13 BC The Roman province of Pannonia is established on the west bank of the Danube; nomadic tribes occupy the east.

AD 896 Seven Magyar tribes cross the Carpathian Mountains and invade the Hungarian plains.

1000 King Stephen is crowned and makes Hungary a centralized, Christian state.

1526 Sultan Suleiman I and his Turkish army defeat the Hungarians at Mohács; most of the country is brought under his rule.

1686 Habsburg troops recapture Buda, on the west bank of the Danube (later united with Pest, on the east).

1896 The Great Exposition celebrates the 1,000th anniversary of the Magyar Conquest.

1919 Hungary briefly becomes a Bolshevik republic.

1920 Under the Treaty of Trianon, Hungary loses two-thirds of its territory to Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia and Romania, and comes under the rule of an Austro-Hungarian regent.

1943 After regaining its lands, Hungary loses the majority of its army at Stalingrad.

1944 German occupation; most of the Jewish population is deported.

1948 Communists take power.

1956 Rebellion against Communist rule is crushed by Soviet troops.

1989 Hungary opens its borders to Austria and the Iron Curtain begins to lift.

1990 Free elections are won by a center-right coalition.

1999 Hungary officially joins NATO.