Hungarian Uprising 1956

Question 1

When was the Hungarian Uprising

Answer 1

July-November 1956

Question 2

What was life like under Communist rule

Answer 2

News was censored, secret police (ACH) was active, religion was banned, and the curriculum was tightly controlled.

Question 3

What was life like for the people - stats

Answer 3

2,000 executed and 100,000 imprisoned in the process of Communists gaining control.
People very poor

Question 4

How did the war make it worse

Answer 4

Hungary had been devastated by bombs yet food and industrial goods were sent to Russia. Ordinary people saw standard of living fall and they had to pay for the costs of occupying Soviet Forces.

Question 5

Who lead Hungary before the Uprising between 1949 and 1956

Answer 5

Matyas Rakosi

Question 6

What was the issue with Rakosi

Answer 6

He was a hard-line communist who crushed political opposition

Question 7

What caused Rakosi to retire due to ‘ill health’

Answer 7

He asked the USSR to help arrest 400 political opponents and there had been protests in July against the poor standards of living

Question 8

Who was appointed after Rakosi

Answer 8

Erno Gero in an attempt to stop protests by the people

Question 9

What was the problem with Gero and what happened

Answer 9

The people didn’t want him either and wanted the reformer Imre Nagy to take over

Question 10

What emboldened the people to protest for Nagy

Answer 10

1. There were signals that Eisenhower (US President) would support them and they had intervened in the Korean War
2. In June 1956 the solidarity strike in Poland had got Russia to concede some demands
3. Stalin had died in 1953 and Khrushchev gave a de-Stalinisation speech in 1956 which seemed to suggest and step towards relaxing some restrictions in Soviet colonies

Question 11

When was the first protest for Nagy

Answer 11

23 October 1956
(mainly students)

Question 12

How was the first protest received

Answer 12

23 - Police fired tear gas and opened fire on the crowd
24 - Russian troops were sent in and tanks + soldiers guarded key sites such as the parliament.

Question 13

What followed the events of 23-24 October on the 25th

Answer 13

Protestors gathered at the parliament building and politicians loyal to Russia were force to flee

Question 14

What happened following the 25th October 1956

Answer 14

On the 28th Khrushchev agreed to Nagy’s demands and pulled Russian troops out of Budapest (Temporary retreat)

Question 15

What did the new government do in 28 October - 3 November 1956

Answer 15

1. Introduced democracy
2. Introduced freedom of speech and religion
3. Released Joseph Mindszenty (a cardinal) and other political prisoners
4. Most importantly, Nagy announced that Hungary would leave the Warsaw pact.
5. On 1 November Nagy appealed to UN to help resolve the conflict

Question 16

What was Khrushchev’s response and when.

Answer 16

4 November - He reversed course under pressure from allies such as China and in Russia and felt he could not allow a country to leave the Warsaw Pact.

Question 17

What did Khrushchev do on 4 November

Answer 17

Moved 1,000 tanks into the capital, captured Hungary’s airfields, highway junctions and bridges.

Question 18

What happened after the army was used by the USSR

Answer 18

Janos Kadar was installed in power and Nagy was arrested and secretly executed in June 1958, apparently ‘as a lesson to all other leaders in socialist countries’

Question 19

What were the consequences of the Hungarian Uprising

Answer 19

20-30,000 Hungarians killed (1,000 Soviets)
200,000 fled the country
35,000 protestors arrested and 300 executed afterwards
Nagy’s reforms were reversed
Tension between East and West rose
Khrushchev appeared stronger

Question 20

How did the West respond

Answer 20

1. The UN condemned the USSR’s actions
2. America accepted 80,000 refugees
3. Spain, the Netherlands and Switzerland boycotted the 1956 Olympics
4. Key - they could not send aid due to the Warsaw pact as it would start a war.
   - Therefore it looked weak