty was not sindh based hunnic, they were purely native indians hailing from Gurjardesa area around imperial city of Kannauj. 2.) Rajputs were not of hunnic origin, theyt were cavalry based warrior tribe settled by Gupta Empire around Rajsthan region to ward off invasions coming from western borders.

2:18 why is that dog looking at me ? 😥

Good stuff K&G, I like the artwork reminds me of another cool history channel who does really cool character illustrations, really helps put a face to a name. Just like you have done with the White Huns, who i knew little about.

Fantastic work as always 👏🏼

I have an admiration for steppes civilizations, this kind of videos are awesome

As a Tibetan here is passage from arab history concerning the later hephthalite principality and Tibetans and Turks and Arabs. [A notice for 85/704 is given by.at-Tabari less fully by al-Baladhuri) according to which, at a time of dissension among the Arab invaders of Trans- oxiana, an attack was made upon them at Tirmidh, an important Oxus crossing (now Termez), by a combined force of Hayätilah (Hephthalites), Tibetans (at- Tubbat) and Turks. The defence of the town was made good with great loss to the attackers; for whom the figure of 70,000 is mentioned. This, the historian notes, was the number of those who wore helmets with a tapering top or crest (baidah-dhät qünas). The remainder, without helmets, or who wore "smooth helmets' (baidah jammä'u) were uncounted, or perhaps innumerable (la yuad- düna). Some of these troops were easily repulsed from a breach in the wall of Tirmidh: by 300 mailed cavalry of the Muslims, whose horses were similarly protected (mujaffaf, i.e. wearing the titäf or cataphract of the time). Al-Balad- hurt's short account, which omits mention of the Tibetans and gives no estimate of number, implies that the attack on the Muslims was made from within the town. This is contradicted by at-Tabari's description of the fighting, and especially by his mentioning 'Tarkhün, king of Bukhara' as in command of the allies. The action in fact should represent a large-scale movement on the part of the natives of Transoxiana against the Arabs. In view of the lack of details, not much can be made of the reference to Tibetans, .g. we cannot assume that either type of head-armour mentioned in the passage, or absence of head-armour, was charac- teristically Tibetan. Yet it seems that we have to think of a contingent from Tibet or the adjacent regions called upon, in circumstances unknown, to join in the general defence of Transoxiana.]

The details are mind blowing. Thanks a lot

Thank you for the outstanding effort keep up the good work 👍🏻

That was fantastically well produced.

7:45 “Young lady, you will go out there and marry that barbarian!”

Video on Huns without mentioning Skandagupta , made it imperfect .

Excellent documentary. It took a lot of work to watch, as I'm Brazilian, and machine translation is very bad, I had to use spare translators. Anyway it worked, a lot of knowledge in a serious and committed way, congratulations for the work.

I learn so much from these videos. Truly accessible to the arm chair history buff. Thank you.

First of all, I am certain I was subscribed, but today I was not. Very odd, fixed that quickly. Anyway, this whole video was so.... Fascinating. Especially at the end. Good work guys.

I love your new art style, did the pictures you show have any historical basis? Hope to see more

I really liked the video. Thank you K&G 👍🏻

So excited to see this. Thanks Devon

Another amazing video I actually just rewatched a video on khosrao yesterday

Absolutely outstanding art! Really loved this video. More Sassanid related videos would be excellent.

The work on this channel is nearly peerless, I almost can't believe some mega corp hasn't bought or paid for the content with an exclusive ad commitment. Or maybe you guys just refuse to have your work under the heel of an overlord. Regardless, bravo!

I love this channel. Thank you for existing.

Apparently some horseboys have wandered out of the Eurasian steppe. Everyone: Aight, Imma head out.

