Hungary before the Magyars
The area of present-day Hungary before the arrival of the Magyars in the Carpathian Basin was the destination and passage area of countless peoples due to the wealth of the country and its lack of natural barriers.
prehistory
The most important Paleolithic site is Vértesszőlős , where Homo erectus' debris industries were discovered. Mesolithic sites are sparse so far, but have become more and more common in recent years due to targeted searches. The Neolithic settlement of the lowlands begins with the Körös culture around 6200 BC. BC, followed by the Middle Neolithic Alföld linear ceramics and the Tisza culture of the end Neolithic .
Antiquity
In Roman times Hungary was part of the province of Pannonia .
Migration period
During the Migration Period , the Huns were expelled or assimilated from the former Pannonia and the Carpathian Basin as a result of the Battle of the Catalaunian Fields in 451 - but finally only after the death of their King Attila († 453) and after disputes over the throne .
The rebellious Germanic Gepids , Rugier and Skiren defeated the Huns and their not very loyal allies ( Alans , Heruli and Quads ) in the Battle of Nedao 454/55 . The Goths had largely kept out of the conflict and established an empire between the Alps and the Danube (the area around Lake Neusiedl became one of their settlement centers). They were settled as Foederati of the Eastern Roman Empire, their Pannonian Empire existed from 456 to 473. The Heruler, Rugier and Skiren established empires in the north and west, the Gepids east of the Danube.
On September 7, 456, an earthquake destroyed the city of Sabaria . Around 460 the King of the Goths was killed by the Skiren in revenge for the lack of support on the Nedao. From 471 the Ostrogoths emigrated under the pressure of their neighbors (the Battle of the Bolia 469 could still be won) and attacked Macedonia and Italy under Theodoric in 488. Rugier, Heruler and Suebi take over the areas. In 493 parts of the former province were again under the rule of the Ostrogoths.
From 508 the Lombards under King Tato settled the Pannonian Plain along the Danube. They had previously subdued the Rugians and destroyed the Herul Empire in 510. After Theodoric's death, the Ostrogothic areas went to the Longobards under King Wacho until 530 . Around 540 they defeated the remnants of the Quads or Donausueben, which were then absorbed by the Lombards. In 567 they destroyed the Gepid Empire together with the Avars , before they themselves fled to Italy in 568 from the Avars. From the middle of the 6th century, Slavs invaded the Carpathian Basin. From 591 to 602 the Eastern Roman Emperor Maurikios put an end to the Avar and Slavic threats through several campaigns and devastated parts of the Hungarian lowlands. From 612 to 630 the Slavs and Avars advanced to Constantinople . Herakleios was able to restore Eastern Roman rule in southern Pannonia and the Balkans by 634 . However, the Slavic immigrants increasingly gained the upper hand, as Ostrom had to concentrate his forces for the wars against Persia and Arabs.
middle Ages
After Charlemagne and the Slavs were able to drive out the Avars, Frankish settlers also came to the country, which was then dominated by Slavs. The Slavs were able to set up their own administrative units with the Neutra Principality , the Great Moravian Empire and the Balaton Principality . But Avar settlement areas are also attested from this time. The Franks founded the Avarmark . The area of what is now Hungary was conquered by the Magyars from around 900 , and it became partly Hungarian . At least until the end of the Middle Ages, however, Slavic settlements continued to exist throughout today's Hungary. Due to the Christianization of the Magyars by Bavarian orders and the German settlement in the east , the western areas became increasingly German from the turn of the millennium. Most of today's remnants of Slavic and German language islands in Hungary did not emerge until the 18th century.