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The Celts occupied Hungary in the 3rd century BC but were conquered by the Romans around the beginning of the Christian era. Until the early 5th century AD, all of Hungary west of the Danube (an area known as Transdanubia) was included in then Roman province of Pannonia. The Roman legion stationed at Aquincum (Budapest) guarded the north-eastern frontier of the empire. The pleasure-loving Romans planted the first vineyards in Hungary and built baths near the region’s thermal waters. They were forced to abandon Pannonia in 451 by the Huns, whose short-lived empire was established by Attila. The Huns were followed by Goths, Lombards, and finally the Avars, a powerful Turkic people that was subdued in turn by Charlemagne in 796.

In 896, seven nomadic Magyar tribes under the leadership of Arpad swept in from the Eurasian plains beyond the Volga River and occupied the Danube Basin. The Magyars terrorised Europe with their raids as far as Spain, northern Germany and southern Italy until they were stopped in 955 by the German king, Otto I at the battle of Augsburg and subsequently converted to Christianity. Hungary’s first king and patron saint, Stephen I was crowned on Christmas Day in the year 1000. Medieval Hungary was a large and powerful state which included Transylvania (now in Romania), Slovakia and Croatia.

In 1456 Hungarians under Janos Hunyadi stopped the ottoman Turkish advance at Belgrade but the Turks defeated the Hungarian army at Mohacs after a peasant revolt in 1526. Buda Castle capitulated in 1541 and Hungary was divided into three parts. The central part was in Turkish hands, Transdanubia was governed by the Austrian House of Habsburg and the principality of Transylvania became a vassal state of the Ottoman Empire. The Turks were finally expelled in 1686 and Hungary was subjected to Habsburg domination, eventually forming the Austro-Hungarian Dual Monarchy in 1867. Following the defeat of Austria at the end of World War I, Hungary lost two-thirds of its territory and nearly as much of its population.

Hungary was declared a democratic republic in November 1918, a communist dictatorship was established in March 1919 by Béla Kun but it lasted only 134 days before being replaced by a Social Democratic government in August. The loss of its territories, economic difficulties and high inflation rates all contributed to move the political scene to the right and later to fascism. At the beginning of WW II Hungary allied with Germany in exchange for Southern Slovakia and Northern Transylvania which were lost again after their defeat to Soviet armies in 1945. In 1956 an uprising against Stalinism was defeated by Soviet troops. Finally, in 1990, the Communist party voluntarily allowed the establishment of a multi-party parliamentary democracy and the Soviet army left the country. In 1999, Hungary became full member of NATO.