Hungarian uprising

• Major political changes in the Soviet Union

  Mid-1950s
• Stalin's death in 1953


  Reaction against his brutal dictatorial regime
• Investigations into widespread human rights violations under Stalin's rule
• Many political prisoners released from the gulags
• Nikita Khrushchev


  Emerged as the new Soviet leader
• Khrushchev gave a Secret Speech to the Communist Party

  February 1956
• Secret Speech


  Denounced Stalin's crimes and human rights abuses
• De-Stalinisation policy


  Encouraged people in the Eastern Bloc to think that greater freedoms might be possible
• No possibility of countries in the Soviet sphere of influence leaving the Warsaw Pact or changing their system of government from communism</b>
• Limits to Khrushchev's destalinisation policy were clearly seen in Hungary in 1956
• Matyas Rakosi


  Hard-line communist fully under the control of Moscow, Hungarian leader since 1949
• Rakosi's secret police (the AVH)


  • Created a climate of fear, arresting anyone who spoke out or opposed communist rule
  • Hungarians had no freedom of speech, even listening to Western music could lead to arrest
• Thousands of Soviet troops and officials were stationed in Hungary, draining Hungarian resources and leading to poverty
• Russian language was being forced on the Hungarian people, especially in schools
• Hungarian people began to protest against Rakosi's regime


  June 1956
• Erno Gero


  Replaced Rakosi, no more popular
• Imre Nagy


  More liberal leader, formed new government
• Nagy's reforms


  1. Free elections to choose a democratic government

  2. Impartial legal system to ensure fair trials

  3. Total withdrawal of Soviet troops from Hungary

  4. Farmers allowed private ownership of their land

  5. Hungary to leave the Warsaw Pact and declare neutrality in the Cold War
• Khrushchev refused to accept the idea of Hungary leaving the Warsaw Pact as it would leave a gap in the USSR's buffer zone with Western Europe
• Soviet security was Khrushchev's priority, so he decided to crackdown on the new Hungarian government
• Thousands of Soviet tanks and soldiers entered Hungary to crush the protests
• Nagy was arrested and executed, replaced by Janos Kadar who eradicated the remaining resistance
• US and Western Europe expressed sympathy but did not attempt to intervene or roll back communism within the Soviet sphere of influence in Eastern Europe