Allied to Germany, defeat in World War I led to Hungary losing half its people and much of its territory in the Treaty of Trianon, much resented to this day. In the Second World war, most Jews in Budapest were deported and killed by the Nazis.

Budapest was later 'liberated' by the Soviet Red Army and Hungary became part of the Communist bloc where it remained until 1989, despite a popular uprising in 1956. There are many memorials around Budapest to those killed by the Communists that year.

Behind the Iron Curtain

Hungarys history after 1945 was determined by the evolution of the super power relations of the bipolar world. Falling into the Soviet sphere of interest, a proletarian dictatorship was built in the country by 1949. On 23 October, 1956, a popular uprising, trying to democratise the system, was suppressed quickly by the Soviet troops. The Western democracies walked out on the case of the Hungarian revolt.

The recoiling of the Democratic Change

he Country of Iron and Steel

After getting rid of its opponents, the Communist leadership ľ following the Soviet example ľ referring to the sharpening of the class struggles within its party, started Ĺpurificationĺ. In the ĹSovietizedĺ Hungary, the strained pace industrialization, carried out to the detriment of agriculture, and the standard of living was proved to be an unsuccessful experiment of modernization.

The Chance: 1956

On 23 October, 1956, in order to express solidarity with the Polish people, the announced student demonstrations led to the destruction of the party-state with wild haste. Imre Nagy became the prime minister. By October 28, the armed conflicts were localized, and the revolution succeeded. The institutions of the revolution came into being, (revolutionary committees, workersí soviet), and the parties were reorganized. The withdrawal of the Soviet troops started. However, the Hungarian revolution was left alone. The West was not willing to change the political status quo. Seeing this, the Soviet party leadership decided for a military intervention.

The System of Kádár

By 1962, the state socialist system consolidated under the hall-mark of János Kádár in Hungary. In exchange for the limited foreign affairs autonomy the country enjoyed a comparatively independent domestic policy. The welfare society, accepted both in the West and the East, was developing. Until the economy worked successfully, (continuously rising standard of living, secure living, calculability, travel possibilities, invulnerability of private life), the system enjoyed the loyalty of the society.

The most jolly barrack

It was a characteristic feature in connection with Hungary used by the Western journalists. It meant that here, the political atmosphere was the most liberal one and the intellectual life was the most bustling one in comparison to the state socialist systems of the area. The method of the three 't'-s, (prohibition, tolerance, support), defined by Gyrgy Aczl, became general in the culture and science policy.

The Crisis of ’the Fridge Socialism’

Hungary during the two world wars >> Behind the Iron curtain

See also

Hungarian History