We explain what the Hungarian revolution was and what were its causes. In addition, the historical context, its background and its consequences.
What was the Hungarian revolution?
The Hungarian revolution was A popular mobilization that rose against the domination of the Soviet Union and the establishment of a prosvavical communist regime in Hungary.
It was a series of popular uprisings and the formation of an anti -thovotic local government in October and November 1956. The insurrection was repressed in less than a month and its leaders were executed by order of the USSR.
The revolution began with a manifestation of students on October 23, 1956 in Budapest. This mobilization was repressed by the police, but aroused the empathy of the rest of the population, and the revolt extended throughout the country. The Hungarian people demanded that the USSR withdrawal of troops from the country and a coalition government was formed under the leadership of Imre Nagy.
This government tried to withdraw Hungary from the Warsaw Pact and sought the support of the United Nations Organization. However, the USSR denounced movement as a counterrevolution and sent more troops to intervene the country. The Hungarian revolution ended with the occupation of Soviet troops November 14, 1956.
Nagy and other politicians of the coalition government sought refuge in Yugoslavia. On November 22 they were deceived, arrested, sent to Romania and executed. Since then, in Hungary a pro-Soviet repressive regime was installed under the leadership of Janos Kádár.
Key points
- The Hungarian revolution rose in 1956, against the domination of the Soviet Union.
- Imre Nagy led the coalition of anti -Soviet factions and organized a provisional government.
- The revolutionary government tried to recover national autonomy, withdraw Hungary from the Warsaw Pact with the support of the UN.
- The Soviet army repressed the revolution and imposed a new government under its control.
Background of the Hungarian Revolution
After World War II, different countries in Eastern Europe were under the influence of the Soviet Union and established communist governments known as “popular democracies.” These regimes were Governments of a single party, Prosoviet and repressive which eliminated political dissent and censored the media to impose a rigid control over society.
In 1953, Iosif Stalin died, the leader of the USSR who had managed to consolidate the Soviet supremacy and form a communist bloc at the beginning of the cold war. Stalin's death generated hopes between the antisovieths sectors of “popular democracies.”
Hungary was governed by Mátyas Rákosi, a Stalinist leader who had carried out the “Sovietization” of Hungarian politics, economy and society. When Stalin died, Rákosi began to lose power and influence. In 1953, the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (PCUS) decided to take it out of power and replace it with Imre Nagy.
Imre Nagy's alternative communism
Imre Nagy (1896-1958) was a communist leader of peasant origin, who had joined the Hungarian Communist Party in 1921, when it was still an illegal party that worked in hiding. Between 1930 and 1944, he lived in the USSR and formed as an economist specialized in agriculture. When he returned to Hungary, he was appointed Minister of Agriculture and carried out a radical transformation in the organization and administration of the country's agricultural resources .
In 1953, he was granted the position of Prime Minister to replace Rákosi, who remained as general secretary of the Hungarian Communist Party. Immediately, Nagy sought a new course for national socialism and tried to establish Some reforms to moderately liberalize Hungarian politics, economics and society .
However, Rakosi managed to stop most of the proposals and denounce Nagy's reformism as a dangerous political deviation. Consequently, Nagy was separated from power in 1955 and Rákosi resumed his functions .
On the other hand, Nikita Jrushchov (leader of the USSR) began its de -stating policy. This situation led Rákosi to lose Soviet support and be replaced by Erno Gero in the General Secretariat of the party. This new leader also represented Soviet supremacy over the Hungarian government.
The development of the Hungarian revolution
In 1956, the USSR began the “deestalization process.” Nikita Jrushchov denounced Stalin's repressive policies in a secret report to the PCUS. In that context, the population of the different communist popular democracies The opportunity to claim greater freedoms and oppose, openly, to Soviet supremacy .
In Hungary, on October 23 a great demonstration of students in Budapest was held. Popular mobilization He claimed for the celebration of free democratic elections freedom of expression and press, the creation of a new provisional government under the leadership of Nagy, the dissolution of the communist police, the withdrawal of Soviet troops and the review of political and economic relations between Hungary and the USSR.
