Since the 20th century, the area and pattern of Lake Dongting wetland have changed significantly under the combined effect of natural and human activities. Based on a lot of historical materials, related literatures and data, this paper identified 4 evolutionary regimes of Lake Dongting wetland area and landscape pattern in the past 120 years (1900-2020) using the piecewise linear regression method, and analysed the driving factors and their interactions of each regime. The evolution of Lake Dongting wetland area could be divided into the obvious decline period (1900-1949), the rapid decline period (1950-1978), the stable period (1979-1998), and the slight recovery period (1999-present). The evolution of the landscape pattern experienced the relatively stable period (before 1949), water transformation to floodplain stage (1960s-1990s) and floodplain transformation to water stage (2000s-present). Due to differences in socio-economic and productivity levels, the drivers of wetland evolution were different between regimes, resulting in different rates and directions of wetland evolution. Lake reclamation and the return of agricultural land to the lake were the main drivers of wetland change. Meteorological fluctuations, reservoir construction, sand mining and channel regulation affected the wetland pattern by changing the water-sediment situation in the lake. They had also influenced the reclamation of lake embankments and the return of farmland to the lake. In order to meet the demands of economic development, the government's participation in wetland development had gradually increased, and the government's attitude towards lake reclamation had gone through stages, including “encourage-participate-prohibit-return lakes”, which was the core driving factor for the development of Lake Dongting Wetland over the past 120 years. The development process of Lake Dongting Wetland over the past one hundred years is the comprehensive representation of regional socio-economic development, the wrestling process of human and natural forces, and the harmonious development and tendency to gradually reduce the contradiction between man and land.