During the Cretaceous, the Central Western Carpathians (CWC) evolved as an intracontinental thrust belt by progradational shortening from the inner (Meliatic) towards the outer (Penninic-Vahic) bounding oceanic domain. The Early Cretaceous basement nappe stacking in the internal CWC zones was coeval with distension in the external zones, followed by a collapse of the overthickened crust, unroofing of the Veporic metamorphic core complex and gravity gliding of the cover nappe systems towards the unconstrained Tatric foreland in mid-Cretaceous times. In the Late Cretaceous, shortening affected the external CWC zones and the Vahic ocean was consumed. The available data on the geochronological, magmatic, metamorphic, structural, lithostratigraphic and sedimentological record of these processes are reviewed and their broad-scale tentative interpretation is presented.