History of Hungary

This is the history of Hungary. See also the history of Europe, the history of present-day nations and states, Hungary before the Magyars, and Hungary.

Hungary's second communist government (1944-1956)

The Soviet Army occupied Hungary from September 1944 until April 1945. It took almost 2 months to conquer Budapest and almost the whole city was destroyed.

Related Topics:
1944 - April - Budapest

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By signing the Peace Treaty of Paris, Hungary again lost all the territories that it gained between 1938 and 1941. Neither Western Allies nor the Soviet Union supported any change in Hungary's pre-1938 borders.

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The Soviet Union itself annexed Sub-Carpathia, that is now part of Ukraine.

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The Treaty of Peace with Hungary signed on 10 February 1947 declared that "The decisions of the Vienna Award of 2 November 1938 are declared null and void" and Hungarian boundaries were fixed along the former frontiers as they existed on 1 January 1938, except a minor loss of territory on the Czechoslovakian border. Half of the ethnic German minority (240,000 people) was deported to Germany in 1946-48, and there was a forced "exchange of population" between Hungary and Czechoslovakia.

Related Topics:
10 February - 1947 - 2 November - 1938 - 1 January

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The Soviets set up an alternative government in Debrecen on December 21, 1944 but did not capture Budapest until January 18 1945. Soon afterwards, Zoltán Tildy became the provisional prime minister.

Related Topics:
December 21 - 1944 - January 18 - 1945 - Zoltán Tildy

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In elections held in November 1945, the Independent Smallholders' Party won 57% of the vote. The Hungarian Communist Party, now under the leadership of Mátyás Rákosi and Ern? Ger?, received support from only 17% of the population. The Soviet commander in Hungary, Marshal Voroshilov, refused to allow the Smallholders Party to form a government. Instead Voroshilov established a coalition government with the communists holding some of the key posts. The leader of the Smallholders, Zoltán Tildy, was named president and Ferenc Nagy prime minister. Mátyás Rákosi became deputy prime minister.

Related Topics:
1945 - Independent Smallholders' Party - Hungarian Communist Party - Mátyás Rákosi - Ern? Ger? - Zoltán Tildy - Ferenc Nagy

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László Rajk became minister of the interior and in this post established the security police (ÁVH). In February 1947 the police began arresting leaders of the Smallholders Party and the National Peasant Party. Several prominent figures in both parties escaped abroad. Later Mátyás Rákosi boasted that he had dealt with his partners in the government, one by one, "cutting them off like slices of salami."

Related Topics:
László Rajk - ÁVH

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The Hungarian Workers Party (formed by a merger of the Communist Party and the Social Democratic Party) became the largest single party in the elections in 1947 and served in the coalition People's Independence Front government. The communists gradually gained control of the government and by 1948 the Social Democratic Party ceased to exist as an independent organization. Its leader, Béla Kovács was arrested and sent to Siberia. Other opposition leaders such as Anna Kéthly, Ferenc Nagy and István Szabó were imprisoned or sent into exile.

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Mátyás Rákosi also demanded complete obedience from fellow members of the Hungarian Communist Party. His main rival for power was László Rajk, who was now foreign secretary. Rajk was arrested and at his trial in September 1949 he made the forced confession to be an agent of Miklós Horthy, Leon Trotsky, Josip Broz Tito and Western imperialism and admitted that he had taken part in a murder plot against Mátyás Rákosi and Ern? Ger?. László Rajk was found guilty and executed. Despite their help to Rákosi to liquidate Rajk, János Kádár and other dissidents were also purged from the party during this period.

Related Topics:
Leon Trotsky - Josip Broz Tito - János Kádár

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Mátyás Rákosi now attempted to impose authoritarian rule on Hungary. An estimated 2,000 people were executed and over 100,000 were imprisoned. These policies were opposed by some members of the Hungarian Workers Party and around 200,000 were expelled by Rákosi from the organization.

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Rákosi rapidly expanded the education system in Hungary. This was an attempt to replace the educated class of the past by what Rákosi called a new "working intelligentsia". In addition to effects such as better education for the poor, more opportunities for working class children and increased literacy in general, this measure also included the dissemination of communist ideology in schools and universities. Also, as part of an effort to separate the Church from the State, religious instruction was denounced as propaganda and was gradually eliminated from schools.

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Ironically, Cardinal József Mindszenty, who had bravely opposed the German Nazis and the Hungarian Fascists during the Second World War, was arrested in December, 1948, and accused of treason. After five weeks under arrest (which may have included torture), he confessed to the charges made against him and he was condemned to life imprisonment. The Protest churches were also purged and their leaders were replaced by those willing to remain loyal to Rákosi's government.

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Rákosi had difficulty managing the economy and the people of Hungary saw living standards fall. His government became increasingly unpopular, and when Joseph Stalin died in 1953, Mátyás Rákosi was replaced as prime minister by Imre Nagy. However, he retained his position as general secretary of the Hungarian Workers Party and over the next three years the two men became involved in a bitter struggle for power.

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As Hungary's new leader, Imre Nagy removed state control of the mass media and encouraged public discussion on political and economic reform. This included a promise to increase the production and distribution of consumer goods. Nagy also released anti-communists from prison and talked about holding free elections and withdrawing Hungary from the Warsaw Pact.

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Mátyás Rákosi led the attacks on Nagy. On 9 March 1955, the Central Committee of the Hungarian Workers Party condemned Nagy for "rightist deviation". Hungarian newspapers joined the attacks and Nagy was accused of being responsible for the country's economic problems and on 18 April he was dismissed from his post by a unanimous vote of the National Assembly. Rákosi once again became the leader of Hungary.

Related Topics:
9 March - 1955 - 18 April

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Rákosi's power was undermined by a speech made by Nikita Khrushchev in February 1956. He denounced the policies of Joseph Stalin and his followers in Eastern Europe. He also claimed that the trial of László Rajk had been a "miscarriage of justice". On 18 July 1956, Rákosi was forced from power as a result of orders from the Soviet Union. However, he did manage to secure the appointment of his close friend, Ern? Ger?, as his successor.

Related Topics:
18 July - 1956

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On 3rd October 1956, the Central Committee of the reorganized Hungarian Socialist Workers Party announced that it had decided that László Rajk, György Pálffy, Tibor Sz?nyi and András Szalai had wrongly been convicted of treason in 1949. At the same time it was announced that Imre Nagy had been reinstated as a member of the party.

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