Hungarian invasions of Europe | |||||
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Hungarian raids in the 9–10th century | |||||
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Belligerents | |||||
Hungarian tribes Principality of Hungary |
Kingdom of Italy East Francia Middle Francia Great Moravia Byzantine Empire Catalan Counties Upper March of Al-Andalus First Bulgarian Empire Khazaria West Francia Lower Pannonia Principality of Littoral Croatia Kingdom of Croatia Principality of Serbia Duchy of Carinthia | ||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||
Árpád Bogát Dursac Szalárd Bulcsú Lehel Súr Kisa Apor Taksony |
Berengar I of Italy Louis the Child Luitpold, Margrave of Bavaria Arnulf, Duke of Bavaria Henry the Fowler Otto the Great Conrad, Duke of Lorraine Muncimir of Croatia Tomislav of Croatia Časlav of Serbia Abd al-Rahman III Boris I of Bulgaria Simeon I of Bulgaria Bardas Skleros Peter | ||||
Strength | |||||
~25,000 warriors maximum (but variable) | ~40,000 (variable) | ||||
Casualties and losses | |||||
Mostly not significant |
Mostly heavy. Some villages and cities burned. |
The Hungarian invasions of Europe (Hungarian: kalandozások, German: Ungarneinfälle) took place in the 9th and 10th centuries, the period of transition in the history of Europe in the Early Middle Ages, when the territory of the former Carolingian Empire was threatened by invasion from multiple hostile forces, the Magyars (Hungarians) from the east, the Viking expansion from the north, and the Arabs from the south.[1][2]
The Hungarians took possession of the Carpathian Basin (corresponding to the later Kingdom of Hungary) in a pre-planned manner, with a long move-in between 862–895, and launched a number of campaigns both westward into former Francia and southward into the Byzantine Empire. The westward raids were stopped only with the Magyar defeat of the Battle of Lechfeld in 955, which led to the establishment of the Holy Roman Empire in 962, a new political order in Western Europe. The raids into Byzantine territories continued throughout the 10th century, until the eventual Christianisation of the Magyars and the establishment of the Christian Kingdom of Hungary in 1000 or 1001.