Hungary

• Learning Objective


  To explain the causes, key features and consequences of the crisis
• Stalin died


  1953
• Khrushchev


  • More moderate individual than Stalin
  • Began a process called de-Stalinisation to highlight the terrors of Stalin
  • Believed that peaceful co-existence was possible with the West
• Communism may have been softening
• Hungary became a communist nation

  • In 1947, when the communist party won the national elections and banned other parties
  • Joined Cominform and took orders from Moscow
• Life for Hungarian people under Rakosi


  • Rakosi was a brutal leader who used harsh measures to keep the people under control
  • 20,000 people were killed in his purges and over 200,000 people were arrested
  • Secret police monitored people's lives
  • People were afraid to speak publicly and even mail and telephone conversations were checked
  • To speak against the government at all meant the risk of imprisonment or execution
• Comecon


  The Soviet Union had complete control over the Hungarian economy
• The USSR did not pay a fair price for what it bought from Hungary which meant the economy slowly got worse
• Rakosi introduced a brutal plan to transform the economy, focusing on industry and steel, but it was a costly failure as Hungary did not have enough raw materials
• Living standards declined and life got worse, with harvest failures in 1952 leading to food scarcity
• Rakosi is called to Moscow and forced to step down as leader of Hungary because of his brutal actions


  June 1953
• Imre Nagy


  The new, more moderate leader who wanted a more humane government, liked by the Hungarian people but not the Soviet leadership
• The Soviet leadership sacked Nagy as leader, blaming him for Hungary's failing economy, and the unpopular Rakosi returned as leader


  April 1955
• Rakosi is once again sacked by the Soviet Union, replaced by the unpopular Erno Gero who carried on the unpopular policies


  July 1956
• Student protests begin in Budapest, demanding free elections, freedom of speech and removal of Soviet forces


  23rd October 1956
• Nagy's reforms


  1. Free elections to be held

  2. Trade links to be made with Western countries

  3. End to communist-only politics

  4. Freedom of the press and speech

  5. Hungary to become neutral, withdrawing from the Warsaw Pact
• Khrushchev could not allow Hungary to abandon communism, as it might lead to other Eastern European nations doing the same
• Khrushchev sends 200,000 Soviet troops and 6,000 tanks into Hungary to force it back to communist control


  4th November 1956
• The Hungarian people fought back using guerrilla tactics, but were no match for the Soviet forces
• A ceasefire was agreed on 10th November as Hungary backed down