The Hungarian Revolution of 1956

After the Second World War, Hungary is formally an independent country… but… it is heavily controlled by the Soviet Union. Hungary is a Soviet satellite state. Hungary’s government is led by Mátyás Rákosi. Rákosi is a strong supporter of the Soviet leader, Joseph Stalin. He’s also an oppressive ruler.

No-one is allowed to speak out against him or the communists. Anyone who does is imprisoned, exiled, or executed by Hungary’s secret police. In 1953, Stalin dies. The Soviet Union’s communist leaders want to run things differently now that Stalin is gone. In Hungary, they make Imre Nagy Prime Minister.

Nagy has a softer approach than Rákosi, which the Soviets hope will make communism more popular in Hungary. Nagy is indeed popular with the Hungarian people. But while Nagy is prime minister, Rákosi maintains a powerful role in Hungary’s communist party. He manages to stop many of the changes Nagy tries to make and eventually forces him from power. Hungary is once again under Rákosi’s brutal Stalin-like regime.

The Hungarian people grow more and more angry with their harsh government. On the afternoon of 23 October 1956, thousands of university students gather in Hungary’s capital, Budapest, to protest. They demand several changes in Hungary, including a minimum living wage, freedom of speech, the removal of Soviet troops, and an end to the secret police. They also want Nagy to return as Prime Minister. More people join the protests, and by the evening, hundreds of thousands of Hungarians are marching in the streets.

Late that night, the secret police shoot and kill several protesters. Protestors respond by setting police cars on fire and arming themselves with guns. The government orders Hungarian soldiers to support the secret police, but instead the soldiers side with the protestors. At 2 AM the next morning, Soviet tanks enter the city. Battle rages on the streets of Budapest for several days.

As it does, the revolution spreads to Hungary’s countryside. Groups of revolutionary fighters there capture and kill local communist leaders and secret police officers and take control of municipal government offices. The revolution appears to be succeeding. On 28 October, Nagy returns as prime minister. He holds talks with the Soviets who agree to remove their tanks from Budapest.

Nagy declares that the government will establish democracy and freedom of speech. He releases many political prisoners. He also announces that Hungary will withdraw from the Warsaw Pact, an agreement between the Soviet Union and its allies. Hungary will become a neutral country, he says, no longer a Soviet satellite state. Nagy’s announcements anger Soviet leaders.

They decide to crush the uprising once and for all. In early November, they send tanks across the border and launch an attack on Budapest. The Hungarian revolutionaries fight the Soviet troops for several days. Nagy asks Western nations to send support for the revolution but these countries are afraid to start a war with the Soviet Union. On 11 November, the Soviets claim victory over the Hungarian fighters.

They arrest many of the revolutionaries, imprisoning them or deporting them to the Soviet Union. A new pro-Soviet government is set up. Nagy is arrested and will later be hanged for treason. In the course of Hungary’s 19-day uprising, 2 500 Hungarians and 700 Soviet soldiers are killed. Two hundred thousand Hungarians flee the country.

Though the revolution does not end Soviet rule in Hungary, it does cause many people in Europe who used to support the Soviet Union, to criticise it. Decades later, Soviet troops will finally leave Hungary and in 1990, the country will hold its first democratic elections.