Hungarian Uprising Flashcards
The background to the Hungarian uprising.
A key Soviet satellite country was Hungary. By 1949, the country had voted in a Communist government . The elections that had been held were not fair. Voters were intimidated on their way to vote and the Soviet Union spent huge amounts of money on propaganda. The Communist Party were the only political party allowed in Hungary. This meant that the Hungarian people were living under a dictatorship . It was no surprise that many Hungarian people wanted to take action to remove the influence of the Soviet Union. By 1956, they had attempted this in an uprising. However, this failed and their actions ultimately led to even greater control and restrictions in every Soviet controlled country in Eastern Europe.
Why were the Hungarians unhappy?
❑ They complained about their lack of
freedom under a Communist system.
❑ They could not vote. There was no
freedom to say what they felt in
newspapers/press.
❑ There were fuel and food shortages due
to poor harvests and many resources being taken by Russia.
❑ The Hungarian communist leader was
brutal and the Hungarian people called him the ‘Bald Butcher’ for how cruel he was to anybody who opposed him.
What did the Hungarian people do?
❑ The Hungarian people protested in capital city Budapest .
❑ They tore down a statue of Stalin to show the hatred of Communism.
❑ This worried the Soviet Union as they wanted to control the people in their satellite states.
How did the soviets respond
❑ The new Soviet leader Khrushchev sent in the Red Army (Soviet troops) with tanks to stop the riots.
❑ Khrushchev tried to please the Hungarians by giving them a new leader called Imre Nagy.
❑ Nagy was still a communist but would allow the Hungarian people more freedom . Khrushchev believed this would keep the Hungarians happy and stop any future protests.
How did Nagy help?
He wanted voting and democratic elections in Hungary rather than a dictatorship.
He asked for political prisoners to be freed.
He asked Khrushchev to remove Soviet Troops from Hungary.
What was Khrushchev reaction to this?
Khrushchev was happy for these changes to happen, as long as the people of Hungary remained calm and did not start to rebel again. Khrushchev also made sure that Hungary joined the Warsaw Pact. This way, the Soviet Union could take action quickly to stop
How did things change by 1956
In November 1956 , Nagy went further and told The Soviet Union that it would leave the Warsaw Pact. Khrushchev was not pleased. If Hungary left the military alliance, other countries might do the same. This would ruin the power of the Soviet Union. This threat to leave the Warsaw Pact led to the Soviet invasion of Hungary.
What were the longer term consequences of the soviet invasion in Hungary?
❑ Khrushchev seemed more powerful now he had shown other Soviet
satellite states what he was prepared to do if they protested against
Communist rule.
❑ A new, stronger and more Communist leader was appointed in
Hungary to control the people even more.
❑ It showed other Eastern European states that the USA was not willing
to help them. This made Khrushchev even more confident.
❑ The only way America helped was by taking in 80,000 refugees from
Hungary and offering medical aid.
❑ Khrushchev could now be even more aggressive in Eastern Europe as
he knew the USA would not want to start a war against the Soviet Union
❑ It made the USA look weak as they had not been prepared to support Hungary by sending in troops.
❑ Overall, it made the Soviet Union look strong and the USA look weak.
Short term consequences of the Hungarian uprising?
❑ The Hungarian Uprising failed. Hungary was taken
over again by force by the Soviet Red Army with 20,000 troops. . The Hungarians asked for help from the America but no support came.
❑ The Soviet Red Army were brutal and 20,000 Hungarians were killed in the uprising.
❑ Over 1,000 Russian troops were killed by the Hungarians.
❑ Imre Nagy and several of his supporters were executed .
❑ Khrushchev announced that Nagy’s death was ‘ a lesson to the leaders of all Communist
countries’ . He sent out a threat to other countries who threatened to leave the Warsaw Pact.
Why did America and the west not help with the Hungarian uprising?
Despite being offered help with the Marshall Plan, no military help was given to the Hungarians.
America wanted to stop Communism from spreading with the policy of containment but did not want to interfere too much with those countries already taken over by the Soviet Union.
It was too risky to plan a military attack on a Soviet satellite state as this might start a nuclear war .
The Soviet invasion of Hungary.
In response to the threat of leaving the Warsaw Pact, Khrushchev sent in the Red Army into Budapest. The Hungarian people fought back in what was known as the Hungarian Uprising . Hungarians, including women and children took up arms against the invading Red Army.
