Secondary tropical forests have expanded rapidly over the last century as human-driven land-use changes and disturbances clear vegetation and initiate natural regeneration. Because these forests typically regenerate on former agricultural fields or pastures, their recovery pathways are strongly shaped by the type and intensity of previous land use and by the lasting legacies these practices leave in soils and vegetation. Although previous studies have examined how previous land-use practices influence secondary succession, few have evaluated the underlying mechanisms through which land-use history creates above- and belowground legacies and how these jointly shape successional dynamics. Here, we ask how previous land use creates legacies in soils and vegetation, and how these legacies influence the start (initial values), speed (rates of change), and direction (successional trajectories) of early secondary tropical forest succession. We established 122 permanent plots in recently abandoned agricultural fields across dry and wet tropical forests in Australia, Ghana, and Mexico, and monitored them annually over the first five years, measuring 12 attributes related to structure, diversity, function, and biotic interactions. Structural and diversity recovery were strongly shaped by vegetation and soil legacies: higher densities of remnant trees and resprouts and greater soil organic carbon increased both initial states and rates of change, whereas greater grass and vine cover suppressed recovery. In contrast, functional composition and biotic interactions were more strongly driven by annual precipitation, indicating strong environmental filtering. In sum, above- and belowground legacies jointly regulate early successional pathways, highlighting the important role of socio-ecological context in shaping secondary tropical forest succession.