19th-century illustration, "Huns in the Battle of Chalons," drawn by A. de Neuville. IN this sensationalized engraving, the Huns wage war against the Visigoths and Romans on the Catalaunian Plains of Gaul in A.D. 451. Led by Attila, the Huns were defeated by the combined forces of several tribes and the Romans under Aetius Flavius.