In the early 1500s, the Ottoman Turks dominated central Hungary. By the late 17th century the entire region had come under the rule of Austria’s Hapsburgs, and Hungary became a partner in the Austro-Hungarian Empire in the mid-19th century. After a period of turmoil following World War I, an independent kingdom of Hungary was established. The country fell under communist rule following World War II. An uprising against Soviet domination in 1956 was crushed by the Soviet Red Army forces. But Hungary later became the first Eastern European country to gain some economic freedom. Hungary's transition to a Western-style parliamentary democracy was the first and the smoothest among the former Soviet bloc. It held its first multiparty elections in 1990, and joined NATO in 1999. Embracing aspects of the free market while still under communist rule as early as 1968 allowed the nation’s authorities to decentralize the economy on a limited basis. This helped smooth the economic transition after the collapse of communism in the early 1990s. Hungary's willingness and ability to undertake structural reforms in the mid-1990s resulted in subsequent macroeconomic successes, and the country was granted accession into the European Union in May 2004.