Battle of Nedao

Infobox Military Conflict
conflict=Battle of Nedao
partof=War of the Hunnic Succession


caption=
date=454
place=Pannonia
territory=
result=Victory of Gepids and Ostrogoths
combatant1=Gepids,
Ostrogoths|combatant2=Huns
commander1=King Theodemir of the Ostrogoths,
King Ardaric of the Gepids
commander2=King Ellac of the Huns†
strength1=Unknown
strength2=Unknown
casualties1=Unknown
casualties2=Unknown
notes=The Battle of Nedao, named after the Nedava, a tributary of the Sava, was a battle fought in Pannonia in 454. After the death of Attila the Hun, allied forces of the Germanic subject peoples under the leadership of Ardaric, king of the Gepids, defeated the Hunnic forces of Ellac, the son of Attila, who had struggled with his half-brothers Irnik and Dengizich for supremacy after Attila's death, and eventually killed him in single combat. According to the 6th century historian Jordanes:

And so the bravest nations tore themselves to pieces. For then, I think, must have occurred a most remarkable spectacle, where one might see the Goths fighting with pikes, the Gepidae raging with the sword, the Rugi breaking off the spears in their own wounds, the Suavi fighting on foot, the Huns with bows, the Alani drawing up a battle-line of heavy-armed and the Heruli of light-armed warriors. [Jordanes, "Origins and History of the Goths", l.261.]

Hunnic dominance in Central and Eastern Europe was broken as a result. The handful of Hunnic forces left were expelled by Ardaric after a long siege.

References