Pannonia/History of Pannonia

The following page tracks the history of Pannonia.

Pre-Historic Era
The land of modern Pannonia has been populated by humanity around 300,000 years ago. It has been proven with pre-historic human fossils found in the Vértes. It was found that the fossils belonged to a pre-historic man, who has then been named as Samu. Although modern humans has populated the place in 33,000 BC. Since then the Carpathian basin has been one of the most lively geographical place in Europe.

The Bronze and the Iron Ages
The Bronze age began in circa 3000 BC while the Iron age started at 800 BC.

Roman Era and Pannonia Provincia
After the 4th century BC, the land of Transdanubia had plenty of owners, but the most well known one was the Roman Empire. The empire gained the land between 35 and 9 BC. At the same time, the territory became a province of the Roman Empire under the name "Pannonia Provincia". It has been one of the richest provinces after Christ's birth. Famous cities like Gorsium (Tác), Sopianae (Pécs) and Aquincum (Óbuda) has been born It has been under Roman rule for more than 500 years. Finally it has changed owners after the Western Roman Empire fell in 480 AD.

Under the rule of the Frankish and the Avar empires
Right after the Western Roman Empire fell in 480, the Frankish Empire took the lead over Pannonia. Even though it has been part of the empire for a long time since it changed it's owner in 843 AD when the Frankish Empire fell. The Avar Empire became the new owner of the region and owned it for 52 years when the Hungarians arrived in the Carpathian basin a conquered it.

The Principality of Hungary
The Principality of Hungary has been declared in 895 AD, when Árpád and his people arrived in the Carpathian basin. Some years passed and the Hungarians began to attack European states such as the Holy Roman Empire or the remains of the Frankish Empire. The furthest attack by the Hungarians is located in present day Spain, near the city of Madrid. It continued like this for decades, until 955 when the Hungarian army was defeated at Augsburg. Years after the defeat, the Principality of Hungary has taken up Christianity as their religion.

First years and the wars with the Holy Roman Empire (1001-1200's)
The Kingdom of Hungary was proclaimed at 1001 when Saint Stephen was crowned as the first king of the Kingdom of Hungary, ending the paganism in the country. The king first ordered the building of new churches across the country and forced both pagan and Christian people to go to the nearest church every Sunday, otherwise they would've been punished. The second thing the king has done was the organization of education in Hungary. It was a requirement of children under an age to study until they reach a required age to go to universities. Stephen I died in 1038. He named Venetian Peter Orseolo as the new king, stating that Vazul was unsuitable for the throne. This statement led Vazul to start a revolution against the new king, but the revolt failed as his supporters were weaker than Peter's. As a punishment Vazul has been blinded and sent to prison. Peter continued to rule until 1040 when Samuel Aba gained the throne of Hungary, after finding that he's related to the Árpád dynasty. He ruled Hungary for 6 years when Peter came back to the throne and expelled Samuel Aba. At the same year, Peter expelled all pagan revolt across his country. Later on, the Holy Roman Empire demanded Hungary to become a vassal of it, however Peter refused the demands which resulted in a war between Hungary and the empire. Hungarian forces defeated the HRE's fleet at the Battle of Pozsony, and the HRE retreated from Hungary forever.

The Mongol invasions (1241-1242, 1286)
The Kingdom of Hungary have had suffered from a major blow when the Mongolian Empire had invaded the country from the East. Following the defeat of the Hungarian army at Muhi, Béla IV had escaped to Croatia while being followed by the Mongolian army. Eventually, the king escaped to a small island at the Adriatic coast of Hungary, and the Mongolian army retreated from the kingdom in 1242 without any rational explanation being known as of 2020. The Mongols have killed many people and have destroyed many smaller villages, however the fortified cities like Fehérvár, Veszprém, Pannonhalma etc. had survived the campaign. The Hungarians came to the conclusion that if they wanted their country to be safer and harder to destroy, then they must build fortifications across Hungary.

Afterall, as it was expected, a second Mongol invasion occured in 1286, but this time the eastern forces weren't as strong as in the first wave. The Hungarian army managed to wipe them out in a matter of 2 months thanks to the amount of fortresses that have been built since the first wave.

First Hungarian Empire (1290-1301)
Following the Mongol invasions of Hungary, the kingdom had managed to get it's army on the top, and gained land on several fronts. The Hungarians have conquered the Romanian regions firstly, and then turned to the West to siege Vienna and other key cities in the Austrian region. The newly growing kingdom had gotten as far as Salzburg. Following the victories on the Western front, they have turned to the South again to gain more lands on the Balkan peninsula. Hungary have managed to get as far as Skopje, Tirana and even Constantinople, however suddenly the house of Árpád had died out in 1301, ending the conquests of the First Hungarian Empire.

The era of chaos (1301-1310)
Following the fall of the First Hungarian Empire, the nation had lost it's dominance on the Balkans, as well as in the Austrian region. Several smaller "rulers" declared themselves as the kings of Hungary, however none of them have stayed on the throne for a long time. The population suffered from poverty, hunger and several smaller outbreaks due to the amount of rats growing, especially in the bigger cities. such as Budapest.

The new dynasty and the Second Hungarian Empire (1310-1387)
A new king called Anjou Charles stepped in the situation in 1310 and took the throne with the support of the Hungarian people. He immediately began investing in other regions of Hungary, as well as building more and more castles and fortresses accross the country. Hungary was once again a strong and proud nation, seeked by the biggest powers for assistance in their conflicts. The country also regained some part of it's former empire, therefore was called Hungarian Empire once again. The Hungarian army knocked at the doors of Venice, Constantinople and even Kraków, and has become even larger over time. Charles died in 1342, leaving his empire to his son, Lewis, who managed to make his father's empire even bigger than it was. Hungarian dominance accross the whole of Central Europe was usual, the country is still considered to be one of the the biggest empires in history as of nowadays. Lewis have also managed to rule Poland until his death in 1380. He died in present day Trnava in Slovakia.

The fall of the Second Hungarian Empire (1387-1440)
Following Lewis' death, his empire immediately began losing it's dominance. Several inner and outer threats have occured including the Habsburgs, who have regained their lands and even more, the Turkish who were about to invade Europe at that time, and even the Italian, who were hungry for revenge after their defeat at Milan in 1375. Hungary would once again be struggling to survive on it's own if there wasn't help from the Polish and the French.

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The Hunyadi dynasty (1444-1490)
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The fall of Hungary (1490-1556)
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Wiping out the Turkish forces (1566-1686)
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Rising tensions between the Habsburgs and the Hungarians (1686-1703)
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Rákóczi's war of independence (1703-1711)
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