- Mid Stone Age (first traces of human settlement)
- Early Stone Age (settled farming)
- Bronze Age (find of crouched burials and urnfields)
- Early Iron Age (settlement of Celts)

In Roman times the Burgenland was the heartland of the province of Pannonia. Following the battle of Augsburg (955) German settlers from Central Europe moved eastwards. The Burgenland was conquered and a close line of fortifications, which partly still exists today, was built.

In 1459 the Burgenland became a part of Austria. The Peace of Ödenburg (1462) ended this union and the region became a part of Hungary under King Matthias Corvinus. Maximilian I conquered the province again and in 1647 Emperor Ferdinand II left the region to Hungary without resistance.

In 1918, after the decline of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy, the people of the Burgenland voted for a union with Austria. This treaty was confirmed by the Peace of Saint-Germain and Trianon, only the region of Ödenburg had to hold a referendum.

The referendum caused the affiliation with Hungary. It was renamed Sopron. Therefore Eisenstadt became capital of the Burgenland (instead of Ödenburg) in 1925.