Conquerors of the Past: Differences Between Mongols and Huns

There are a variety of ethnicities, cultures, religions, sects, and faiths. Everyone has their own beliefs and lifestyle, which define their identity.

One such ethnicity is that of Mongols and Huns. You might have heard about the two types of sects that have some distinctive characteristics along with a handful of similarities. 

Ethnically, the original Huns and Mongols are the same. The Huns, on the other hand, were very liberal, and when they settled in Europe, they married non-Asian women, and their children became mixed. So, the Huns became more European over time, but the original Huns, like the Mongols, were Asian.

Today, we’ll have a look at some of the nations and empires that had some classic identities and characteristics. They have some definitions that make them unique in their way. This article would turn out to be very informative in terms of the history, similarities, and differences between these empires and their ethnicities.

You’ll get rid of all your ambiguities with a glimpse of relatable FAQs. So, let’s get started.

How Can You Differentiate The Huns And the Mongols?

According to my research, the Huns were the forefathers of the Mongols, who retreated to the north of Europe after losing their final war with the Romans. Soon after the death of their leader, Attila, the Hun Empire fell into disarray, and civil war broke out among his four sons.

Finally, because there was no single leader to control the vast empire, the Huns gradually faded from power. There is a strong possibility that many Huns moved east from where they came earlier, forming a variety of tribes in Mongolia.

I believe that Huns were the Forefathers of Mongols.

How Can You Compare Huns And The Mongols?

According to history, Attila (406-453 AD) ruled the empire, and just 700 years later, there was a rise of the Mongols (Ghengis Khan, 1162–1227 AD) with the same types of techniques, such as horse archers, barbaric nature of fights, and lust for conquest raged among them, giving a slim chance to believe that the Huns were back!!!

Human action and nature can be changed, but changing someone’s nature is impossible.

Abraham Lincoln

This was a little bit of history, the real answers are detailed further.

It’s difficult to say because so little is known about the Huns, but:

The Huns and the Mongols were from Central Asia. Mongolian (along with Turkic languages and possibly Japanese and Korean) is an Altaic language, and the Huns appear to have spoken or at least started with, an Altaic language as well.

The first noticeable distinction is geographical. The Mongols came from the eastern part of Central Asia. It’s unclear where the Huns originated, but they were certainly most prominent on the western side (though decades of speculation have suggested that they originated closer to China).

Based on scant evidence, I think that the Mongols are more or less identifiable as an ethnic or linguistic group, the Huns were more of a political entity, a confederation or alliance of the type that arose every few centuries in Central Asia.

Characteristics	The Huns	The Mongols
Location	East Europe	East Asia
Language	Slavic – (East Slavic/Scythe-Cimmerian branch)	Altaic
Race	Caucasoid	Mongloid
House	Dugout	Yurts

Huns Vs. Mongols- The Differences

There are many variations between the two.

I notice, for example, that while the Huns have traces of an Altaic language, they also appear to have adopted a lot of Gothic.

In addition to that, it reminds me of the Uighurs nation, Uighurs, who were a political alliance of mostly but not entirely Turkic speakers who only became an identifiable ethnic group after being driven out of their homeland and forced to resettle in Xinjiang province.

The Huns were early nomads, but far from the first. There is a widespread belief that the Huns who helped destroy the Roman Empire were the same people as the Xiongnu, who occupied much of what is now Mongolia and were eventually driven out by the Chinese Empire. However, it is also contested.

What Do You Know About The Ghengis Khan And His Heirs?

Under Genghis Khan and his heirs, the Mongols were a small nomadic tribe that conquered the rest of the world, as well as many civilized peoples. Their way of life wasn’t all that different from the Huns’ way of life.

They did, however, absorb the majority of the other peoples, resulting in the modern Mongolian identity. Huns are known as “Xenu” in China, and they have coexisted with Chinese people for a long time. The Mongols were thought to be their descendants.

However, they are now two distinct races in China.

How Can You Compare The Huns And The Mongols?

