History of Timișoara

Timișoara listenⓘ is also known by the following names: Hungarian: Temesvár, German: Temeswar / Temeschwar / Temeschburg, Serbo-Croatian: Temišvar / Темишвар, Turkish: Tamışvar / Temeşvar.

Archaeological discoveries prove that the area where Timișoara is located today has been inhabited since ancient times.

Archaeological finds from a medieval cemetery show that a community of warriors settled in the region west of the present-day town in the second half of the 10th century.

[3] The mid-12th-century Muslim geographer, Muhammad al-Idrisi, mentioned a town named "T.n.y.s.b.r" and described it as a prosperous settlement, located to the south of the river "T.y.s.y.a", or Tisza.

[6] Historian István Petrovics associates T.n.y.s.b.r with Temesvár, suggesting that Idrisi mislocated it because he had no direct information of the town.

[10] The Dominicans settled in the town before Csanád Telegdi was consecrated bishop in their local church in early 1323.

[13] Records of citizens who moved from Șemlacu Mare, Maráz and other nearby villages to Temesvár prove that it had developed into an important regional center.

[16] For instance, the name of Johannes Olaah ("John the Vlach"), who was a burgher of Temesvár in 1539, suggests that he was of Romanian origin.

In 1514 the largest peasants' revolt in Hungarian history was defeated in a battle near Temesvár and its Székely leader György Dózsa was tortured and executed.

The Ottomans surrendered the city to the Habsburg Imperial armies led by Prince Eugene of Savoy on 12 October 1716 during the Austro-Turkish War of 1716–18.

Inside the walls houses, hospitals, schools, and churches were being raised, while outside the city factories were being opened.

Because the Austrian commander of the city's garrison decided to defend the Habsburg interests, the Hungarian army began an unsuccessful siege of Temesvár that lasted for 114 days.

The city became capital of Temes County after the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867 which united the administrations of the region with those of the Kingdom of Hungary.

In 1857 a train line linking Temesvár with Szeged was constructed, and in 1867 horse trams were introduced in the city.

The Hungarian Calvinist pastor László Tőkés was ordered to be deported by the Securitate, or secret police, and as a reaction his house was surrounded by members of his church.

Timișoara was declared the first Free Town on 20 December 1989, suffering 130 reported deaths and 3,352 wounded during the revolution [citation needed].