Attila the Hun was the last and most powerful king of the European Huns. He reigned from 434 until his death over what was then Europe's largest empire, which stretched from Central Europe to the Black Sea and from the Danube River to the Baltic. During his rule he was among the direst enemies of the Eastern and Western Roman Empires: he invaded the Balkans twice, encircling Constantinople in the second invasion; he marched through France as far as Orleans before being turned back at Chalons; and he drove the western emperor Valentinian III from his capital at Ravenna in 452. Though his empire died with him and he left no remarkable legacy, he has become a legendary figure in the history of Europe: he is remembered as the epitome of cruelty and rapacity in much of Western Europe; while he is lionized as a great king in the national history of Hungary.

Read the rest of this article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attila_the_Hun

Today's selected anniversaries:

1740 Maria Theresa, an "enlightened monarch", assumed the throne of Austria, succeeding her father, Charles VI. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Theresa_of_Austria)

1827 An allied British, French, and Russian naval force destroyed a combined Turkish and Egyptian fleet at the Battle of Navarino, a decisive moment in the Greek War of Independence. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Navarino)

1935 The Chinese People's Liberation Army completed the Long March from Jiangxi province in southern China to in Shaanxi province, an organized maneuver covering a distance of 6000 km (3700 mi.) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_March)

1968 Former U.S. First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy married Greek shipping business magnate Aristotle Onassis (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacqueline_Kennedy_Onassis)

1973 The Sydney Opera House was formally opened by Queen Elizabeth II. The opening was televised and included fireworks and a performance of Beethoven's Symphony No. 9. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sydney_Opera_House)

Wikiquote of the day:

"Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows." ~ George Orwell in Nineteen Eighty-Four (http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Nineteen_Eighty%2dFour)