A brief history of Hungary with dates:
- 895-900: Hungarian tribes began to seize territories in 895. They first occupied the Great Hungarian Plain and Transylvania, and by 900, they seized the Carpathian Basin east of the Danube.
- 1001: After the death of his father Géza in 997, Stephen became the grand prince then was coronated “by the will of God” to be the first monarch of the Kingdom of Hungary on 1 January 1001 (on Christmas of 1000 according to the Julian calendar). He is considered to be the founder of the Hungarian Christian state: he turned to the West and severely punished those who would oppose the spread of Christianity. He was later canonised and declared a saint.
- 1241-1242: Hungary was invaded by the Tatars of Mongolia, causing one of the most devastating destructions of the country's history.
- 1458-1490: In the eyes of posterity, King Matthias I is known as a great renaissance monarch who first brought the new Italian cultural movement and style to Hungary. He invited numerous Italian humanists, as well as naturalists and artists to his court. The collections of his library, the Bibliotheca Corviniana were renowned far and wide. It was the second biggest library in Europe of the time.
- 1541: Suleiman I occupied the castle of Buda. Hungary was split into three parts: the Kingdom of Hungary, ruled by the Habsburgs, the so-called Transylvanian Principality and the conquered territory occupied by Turkish forces.
- 1703-1711: Monarch Francis Rákóczi II declares a war of independence against the Habsburg Empire, but the uprising fails.
- 1848-1849: another revolution and war of independence is declared with an aim to topple the rule of the Austrians over Hungary.
- 1867: The Habsburg Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary effect a compromise, thus officially establishing the dual constitutional monarchy known as Austria-Hungary or the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, based on the principle of parity.
- 1873: Buda, Pest and Óbuda are united to form Budapest.
- 1896: the Millennium of the Hungarian Conquest is commemorated by a series of exhibition events lasting from May to October, attended by Pope Leo XIII and Emperor Franz Joseph.
- 1914: Hungary enters World War I on the side of the Central Powers, who later lost the war. After the world war, the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy was effectively dissolved as a result of military losses and the rise of national movements within the monarchy.
- 4 June 1920: With the conclusion of the Treaty of Trianon, Hungary loses two thirds of its territories and population.
- 19 March 1944: Hungary is occupied by the Nazi German forces to prevent the Hungarian government from negotiating a secret peace treaty.
- 4 April 1945: The Soviet army occupied Hungary, pushing Hungary from the grasp of one dictatorship to another.
- 23 March 1956: A revolt begins with the principal objective to remove the Soviet rule from the country.
- 1990: Even though the last Soviet soldier, Commander Viktor Silov leaves the country on 19th June, the sovereignty of Hungary is only reestablished later, on 30 June 1991 according to the treaty concluded between the two countries.
- 1990 The first democratically elected prime minister of Hungary.
- 2004: Hungary joins the European Union.