Huns
Many historians consider the Huns the first Turkic people mentioned in history. References in Chinese sources to peoples called the Xiong-Nu (Hsiung-nu) go back to 1200 BC. Their Xiong (匈) rulers, first mentioned as a family in 1766 BC in the story of Chunwei and the fall of the Xia dynasty, may be the ancestors of the later, better-known (to western scholars) Huns, though not all scholars agree. Korean legend takes the stand that an alliance of northern Altaic tribes under a "Huan" ruler from 7193 BC pre-dated the establishment of China.
A group called the European Huns and led by Attila the Hun is considered, with little certainty, to be the western extension of the royal Xiong family centered around Karaganda. Establishment of the first Hun state is one of the first well-documented appearances of the culture of horseback migration in history. These tribespeople achieved superiority over their rivals (most of them highly cultured) by their splendid state of readiness and amazing mobility. According to traditional Hungarian history, the Huns, Sabirs, Magyars, and Avars were all part of the same people.
Attila's European Huns, like the eastern Xiong's 'Nu' (奴 i.e. slaves) formed from groups of unrelated tributary peoples. In the European case Alans, Slavs and especially Gothic tribes all united under the Hun family military elite. Subsequently the term "Huns" became one of the derogatory terms for Germans (see, for example, "Kraut"). American forces during World War I and World War II commonly used the name, but this usage has declined recently.
The earliest reference in Chinese sources to a people called the Xiong-Nu (Hsiung-nu) goes back to early 12th century BC, in writings about the campaign by King Wuding (武丁 wu3 ding1) of the Shang Dynasty against the Gui Fang 鬼方 (gui3 fang1) tribe, which is regarded as a name of one of the Huns' vassal Nu (奴) tribes. Some vague archeological sources support this account, but await verification. Bronze incriptions and oracle turtle-back bones from polytheistic worship prove the historical existence of the campaign but the Gui Fang did not necessarily equate to the core Hun clan per se.
Many scholars identify the Xiong Nu Xiong with the Huns because of similar descriptions of their appearance and living habits. (more input here....) Other scholars, confusing the Xiong with their Nu serf and vassal tribes, find differences. Still others argue that any common appearance and habits also appear among various other tribes residing on the Mongolian steppes, rather than identifying characteristics specific to the Xiong and the Huns. Nevertheless, all agree that the two peoples shared aspects that are more than a coincidence.
With the exception of the 43-118 AD "North-South" feud, the Hun dynasty survived as a fairly tightly-knit political power until the 4th C when the NU(奴) tribes decisively threw off the yoke of the Xiong dynasty. Whether increasing squabbling amongst the Xiong dynasty caused their subjects to lose faith in them, or some other cause occurred, Hun unity came to an end. The rock was shattered and clans claiming the Hun name (Hunnoi, Chionites, Choni, Xiong etc.) dispersed as nothing more than piratical raiding bands. They appear south in Persia (the Xiyon camel tribes -- Chionites -- in AD 320, also known as Red Huns), while a portion remained east in China (the Xiong deer people), and finally in one last brilliant flare west in Russia (the Hun horse tribes in AD 360).
The Hua managed to succeed to the Hun heritage in a campaign which spread from Bactria to Europe. After the failure of Xiong's Zhou county the influence of the Hua dragon tribe started to expand. The influence of the northern deer-people retreated north up the Yenisei as the Hua chased a western portion of the Hunnoi (Alchon/Alchoni often called "White Huns" and confused with Hephthalites) into what is present-day Uzbekistan in the late 4th century, while the easternmost branch would later found the Xiong's last eastern dynasty Xia (407-431). The colour names of the European Persian, Bactrian and Chinese Hun tribes may have something to do with their flank designations. Though apparently fleeing China from the Hua in the mid-4th century, later the Huns' Alchon component are recorded as in union with them (Varkun) against the western-most branch.
By 460 the Hua had begun to take over Central Eurasia. The Yuezhi's Hephthal family had become their ruling clan in Xinjiang by 507 and sometime during his rule (507-531) the Hua, now a unit with the Choni, left under Sarosios's father to conquer the Hunnic remnants in the West, leaving their Hephthalite brethren to fend off Juan Juan advances alone and relocate their seat of power with the Indian branch.
After this the Huns as a power unit disappear from history, though certain nations and noble families of Turanian origin continued to carry variations of the name into the present.
For more information on the formation of the eastern Huns' 'NU'(奴) empire see also: Wu Hu
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