the Hungarian uprising

• When Stalin died in 1953, Nikita Khrushchev came into power in September and was a new type of leader, wanting to peacefully coexist with the enemy.
• Khrushchev had many plans including to reduce the investment in the USSR's military defense and to put a policy into motion known as destalinization.
• Destalinization included releasing political prisoners, improving the relationships with Marshal Tito in Yugoslavia, closing down Cominform, and criticizing Stalin on his speeches.
• Khrushchev also wanted to remove the Soviet troops from Austria and relax the USSR's control on Eastern Europe.
• The plans of Khrushchev were not easy to implement as there were lots of rebellions across Eastern Europe.
• In 1949, Stalin appointed Rakosi the leader of Hungary who was extremely loyal to Stalin and his communistic views, resulting in strict control over Hungary which was enforced by a secret police known as the AVH.
• Catholicism was banned in Hungary which was the main religion at the time.
• After the death of Stalin in 1953, Khrushchev put plans in place to destabilize Russia, which the Hungarians hoped would happen in their country too.
• In October 1956, a revolution began in Hungary with students, workers, and soldiers attacking the AVH and the Russian tanks, smashing down a statue of Stalin.
• On the 24th of October 1956, the protesters were pleased to see that Rakosi was placed by a communist performer Imre Nagy, who became the new prime minister.
• Nagy's government introduced freedom of religion, democracy, and the freedom of speech, and Soviet troops were removed from the country's capital, Budapest.
• On the 1st of November 1956, Imre Nagy announced that Hungary was an independent country and was going to leave the Warsaw Pact.
• Khrushchev was not going to allow this to happen and claimed that he received a distressing letter from the communist leaders of Hungary asking for his help.
• On the 4th of November 1956, 10,000 Russian tanks invaded Budapest, destroying the Hungarian army and capturing the Hungarian radio.
• The impact of the Hungarian uprising included four thousand Hungarians being killed and two hundred thousand Hungarians being forced to flee their country and live as refugees.
• After the destruction of Hungary, Janos Kadar became the new prime minister and Imre Nagy was captured, tried, and executed, strengthening Kadar's position and showing that he was willing to use violence and to kill innocent people to achieve what he wanted.
• The use of force by Russia acted as a deterrent, and no other country tried to get rid of the Russian troops until Czechoslovakia in 1968.
• The Western powers were also distracted by the Swiss crisis, which was the second Arab-Israeli war, but they did condemn the actions of the USSR in Hungary.