Hungarian uprising in 1965: causes, results

In the autumn of 1956, events took place that, after the fall of the communist regime, were referred to as the Hungarian uprising, and in Soviet sources were called the counter-revolutionary insurgency. But, regardless of how they were characterized by these or those ideologists, it was an attempt by the Hungarian people to overthrow the pro-Soviet regime by armed means. She was among the most important events of the Cold War, which showed that the USSR was ready to use military force to maintain its control over the Warsaw Pact countries.

Establishment of the communist regime

In order to understand the causes of the uprising that took place in 1956, one should dwell on the internal political and economic situation of the country in 1956. First of all, it should be taken into account that during the Second World War Hungary fought on the side of the fascists, therefore, in accordance with articles of the Paris Peace Treaty, signed by the countries of the anti-Hitler coalition, the USSR had the right to keep its troops on its territory right up to the withdrawal of the allied occupying forces from Austria.

Immediately after the end of the war, general elections took place in Hungary, at which the Independent Party of Smallholders with a significant preponderance of votes won a victory over the Communist WPT - the Hungarian Workers' Party. As it became known later, the ratio was 57% against 17%. However, relying on the support of the contingent of the Soviet armed forces in the country, as early as in 1947, the VPT, through fraud, threats and blackmail, seized power, appropriating the right to be the only legal political party.

The pupil of Stalin

The Hungarian Communists tried in every way to imitate their Soviet party members, no wonder their leader Matthias Rakosi was nicknamed the best pupil of Stalin. This "honor" he was honored by the fact that, having established a personal dictatorship in the country, he tried in everything to copy Stalin's model of government. In an atmosphere of outrageous tyranny, industrialization and collectivization were carried out by force , and in the ideology area, any manifestations of dissent were ruthlessly suppressed. The struggle against the Catholic Church also unfolded in the country.

During the reign of Rakosi, a powerful state security apparatus was created - AVH, which numbered 28,000 employees, assisted by 40,000 informants. All aspects of the life of Hungarian citizens were under the control of this service. As it became known in the post-communist period, the files were filed for a million residents of the country, of which 655,000 were persecuted, and 450,000 were serving various terms of imprisonment. They were used as free labor in mines and mines.

In the field of economics, just as in political life, an extremely complicated situation has developed. It was caused by the fact that as a military ally of Germany, Hungary was to pay the Soviet Union, Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia a significant reparation, to pay which left almost a quarter of the national income. Of course, this has had a very negative impact on the living standards of ordinary citizens.

Short political thaw

Certain changes in the life of the country came in 1953, when, in view of the obvious failure of industrialization and the weakening of the ideological pressure exerted by the USSR on the death of Stalin, Matyash Rakoshi, who was hated by the people, was dismissed from his post as head of government. His place was taken by another Communist - Imre Nagy, a supporter of immediate and cardinal reforms in all areas of life.

As a result of the measures taken by him, political persecution was stopped and their former victims were amnestied. By a special decree, Nagy put an end to the internment of citizens and their forced eviction from cities on social grounds. The construction of a number of unprofitable large industrial facilities was also stopped, and the funds allocated for them were sent to the development of food and light industry. In addition, government agencies have eased pressure on agriculture, reduced tariffs for the population and reduced food prices.

The resumption of the Stalinist course and the beginning of unrest

However, despite the fact that such measures made the new head of government very popular among the people, they also became an excuse for exacerbating the inner-party struggle in the VLT. Dislocated from the post of head of government, but retaining the leading position in the party, Matyas Rakosi managed to overpower his political opponent through backstage intrigues and with the support of Soviet communists. As a result of Imre Nagy, to whom most of the common people of the country laid down their hopes, was dismissed and expelled from the party.

A consequence of this was the resumption of the Stalinist line of state leadership conducted by the Hungarian Communists and the continuation of political repression. All this caused extreme dissatisfaction among the general public. The people began to openly demand the return to power of Nadia, general elections, built on an alternative basis and, crucially, the withdrawal of Soviet troops from the country. This last requirement was particularly relevant, since the signing in May 1955 of the Warsaw Pact gave the USSR a reason to retain its contingent of troops in Hungary.