Some 200,000 protesters gathered peacefully against Parliament. Gero denounced protesters as fascists and sent the police to suppress the mobilization. October 25, The police repression carried out the “Kossuth massacre” in which eight peaceful protesters were killed by the police, who shot from the roof of a building.
Police repression turned the peaceful demonstration into a revolution. The confrontation became an armed confrontation As the news ran through the country. Revolutionary resistance groups were created in different parts of Hungary and it is estimated that more than 15,000 combatants were gathered (the majority of young students). The protest spread throughout the country and the Hungarian army joined it.
In that context, Gero was removed by the PCUS and replaced by Janos Kádár. On October 28, Kádár was forced by the revolution to form a coalition of government that includes non -communist and communist politicians. This way, Nagy was commanded by the new government coalition which sought to limit the power of the Communist Party and negotiate the withdrawal of Hungary Soviet troops.
However, Prosoviet politicians demanded the repression of the revolution and The Russian troops that were still in the territory continued the armed struggle (In Mosonmagyaróvár, Tiszakecske and Corvin Köz) until finally, on October 30, a ceasefire was called. For a few days, it seemed that the revolution had triumphed.
November 1 Nagy announced Hungary out of the Warsaw Pact (signed the previous year) and asked the United Nations to recognize Hungary as a neutral country under the protection of the great powers.
The USSR announced that they would give Nagy the opportunity to consolidate power and recover the political stability of the country. He Presidium (PCUS's maximum advisory body) was willing to reconsider the power relationship between the two countries. However, the next day, he announced an abrupt change in his policy and proclaimed that the Hungarian revolution endangered socialism throughout the region.
The Soviet invasion and the end of the Hungarian revolution
On November 3, 1956, the Hungarian delegates who were in the USSR negotiating the removal of troops were arrested. The next day, Soviet tanks attacked Budapest and bent to resistance . Nagy took refuge in the Yugoslava embassy.
A new “worker-corner” government directed by János Kádár and supported by the Soviet occupants said that the “counterrevolution” had been defeated and the order had been restored. In order not to associate with the discredited Stalinist leaders, Kádár announced negotiations for the withdrawal of Soviet troops (although Hungary would continue in the Warsaw Pact) and distanced himself from Rákosi and Gero.
The “normalization” was not simple. The general strike was declared and the clashes armed with the Soviet troops were very hard. The armed resistance continued in different parts of the country until it was finally repressed on November 20. Then it was carried out the general elimination of any form of opposition or political dissent .
The consequences of the Hungarian revolution
It is estimated that as a consequence of the Hungarian revolution there were 3,000 civilians dead and 19,000 injured in the insurrections, 229 Hungarians executed by subsequent repression, 17,000 militants arrested in prison fields and almost 200,000 refugee exiles in other countries. Imre Nagy was finally arrested and sent as a prisoner to Romania. In 1958, Nagy and other revolutionary leaders were returned to Hungary and submitted to a secret trial. Finally, they were executed on June 16, 1958.
The Hungarian revolution was seen in the rest of the world as a heroic uprising in defense of freedoms and democracy . Repression generated irreparable damage to Western public opinion on communist regimes and international communist movement.
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References
- Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. “Hungary Revolution” and “Imre Nagy”. Britannica Encyclopedia https://www.britannica.com/
- Van Dijk, R., Gray, WG, Savranskaya, S., Suri, J., & Zhai, Q. (eds.). (2013). “Hungary Uprising” and “Imre Nagy”. Encyclopedia of the Cold War. Routledge.
- Wilczynski, J. (2019). “Hungary Uprising” and “Imre Nagy”. In An encyclopedic dictionary of marxism, socialism and commune: Economic, Philosophical, Political and Sociological Theories, Concepts, Institutions and Practices-Classical and Modern, East-West Relations Included. Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co Kg.
