Hungary Flashcards
Hungary 1
Soviets made sure the post-war government was dominated by communists and then transferred the authority from the occupational force to the Hungarian authorities
Hungary 2
November 1945 elections – independent smallholders party won 57% of the vote whilst Hungarian communist party (Led by Matyas Rakosi) received only 17%
Soviet commander in Hungary (Marshal Kliment Voroshilov) refused to allow the smallholders party to foam a government and instead established a coalition government with the communist holding some of the key posts
Matyas Rakosi boasted that he had dealt with his opposition in the government one by one “cutting them off like slices of salami”
Hungary 3
1st Feb 1946 - Hungarian monarchy formally abolished and replaced by the Republic of Hungary
Gradual takeover by the Communists was completed by August 18th, 1949, when Hungary became the People’s Republic of Hungary
Hungary 4
Presence of Soviet troops in Hungary was formalised by the 1949 Mutual Assistance treaty, granting the Soviet Union rights to a continued military presence thus assuming ultimate political control
Hungary 5
Hungarian revolution in 1956 occurred spontaneously nationwide as a revolt against the communist government of Hungary and it’s Soviet-imposed policies
Soviets announced a willingness to negotiate the withdrawal of Soviet forces from Hungary however then proceeded to move to crush the revolution on November 4th, 1956, with a large joint military force of the Warsaw pact led by Moscow entering Budapest to crush the armed resistance
3am on November 4th, 1956, Soviet tanks penetrated Budapest along the Pest side of the Danube in 2 thrusts, one from the north and the other from the south thus splitting the city in half
Hungarian civilians bore the brunt of the fighting as it was often impossible for the Soviet Troop to differentiate military from civilian targets. Soviet tanks fired indiscriminately into buildings as the Hungarian resistance was strongest in the industrial areas of Budapest which were later heavily targeted by Soviet artillery and air strikes
Ceasefire called for on 10th November, over 2.5K Hungarians and 722 Soviets killed with thousands more wounded on both sides
Hungary 6
The Soviet crushing of the Hungarian revolution strengthened their control of the Eastern Bloc – other leaders saw how ruthlessly the USSR crushed the Hungarian uprising and the consequences for the leaders of said uprising
Imre Nagy was replaced with Janos Kadar as Prime Minister of Hungary, Nagy was subsequently arrested by Soviet forces whilst leaving the Yugoslav embassy and was secretly charged with treason and an attempted coup d’état and then secretly tried, found guilty, sentenced to death, and executed in June 1958
Khrushchev stated that Nagy was executed “as a lesson to all other leaders in socialist countries”
