Before the arrival of the Hungarians, three early medieval powers, the First Bulgarian Empire, East Francia, and Moravia, had fought each other for control of the Carpathian Basin. They occasionally hired Hungarian horsemen as soldiers. Therefore, the Hungarians who dwelt on the Pontic steppes east of the Carpathian Mountains were familiar with what would become their homeland when their conquest started.

The Hungarian conquest started in the context of a "late or 'small' migration of peoples". The Hungarians took possession of the Carpathian Basin in a pre-planned manner, with a long move-in between 862–895. The conquest proper started from 894, when armed conflicts opened with the Bulgarians and Moravians after the requests for help from Arnulf, Frankish king and Leo VI, Byzantine emperor.^[17] During the occupation, the Hungarians found sparse population and met no well-established states or effective control of any empire in the plain. They were able to take over the basin quickly,^[18] defeating the First Bulgarian Tsardom, disintegrating the Principality of Moravia, and firmly establishing their state^[19] there by 900.^[20] Archaeological findings indicate that they settled in the lands near the Sava and Nyitra by this time.^[21] The Hungarians strengthened their control over the Carpathian Basin by defeating the Bavarian army in a battle fought at Brezalauspurc on 4 July 907. They launched a series of campaigns to Western Europe between 899 and 955 and also targeted the Byzantine Empire between 943 and 971. The military power of the nation allowed the Hungarians to conduct successful fierce campaigns as far as the territories of modern Spain. However, they gradually settled in the basin and established a Christian monarchy, the Kingdom of Hungary, around 1000.