History of Hungary
in its modern borders roughly corresponds to the Great Hungarian Plain in Central Europe.
During the Iron Age, it was located at the crossroads between the cultural spheres of Scythian tribes, the Celtic tribes, Dalmatian tribes and the Germanic tribes. In 44 BC, the Sarmatians, Iazyges moved into the Great Hungarian Plain. In 8 AD, the western part of the territory of modern Hungary formed part of Pannonia, a province of the Roman Empire. Roman control collapsed with the Hunnic invasions of 370–410, the Huns created a significant empire based in present-day Hungary. In 453 they reached the height of their expansion under Attila the Hun. After the death of Attila, the empire collapsed in 455, and Pannonia became part of the Ostrogothic Kingdom. The western part of the Carpathian Basin was occupied by the Longobards and the eastern part by the Gepids. In 567, the Avars occupied the territory ruled by the Gepids. In 568, the Longobards moved to Italy from Transdanubia, and the Avars also occupied that territory, Khagan Bayan I established the Avar Khaganate. The Avars were defeated by the Franks and Bulgars, and their steppe-empire ended around 822.
The Hungarians took possession of the Carpathian Basin between 862 and 895, and the Principality of Hungary was established in the late 9th century by Álmos and his son Árpád through the conquest of the Carpathian Basin, the Hungarians secured the territory by the Battle of Pressburg in 907. The Christian Kingdom of Hungary was established in 1000 under King Saint Stephen, ruled by the Árpád dynasty for the following three centuries. In the high medieval period, the kingdom expanded to the Adriatic coast and entered a personal union with Croatia in 1102. In 1241, Hungary was invaded by the Mongols under Batu Khan. The medieval Kingdom of Hungary was a European power, reaching its height in the 14th-15th century. Hungary bore the brunt of the Ottoman wars in Europe during the 15th century. After a long period of Ottoman wars, Hungary's forces were defeated at the Battle of Mohács and its capital was captured in 1541, opening roughly a 150 years long period when the country was divided into three parts: Royal Hungary loyal to the Habsburgs, Ottoman Hungary and the semi-independent Principality of Transylvania. The reunited Hungary came under Habsburg rule at the turn of the 18th century, fighting a war of independence in 1703–1711, and a war of independence in 1848–1849 until a compromise allowed the formation of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy in 1867, a major power into the early 20th century. The Croatian–Hungarian Settlement of 1868 settled the political status of the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia within the Lands of the Crown of Saint Stephen which was the official name for the Hungarian territories of the Dual Monarchy.
Austria-Hungary collapsed after World War I, and the subsequent Treaty of Trianon in 1920 established Hungary's current borders, resulting in the loss of 72% of its historical territory, 58% of its population, and 32% of its ethnic Hungarians. Two-thirds of territory of the Kingdom of Hungary was ceded to Czechoslovakia, the Kingdom of Romania, the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, the First Austrian Republic, the Second Polish Republic and the Kingdom of Italy. A short-lived People's Republic was declared. It was followed by a restored Kingdom of Hungary but was governed by a regent, Miklós Horthy. He officially represented the Hungarian monarchy of Charles IV, Apostolic King of Hungary. Between 1938 and 1941, Hungary recovered part of her lost territories and joined the Axis Powers. During World War II Hungary came under German occupation in 1944, then under Soviet occupation until the end of the war. After World War II, the Second Hungarian Republic was established within Hungary's current-day borders as a socialist People's Republic, lasting from 1949 to the end of communism in Hungary in 1989. The Third Republic of Hungary was established under an amended version of the constitution of 1949, with a new constitution adopted in 2011. Hungary joined the European Union in 2004.
Early history
Prehistory
presence of Homo heidelbergensis is evidenced by the discovery of the "Samu" fossil, dated to c. 300,000 years ago, with traces of habitation as old as 500,000 years ago. Presence of anatomically modern humans dates to c. 33,000 years ago. Neolithization began with the Starčevo–Kőrös–Criș culture, c. 6000 BC. The Bronze Age began with the Vučedol culture, c. 3000 BC.The Iron Age commenced around 800 BC, associated with "Thraco-Cimmerian" artefacts, representing the overlap of the pre-Scythian and pre-Celtic cultural spheres. Hallstatt occupation of western Transdanubia is evident from about 750 BC. Early Greek ethnography locates the Scythian Agathyrsi and the Sigynnae in the region. The Pannonians were also important residents.The classic Scythian culture spread across the Great Hungarian Plain between the 7th–6th century BC.
Their dominance was broken by the Celtic settlement which began in the 4th century BC. By 370 BC the Celts occupied most of Transdanubia from the Pannonians, and around 300 BC they waged successful war against the Scythians. Archaeological evidence shows the advanced state of agriculture and pottery of the La Tène culture. Southern Transdanubia was controlled by the most powerful Celtic tribe, the Scordisci, who were resisted from the east by the Dacians.