The period and location were the main distinctions between the Huns and the Mongols. The similarities are that they were both steppe raiders who came and went like locusts. I’m not sure why anyone bothers researching marauders and destroyers like the Huns, Vikings, and Mongols.

They did nothing to improve humanity’s lot but attack and destroy civilizations wherever they could. I’m not sure what people expect to gain from such efforts. Individuals such as Archimedes, Ptolemy, Al-Khwarizmi, Aristotle, Copernicus, Omar Khayyam, da Vinci, Pasteur, Mozart, or Tesla were never produced by groups such as the Huns, Vikings, or Mongols.

Mongols Vs. Huns- Detailed Comparison

I’ll give the details regarding the similarities and the differences between the two.

Talking about the similarities

• They were both confederations of Central Asian steppe-dwelling, horse-mounted peoples who had a significant historical impact on the sedentary civilizations of Europe and Asia.

• Each empire split into disparate parts before being absorbed by the older civilizations they conquered.

Talking about the differences

• The Huns were Turkic people who ruled over a polyglot group of Germans, Slavs, and possibly some Mongols.
• The Mongols were, well, Mongols. However, like the Huns, they ruled over and included Turks, Slavs, and even some Tungusic peoples in their armies.

All in all, They were both Central Asian tribes, with similar military tactics, religion, way of life, and weapons. 

Huns Vs. Mongols- The Timeline

The Mongols arrived much later in history compared to the Huns. They were allowed for better organization, more Chinese than European influence, better technology, and better leadership and organization. Temujin is described as much taller and healthier than Attila, who was a short, twisted man.

There’s also geography to consider: the Huns originated in western Asia (unless you count the Xiongnu and Hunas as Huns, which some historians do, which is a strong possibility), whereas the Mongols originated in eastern Asia.

If the Hunas/Hephatalites and Xiongnu were Huns, another distinction would be that the Mongols were a single tribe that assimilated and conquered other Mongolian peoples, whereas the Huns were widely distributed and led tribal confederations.

Overall, I depict that the Mongols were far superior at assimilating conquered and allied peoples. Indeed, the Mongol relationship was more paternal, whereas the Huns were merely the nucleus of a confederation based on opposing local empires—Persia, India, Rome, and China.

Was Attila The Hun From Mongolia?

No, he was a Turk from the western steppes, which are now known as the Russian Steppes. He wasn’t a Mongolian. He was a Hun, and the Hunnic people came from Asia. The Huns had been acting as mercenaries or Buccellati for the Romans for over fifty years by the time of Attila.

Attila, on the other hand, had gathered a confederation of Ostrogoths, Alans, Slavs, Sarmatians, and other Eastern tribes. He launched multiple raids into the Eastern Roman Empire with this group, which was based in what is now Hungary.

Eventually, during the reign of Valentinian III, he launched an invasion of the Western Empire.

He also summoned the majority of the Hun mercenaries from the West. In 453–54, his campaign into the West was cut short when his troops were defeated by an alliance of Burgundians, Visigoths, Franks, Americans, and Romans led by the Magister Militum of the West, Flavius Aetius, near the modern city of Orleans. 

Final Thoughts

In conclusion, the Huns and the Mongols differ from each other in terms of their archeological facts, origin, and culture. The Huns’ origins are still debated today; in the 18th century, French scholar de Guignes proposed that the Huns were related to the Xiongnu. They are one of those nomads who had emigrated in the First Century CE, from China.

On the other hand, there are the Mongols, whose empire began in 1206CE with the unification of the Mongol clans under Genghis Khan. Their homeland was Mongolia, but by the time Ghengis died in 1227, his empire had expanded from the Pacific to the Caspian Sea.

However, because the evidence for this theory is inconclusive, it is not universally accepted. Due to poor archaeological records and the lack of a written language, it’s difficult to determine where the Huns came from. People nowadays tend to believe that they come from the Central Asian steppes, though the precise location is unknown.

I hope this article has helped compare the Huns and the Mongols with all the important characteristics being addressed.

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