The History of~The Hungarian Uprising

The Cold War was full of small conflicts and political squabbles, but along with the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Vietnam War, and the War of the Guadal Canal. We need to think about some of the conflicts that are rarely talked about. One of them is *The Hungarian Uprising.*

This is what this page will try to cover.

## The History

Hungary went through a series of leadership changes during the 20th century, with the fall of the Astro-Hungarian Empire after World War 1, the nation then joined the Axis during World War 2.

Because the USSR invaded what the Nazis captured during the European Theater (which included Hungary) they also made these nations Communist Puppet states (which included Hungary)

A Communist Puppet Government was established, they put in charge "Matayas Rakosi" (A Staunch follower of Stalinism) as General Secretary.

Hungary under Rakosi was put under almost \*extreme\* measures, because Rakosi followed Stalin he used Secret Police to silence political opponents, and the low living standards made a lot of Hungarians very upset and Rakosi was not a "Man of the people".

But all this would change (temporarily) in 1953 after the death of Stalin and the admission of new Soviet Premier: "Nikita Khrushchev" ordered for "De-Stalinization" which to undo what Stalin has done, and so Khruschev replaced Rakosi with Imre Nagy.

But Nagy's position in office wouldn't last long as he was pushing for Hungary to be independent from the rest of the Warsaw Pact, in 1955 Nagy was replaced by Rakosi.

But Rakosi would only be in office for several months, because in the beginning of 1956 Khrushchev ordered Rakosi to step down and was replaced with "Andras Hegedus".

By the summer of 1956, a student protest rose in Budapest where the students began to wave the Hungarian Flags with the Communist Seal in the center cut out. This continued to happen until the entire nation joined in and became a full fledged rebellion.

In October of 1956, the fighting began. Within just a few short weeks the Hungarians were able to push the Soviets out of Hungary. With this, they were also able to oust the Puppet Government out of their nation, take down Soviet relics (such as statues of Lenin and Stalin) and release political prisoners.

With this, Hegedus was relieved and replaced with Nagy who became Prime Minister.

Nagy's first courses of action were to allow Free Elections, improve the nation's economy and outlaw the use of secret police. Nagy even said in a radio broadcast that Hungary will withdraw from the Warsaw Pact and improve relations with the west.

But Khrushchev killed that noise real quick as he was none too pleased with Hungary wanting to withdraw, and refuses to recognize the nation's independence.

In November of 1956, the Soviets send more troops, tanks and equipment and invade Hungary, and so the fighting resumed.

But the Hungarian rebels were outnumbered against the Soviets, and Nagy even tried to negotiate aid from the United Nations, but the UN couldn't intervene due to NATO recognizing Hungary as a neutral state (due to Khrushchev not wanting to recognize Hungary's withdraw from the Warsaw Pact).

They also don't want Hungary to be the starting line for a more.....disastrous conflict.

The Soviets would invade Budapest, and fighting would continue for 2 weeks until the rebellion was put down.

Nagy was captured, imprisoned and executed in 1958.

The Communist puppet government was re-established and *Janos Kadar* was put in charge, and Hungary would remain a Communist puppet government until the fall of the USSR in 1991.

But the rebels did get some justice, the Communist seal was left off of the Hungarian Flag.

Though not directly inspired, but another uprising in Romania in 1989 was very similar to the Hungarian Uprising as it began with a student protest where these students were waving the Romanian Flag with the Communist Seal Cut out. But unlike the Hungarian Uprising, this rebellion was successful and even somewhat symbolizing the beginning of the end of Communism in Russia.

Well that is all for this page. Don't forget to check out my Games and Movies wikis as well. Until next time, this is JohnnyOTGS signing out.