Battle of the Tanais (373)

Warning - This article's information is highly speculative and is mostly down to theorization than actual fact.

The Battle of the Tanais is a very obscure battle that occurred in about 373 between the rapidly expanding Huns and the native Alans and other minor tribes. The Huns crossed the Rha (Volga) in c. 370 due to the Huns discovering the Caucasus and viewing it as a better climate to settle in. The main tribe in the region were the Alans, who resisted the Huns for a few years. After a decisive victory against the Alans on the Tanais River, the Alans fell and most of them were allied to the Huns and crossed the Tanais westwards where they would encounter the Greuthungi Goths and eventually migrate into Gaul and Hispania.

Background
For more than three centuries had the Alans live in the northern Caucasian steppes between the Tanais (Don) River and the Rha (Volga) River. As early as 250 the Huns arrive in between the Volga and Ural rivers, becoming the first tribe of Xiongnu origin to do so. During the 350s and 360s the Huns most probably began raiding across the Rha into Alanic territory, learning of their fertile and luscious territory.

The Battle
Either due to a tribe who attacked west into Hunnic grounds, or the Huns hoping to conquer and settle in their newly found land crossed the Rha River and into Alan territory in c. 370. The Hunnic and Alani kings, who Jordanes referred to as Balamber as the first Hunnic king in Europe, met at the Tanais River, where the Alans were defeated and their king was most likely slain. With the Alans left without a leader, most of their forces were forced into joining the Hunnic army. After at most 3 years, probably because of the quarreling of any Alani resistance that could revolt against him, Balamber and his Hunnic and Alanic followers crossed the Tanais where they would in 376 confront and defeat the Greuthungi Goths.

Aftermath
In 376 (possibly starting in 375), the Huns and Alans invaded the Gothic settlements in modern Romania and in doing so forced them to flee into Thrace under the Roman Empire. Due to the following events, if the description of the battle above was accurate, it could technically be the cause of the fall of the Western Roman Empire, happening an entire century later. By 380, all of Caucasia was under Hunnic rule, and just 15 years later they would begin a raid into the Roman and Sassanid Empires through the Caucasus Mountain passes. Many of the Alans would migrate even further west under their new King Respendial into Gaul, Spain, and Africa. The Alans however in most cases would be treated as minor to a stronger power as their independence would be cut short with the death of King Attaces, successor to Respendial in 418. Soon after the Alans would be under the rule of the Vandals and would follow them into Africa and become apart of their kingdom. By the beginning of the 7th century, the Alan population would have died out in western Europe and wouldn't be independent again until the fall of the Khazar Khaganate in c.969.

Obscurity, Speculation, and Original References
Due to how the battle is supposedly mentioned in one sentence from Ammianus Marcellinus, there is nothing known about the specific events of the battle. The details of how the battle may have occurred, or if it even happened at all are up to speculation. However, due to the nature of history, it is almost certain that a major confrontation occurred between the Alans and the Huns that would’ve ended the Alan rule of the Caucasus in a similar manor of what is proposed by the Battle of the Tanais River

Ancient Sources
Ammianus Marcellinus

Modern Sources
https://en.wikipedia.org/

https://books.google.com/books?id=szTOxeqlVXgC&newbks_s

https://books.google.com/books?id=8bZ4c5oZpNAC&dq