I do not get where the narrator got the " The Huns probably beat Skandagupta" from. Even Wikipedia says all evidence points to the fact that Skandagupta beat back the Huns soundly. "The Bhitari pillar inscription dated 455 CE states he beat back the Hunas." "The Junagadh inscription, dated to the year 138 of the Gupta era (c. 457-458 CE) mentions Skandagupta's success against the mlechchhas (foreigners)" "A sentence in the Sanskrit text Chandra-Vyakarana (c. 7th century) states Ajayad-Gupto Hunan, literally, "The Gupta conquered the Hunas" All of these are contemporary sources, and why would the Huns let the Guptas make victory pillars in their domain.

Thanks for this incredible video!!!

Very detailed and I love it. Lots of useful information.! Thank you very much 🙏👌

Can we have more stuff about the Guptas, we know about the early stuff, but know little about the later Kings except for their names.

The Most Heated Historical Debate: Historian: I think Sea People might have orginated from *Insert Place Here* Other Historian: I strongly disagree.

Thank you for this video!

This history is so esoteric its like a legend or myth. Also this explains the Mongols since the step seemed to always have a dominant horseman military force.

A great event you forgot to include which was quite similar to the case of Western Roman empire and their germainc allies defeat huna king attila - Yashodharman, Maharaja of Malava created a confederecy of Indian king include guptas and other kings to fend off hunas which resulted into mihirkula's defeat at' battle of sondani ' in 528 ce which toppled down hun from North india. Also yashodharman's father prakasha dharman also defeated the torana huna king to protect malava and central india.

2:58 this is the same colour-direction symbolism used in traditional Chinese cosmology ! :o

These historical accounts are intoxicating. Thanks for the information.

Fantastic video keep it up your doing amazing job.

Amazing video and amazing art! It also goes really well when playing CK2 in Central Asia.

The Hephalites were vassals of the Rouran Khaghanate. The Hephalites even borrowed the title Khan. The title Khan was originally a Rouran one. The Gokturks were once Turkic vassals of the Rourans but rebelled and overthrown them. Once the Gokturks Khaghanate was established they went into alliance with the Sassanids and helped them push back the Hephalites. The Avar Khaghanate is hypothesized to be the fleeing remnants of the Rourans.

This channel is gold pure

Thank you for this great work

can you do the Scythians? :D

Sassanid's trying to replace the princess with a low born girl. Really bold move.

I never heard about these Huns. Thanks for uploading!

Fun fact: The Afghan Pashtuns have many tribes that are likely descended from the Hepthalites (White Huns) and would be the most valid 'claimant' towards the Hephthalites.

18 minutes of content?😍 You’re spoiling us

I never understood how the Hungarians can believe that theyre descendants of the Huns. The Magyars came to Hungary 400 years after the Huns had dissolved and even back then the polulation in the area was already established, it didnt change much until the Magyars came. All they did was adapting to their language.

Important topic. Well done. You didnt address why the Kidarites and Hephthalites didn't attack the western Huns beyond the urals. This could go a ways towards explaining their link/kinship. Also, detailed maps to stoke the imagination please! No need for fancy special effects and avatars! Pretty illustrations, detailed political maps and sober topographic terrain and square/circle unit representations are the best for creating a better/deeper understanding of an episode of history. Especially for visual learners like youtube watchers. That's my two cents :)

😲 Wow! You learn something new from this channel. Very educational. I knew about the color code system the Hun tribes used until I watched this video.

I am just in awe how many nations were either founded or ruled by The Turkic people

The meaning of the Hun is people or folk. Huns aren't only Turks. They are have many etnic group but majority Turks. The Turks are says black to north. (West - White), (South - Red), (East - Blue). For example; Turks say "White Sea" for the mediterranean sea. The black sea is a "black sea" and the red sea is a "red sea". :D

Great work guys!

Great video. Excellent history. Are you guys planning to do video of Hideyoshi Toyotomi's Samurai invasion of Korea?

Wonderful video, I didn't know about the White Hun domination of Central Asia, North India, Sassanid Empire and West China. World history book doesn't speak about the White Huns in South Asia very much.

Kings and Generals, will you do videos on the other Hun-ish people, like the avars, bulgars and magyars, and their campaigns into Europe?

*AWESOME WORK!!*

I'm a history nerd and proud of it I really like this site...thank you.