Who were the Huns and/or Xiongnu?

Question

Who were the Hun people who made several appearances in Eurasian history? Were they Finno-Ugric, Paleo-Siberean, Mongolic or Turkic? Were the Hun who attacked Roman Empire extensions of the Xiongu, the first nomadic sovereign state in Central Asia? Were the Hun a confederation of different tribes speaking different languages, or was there one specific ethnically distinct tribe who were the Hun?

Answer 1

No one is absolutely certain about the exact origins of the Huns, but the best guess is that they were a collection of tribes (the Xiongnu) from modern day Mongolia. The Huns were a confederation of tribes that spoke the same language and shared the same ethnic background (although they had conquered many tribes including the Alans and eastern Goths) who at their peak, were united under the leadership of Attila. After Attila's death, they split apart into competing factions and never regained the power they once had.