Post-WW2

• The Soviet Union invaded Hungary, one of Hitler's allies in September 1944, as it drove Nazi forces back towards Germany.

  Soviet troops occupied Hungary and continued to do so until the end of the war, even though an Allied Control Commission for Hungary was set up to run the country.

  The ACC comprised (consisted of) the Soviet Union, the USA and the UK, however the Soviet union was the most influential of all the powers and was able to determine events in Hungary in the immediate post-war years.
• A new government was set up in Hungary near the end of the war and it agreed to pay the Soviet Union reparations of $300 million.

  Elections were held in November 1945, in which the independent smallholders' party won 57% of the vote, whilst the Hungarian communist party secured only 17% of the vote.

  The head of the occupying Soviet forces, Marshal Voroshilov refused to allow the Smallholders' party to establish a government and he instead established a coalition government that contained members of the Hungarian communist party.