Hungary

• who initiated reforms in Hungary?

  the Communist Party (the Hungarian Socialist Workers Party)
• who made some limited changes?

  Hungary's leader, Janos Kadar
• what had Janos Kadar overseen?

  the suppression of the 1956 uprising, and he refused to extend any reform programs
• what led to general dissatisfaction?

  worsening economic conditions
• what were even dedicated communists looking for?

  alternative routes to improve the local economy
• what were economic advisers especially interested in?

  engaging in trade with Western Europe
• what did Kadar do in 1988?

  resigned as Secretary-General
• who replaced Kadar?

  a young Poliburo member, Miklos Nemeth
• what was one of the first major actions that Miklos Nemeth made?

  he negotiated a one billion Deutsch Mark loan from West German banks
• what decisions did the government make when Nemeth was named prime minister?

  the government adopted basic freedoms, civil rights and electoral reforms
• what was the communist government ready to adopt?

  a multi-party system
• what did the government initiate?

  roundtable discussions to change the constitution that included a number of new and reconstituted pre-communism political parties
• what did the Soviets agree to do in April 1989?

  withdraw all its military forces from Hungary by 1991
• what did the HSWP's leadership agree to do in June 1989?

  that free elections should take place in 1990
• what was the free elections decision based on?

  the belief that the HSWP held the strongest support among Hungarians and so it would remain the leading party
• what did the free elections seem to confirm?

  the Soviet view that reforms could enable a Communist Party to legitimately lead a govenrment with a majority
• what crucial decision was made in September 1989?

  the agreement to open their frontier with Austria and allow East Germans, who could freely enter Hungary, to travel freely to West Germany
• what did the exodus that followed clearly illustrate?

  the rejection of the communist East German regime and the rejection of communism
• what did this exodus directly lead to?

  the crisis in East Germany in November 1989
• how was Hungary's movement away from communism received?

  it was peaceful and served as a model for other Eastern European countries
• what did the 1990 elections do?

  peacefully moved hungary from communism to democracy