The Dacians were dominated by the Celts until the 1st century BC, when the tribes were united by Burebista. Dacia subdued the Scordisci, Taurisci and Boii, however Burebista died shortly after and the centralized power collapsed.File:Pannonia popolazioni png.png|thumb|Ancient peoples in Pannonia, 2nd century BC
Roman rule
Prior to the invasions, the Romans maintained friendly relations and traded with the locals. The Roman Empire conquered the territory of modern-day Hungary in multiple waves. Between 35 and 8 BC, Augustus and his son Tiberius fought the Pannonians for the Drava-Sava region, crushing the Scordisci and some rebellious tribes further south—adding the acquired territories to Illyricum province. Following these successes the tribes in Transdanubia surrendered without opposition. Temporarily the Danube was also exceeded, but the arrival of the Iazyges and another uprising forced the Romans to consolidate their gains at the river border. Soon the province of Pannonia formed. Its first city became Emona, modern-day Ljubljana. Other important Latin settlements were Sirmium, Savaria, Siscia and Poetovio. Road building started in a high pace: the Danubian road network made sailing in the river possible. During the Marcomannic Wars, Pannonia suffered devastation by a powerful alliance of barbaric peoples led by the Marcomanni, but after they were defeated, an age of prosperity started.The Dacians to the east reunited under Decebalus, harassing the limes, the Roman frontier defense system. Trajan, who achieved the greatest territorial extent of the empire, defeated them in two wars and established the province of Dacia in 106. Decebalus committed suicide. Latin, Greek and Asiatic colonists settled on the decimated indigenous people, establishing Ulpia Traiana, Napoca, Apulum, Porolissum and Potaissa among others. They heavily exploited the gold and silver mines of Transylvania. Finally, the southward movement of the Germanic Goths forced Emperor Aurelian to evacuate the province in 271.
After a long period of secure Roman rule, from the 320s Pannonia was in frequent war with the East Germanic and Sarmatian peoples to the north and east. Both the Vandals and the Goths marched through the province, causing huge destruction. After the division of the Roman Empire, Pannonia remained under the rule of the Western Roman Empire, although the district of Sirmium was actually more in the sphere of influence of the East. As the Latin population of the province fled from the continuous barbarian incursions, Hunnic groups began to appear on the verge of the Danube. Under King Rugila, the nomads settled the Great Hungarian Plain, pushing the border guarding peoples westward, but stopping them from reaching Italy in exchange for the transfer of Eastern Pannonia. In 433, Aëtius played the western part too into Attila's hand for suppressing the Burgundians.
Migration period
The Pannonian provinces suffered from the Migration Period from 379 onwards. The settlement of the Goth-Alan-Hun ally caused repeated serious crises and devastations. Contemporaries described it as a state of siege. Pannonia became a corridor for invasions both in the north and in the south. The flight and emigration of the Romans began after two hard decades in 401, and this also caused a recession in secular and ecclesiastical life. The Hun control gradually expanded over Pannonia starting in 410. Finally the Roman Empire ratified the cession of Pannonia by treaty in 433. The flight and emigration of the Romans from Pannonia continued without interruption until the invasion of the Avars in the 6th century. The largest Roman emigration was the earliest, and the 5th and 6th centuries were a phase of gradual emigration.In 453, King Attila died suddenly, resulting in the quick disintegration of his empire. The Huns withdrew to Eastern Europe following the defeat of Attila's son, Ellac, by a coalition of Germanic tribes from the Carpathian Basin. Consequently, the Ostrogoths and Gepids established their kingdoms in the western and eastern part of the Carpathian Basin. Their wars left the region in ruins when King Theodoric abandoned it for the Italian Peninsula, leaving a power vacuum in Pannonia. From the beginning of the 6th century, the Lombards gradually took possessions in the region, eventually reaching Sirmium, the contemporary capital of the Gepid Kingdom. After a series of wars involving the Byzantines, the latter finally fell to the invasion of the nomadic Pannonian Avars led by Khagan Bayan I. Due to their fear of the powerful Avars, the Lombards also departed in 568, thereafter the whole basin came under the rule of the Avar Khaganate.
The rule of the Germanic peoples was followed by almost two and a half centuries of nomadic rule. The Avar Khagan controlled a vast amount of territory spanning from Vienna to the Don river, often waging war against the Byzantines, Germans and Italians. The Pannonian Avars and the other freshly arrived steppe peoples in their confederation, such as the Kutrigurs, intermingled with Slavic and Germanic elements, and completely absorbed the Sarmatians. Archaeological evidence indicates that in the southern border, which was in state of constant fighting with the Byzantines, Avar settlements were built very densely. The Avars played an important role in the Slavic migrations to the Balkans. After a failed attempt to capture Constantinople in 626, the submitted peoples rose up against their domination, with many like the Onogurs in the east and the Slavs of Samo in the west breaking away. The creation of the First Bulgarian Empire distanced the Byzantine Empire from the Avar Khaganate, so the expanding Frankish Empire became its new main rival.
After Charlemagne of Francia sat on the Bavarian throne in 788, the two countries started to share a wide border. Border conflicts were usual. In 791, they engaged in full war. After the Franks won a quick and important victory in the Vienna Woods, the Avars adopted the strategy of "scorched-earth", avoiding new engagements and destroying enemy food supplies. Four years later, a civil war broke out in the Khaganate, with many high-ranking persons, including the Khagan himself falling. Transdanubia was vassalized by Charlemagne, and after an uprising against his superiority, brutally annexed as the Avar March with much of its population slaughtered. Beyond the Danube, the Bulgars, led by their energetic Khan Krum routed the army of the new Khagan in 804, who fled to court of the now Emperor of the Romans. The Avar Khaganate virtually ceased to exist.
Although diminished, the Avars continued to inhabit the Carpathian Basin. The most significant stock became the rapidly increasing Slavs who entered the territory mainly from the south. Under the expansionist policy of the Kingdom of the East Franks, the rudimentary Slavic polities couldn't develop, except one, the Principality of Moravia, which was able to expand into modern-day Western Slovakia. The Bulgarians lacked the power to establish effective control over Transylvania.