Transylvania has been dominated by several different peoples and countries throughout its history.

It
was once the nucleus of the Kingdom of Dacia (82 BC – 106 AD). In 106 AD the Roman
Empire conquered the territory, systematically exploiting its resources. After the Roman legions
withdrew in 271 AD, it was overrun by a succession of various tribes, bringing it under the control of
the Carpi, Visigoths, Huns, Gepids, Avars and Slavs. From 9th to 11th century Bulgarians ruled
Transylvania.[citation needed] It is a subject of dispute whether elements of the mixed Daco–Roman
population survived in Transylvania through the Post-classical Era (becoming the ancestors of
modern Romanians) or the first Vlachs/Romanians appeared in the area in the 13th century after a
northward migration from the Balkan Peninsula.[5][6] There is an ongoing scholarly debate over the
ethnicity of Transylvania's population before the Hungarian conquest (see Origin of the Romanians).
The Magyars conquered much of Central Europe at the end of the 9th century. According to Gesta
Hungarorum, the Vlach voivode Gelou ruled Transylvania before the Hungarians arrived.
The Kingdom of Hungary established partial control over Transylvania in 1003, when king Stephen I,
according to legend, defeated the prince named Gyula.[7][8][9][10] Some historians assert Transylvania
was settled by Hungarians in several stages between the 10th and 13th centuries, [11][12] while others
claim that it was already settled,[13] since the earliest Hungarian artifacts found in the region are dated
to the first half of the 10th century.[14]
Between 1003[dubious – discuss] and 1526, Transylvania was a voivodeship in the Kingdom of Hungary, led
by a voivode appointed by the King of Hungary.[15][16] After the Battle of Mohács in 1526, Transylvania
became part of the Kingdom of János Szapolyai. Later, in 1570, the kingdom transformed into
the Principality of Transylvania, which was ruled primarily by Calvinist Hungarian princes. During that
time, the ethnic composition of Transylvania transformed from an estimated near equal number [17] of
the ethnic groups to a Romanian majority. Vasile Lupu estimates their number already more than
one-third of the population of Transylvania in a letter to the sultan around 1650. [18] For most of this
period, Transylvania, maintaining its internal autonomy, was under the suzerainty of the Ottoman
Empire.
The Habsburgs acquired the territory shortly after the Battle of Vienna in 1683. In 1687, the rulers of
Transylvania recognized the suzerainty of the Habsburg emperor Leopold I, and the region was
officially attached to the Habsburg Empire. The Habsburgs acknowledged Principality of
Transylvania as one of the Lands of the Crown of Saint Stephen,[19] but the territory of principality was
administratively separated[20][21] from Habsburg Hungary[22][23][24] and subjected to the direct rule of the
emperor's governors.[25] In 1699 the Turks legally acknowledged their loss of Transylvania in
the Treaty of Karlowitz; however, some anti-Habsburg elements within the principality submitted to
the emperor only in the 1711 Peace of Szatmár, and Habsburg control over Principality of
Transylvania was consolidated. The Grand Principality of Transylvania was reintroduced 54 years
later in 1765.
The Hungarian revolution against the Habsburgs started in 1848. The revolution in the Kingdom of
Hungary grew into a war for the total independence from the Habsburg dynasty. Julius Jacob von
Haynau, the leader of the Austrian army was appointed plenipotentiary to restore order in Hungary
after the conflict. He ordered the execution of The 13 Hungarian Martyrs of Arad and Prime
Minister Batthyány was executed the same day in Pest. After a series of serious Austrian defeats in
1849, the empire came close to the brink of collapse. Thus, the new young emperor Franz Joseph I
had to call for Russian help in the name of the Holy Alliance. Czar Nicholas I answered, and sent a
200,000 men strong army with 80,000 auxiliary forces. Finally, the joint army of Russian and Austrian
forces defeated the Hungarian forces. After the restoration of Habsburg power, Hungary was placed
under martial law. Following the Hungarian Army's surrender at Világos (now Șiria, Romania) in
1849, their revolutionary banners were taken to Russia by the Tsarist troops, and were kept there
both under the Tsarist and Communist systems (in 1940 the Soviet Union offered the banners to the
Horthy government).