The settlement was already inhabited in ancient times. It has played a role in the Ottoman Empire times and during Rákóczi's War of Independence. In the Budapest offensive in the final stages of the Second World War, Soviet troops occupied the town at great cost, followed by four decades of communist rule. Meanwhile, it was famous for its cannery, wine and fish soup. The country's only nuclear power plant was built in Paks in the 1980s, the final decade of Soviet rule within the country.