WW2 was over and Hungary became a communist nation.
Well, did it really?
Because the Hungarian People's Republic (the Hungarian communist state) was proclaimed
in 1949.
So what happened between 1945 and 1949?
That were the years of the so-called Second Hungarian Republic: a short-lived state.
In this video we're gonna talk about that.
Keep watching.
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In November 1940 Hungary allied itself with the Axis Powers and was able to regain much
of the territories the country lost after WW1 due to the Trianon Treaty (1920).
In 1941 Hungary joined Germany's invasion of the USSR.
The Hungarian Armies suffered a terrible defeat at the Don in 1943.
From that moment Miklos Horthy, the Hungarian Regent, was trying to find a way out for his
country.
Germany was aware of this and wanted to keep the country under control.
The German invasion of Hungary happened on Sunday morning, 19 March 1944.
Regent Miklos Horthy remained on his position.
He continued to contact the Allies and on 15 October managed an armistice with the Soviets.
The Germans then organized a take-over: Operation Panzerfaust (carried out by Otto Skorzeny).
Horthy was taken into custody and Arrow Cross leader Ferenc Szálasi was appointed as leader
of the nation.
By the time Szálasi was appointed the Red Army was within Hungary's borders.
Hungary would go down in flames which left the capital of Budapest in ruins and large
parts of the country destroyed.
Many Hungarians were deported by the Soviets and many women were rped by Red Army troops.
What was the future of Hungary going to be like?
In 1944 when the Soviets captured the eastern Hungarian city of Debrecen they already set
up an alternative government of which Zoltán Tildy became the provisional prime minister.
Hungary's territorial expansion from the war was nullified which was officially agreed
uppon in the 1947 Treaty of Paris.
That meant that Hungary went back to its post-WW1 borders.
Also Hungary's German population was expelled.
Stalin of course favored a gradual process of sovietization of the Central European states.
The rebuilding of his own country was prioritized.
Also because large numbers of Western Allied troops were in Western Europe and he didn't
want to risk a war against the West.
Initially there was hope among Hungarian.
Many believed once a peace treaty was signed the Soviets would leave the country and Hungary
was free to develop.
Reconstruction began soon.
“For the time being Stalin had decided to maintain a semblance of parliamentary democracy,
but the Soviets were still confident in the victory of the Communist Party.
Membership in the party had grown exponentially, and by the time elections were held in November
1945 membership had reached half a million.”
In November 1945 elections were held and the Independent Smallholders' Party (a centre-right
peasant party) won 57% of the vote.
Only 17% went to the communists that were now led by Mátyás Rákosi and Ernő Gerő
who back in 1919 served under the short-lived Hungarian Soviet Republic of Bela Kun.
The Soviet commander in Hungary, Marshal Kliment Voroshilov, didn't allow the Smallholders
to form a government and established a government were communists were holding some of the key
posts.
Smallholder leader Zoltán Tildy became president, Ferenc Nagy prime minister.
Communist Mátyás Rákosi became deputy prime minister.
Communist László Rajk became minister of the interior and established the security
police (ÁVO).
A year later this police began arresting the prominent persons of the Smallholders Party
and the National Peasant Party.
In August 1947 new elections were held.
These were relatively free, but little notice was given and several groups were denied suffrage.
Still, the Communists only got 22% of the vote.
Under pressure Nagy resigned.
1948 marked a turning point.
Schools were nationalized and came under direct government control.
So were industries, commerce and farms.
Literature that was deemed anti-Soviet was removed.
“By early fall of 1948, with the disappearance of the last vestiges of pluralism, Hungary
as well as the rest of Eastern Europe was firmly established in a Soviet-style system.
As the coalition moved to a dictatorial state socialist system, a number of opposition leaders
fled the country, and others were forced to leave to escape arrest.”
By the next elections in May 1949 the Hungarian People's Front received 95.6% of the
vote.
And so the Hungarian People's Republic was proclaimed and Hungary would remain communist
for several decades.
But if you think that the Hungarians were just hapless victims of communism you're wrong
because in 1956 they rose against the communist authorities.
And if you want to learn more about the Hungarian Uprising, click right here.
And if you want to learn more about other short-lived states in history, click right
here.
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