The Hungarian uprising was the result of the aggravation of the political situation in the country in 1956. An important role was played also by the events of the same year in Poland, where there were open anti-communist statements. Their result was the intensification of critical attitudes among students and the writing intelligentsia. In the middle of October, a large part of the youth announced their withdrawal from the "Democratic Youth Union", which was an analogue to the Soviet Komsomol, and joining the student union that existed before, but overtaken by the Communists.

As it often happened in the past, the impetus for the beginning of the uprising was given by the students. Already on October 22, they formulated and presented to the government demands that included the appointment of I. Nagy to the post of prime minister, the organization of democratic elections, the withdrawal of Soviet troops from the country and the demolition of monuments to Stalin. Banners with such slogans were prepared to be carried by the participants of the nationwide demonstration planned for the next day.

October 23, 1956

This procession, which began in Budapest exactly at fifteen hours, attracted more than two hundred thousand participants. The history of Hungary hardly remembers another, so unanimous display of political will. By this time, the Soviet ambassador, the future head of the KGB, Yuri Andropov, urgently contacted Moscow and reported in detail all that is happening in the country. He ended his communication with a recommendation to provide the Hungarian Communists with comprehensive, including military, assistance.

By the evening of the same day, the newly appointed First Secretary of the EPRP Erno Gerho spoke on the radio, condemning the demonstrators and threats against them. In response, a crowd of protesters rushed to storm the building where the broadcasting studio was located. Between them and the forces of state security there was an armed clash, as a result of which the first killed and wounded appeared.

Regarding the source of the receipt of weapons by the demonstrators in the Soviet media, it was alleged that it had been delivered to Hungary beforehand by Western special services. However, it can be seen from the testimony of the participants in the events that it was received or simply taken away from reinforcements sent to help the defenders of the radio. It was also produced in civil defense warehouses and in captured police stations.

Soon the uprising swept the whole of Budapest. The army units and state security units did not have serious resistance, first, because of their small numbers - there were only two and a half thousand people, and secondly, because many of them openly sympathized with the insurgents.

The first entry of Soviet troops into Hungary

In addition, an order was issued not to open fire on civilians, and this deprived the military of the opportunity to take serious action. As a result, by the evening of October 23, in the hands of the people, there were many key objects: warehouses with weapons, newspapers and the Central City Railway Station. Conscious of the threat of the situation, on the night of October 24, the Communists, wishing to gain time, re-appointed Imre Nagy as prime minister, and they themselves appealed to the government of the USSR with a request for troops to Hungary to suppress the Hungarian uprising.

The result of the appeal was the introduction into the country of 6,500 troops, 295 tanks and a significant number of other military equipment. In response, the urgently educated Hungarian National Committee appealed to the President of the United States with a request to provide military assistance to the rebels.

First blood

On the morning of October 26, during a rally on the square near the parliament building, a fire was opened from the roof of the house, as a result of which a Soviet officer was killed and a tank was set on fire. This provoked a return fire, costing the lives of a hundred demonstrators. The news of the incident quickly flew around the country and became the cause of massacres of residents with members of the state security and just the military.

Despite the fact that, in order to normalize the situation in the country, the government announced an amnesty to all mutinous participants who voluntarily laid down their arms, the clashes continued all the following days. It did not affect the current situation and the replacement of the first secretary of the ETA Erno Gero by Janos Kadaram. In many areas, the leadership of party and state institutions simply fled, and in their place spontaneously formed bodies of local self-government.

The withdrawal of Soviet troops from the country and the beginning of chaos

As the participants of the events testify, after the ill-fated incident on the square in front of the parliament, the Soviet troops did not take any active actions against the demonstrators. After the statement of the head of the government Imre Nagy about the condemnation of the former "Stalinist" methods of leadership, the dissolution of the security forces and the beginning of negotiations on the withdrawal of Soviet troops from the country, many had the impression that the Hungarian uprising had achieved the desired results. The fighting in the city stopped, for the first time in recent days, silence reigned. The result of negotiations between Nadia and the Soviet leadership was the withdrawal of troops, which began on October 30.

These days many parts of the country were in an atmosphere of complete anarchy. Former power structures were destroyed, and new ones were not created. The government sitting in Budapest had practically no effect on what was happening on the streets of the city, and there was a sharp surge in crime, as more than ten thousand criminals were released from prisons along with political prisoners.

In addition, the situation was aggravated by the fact that the Hungarian uprising in 1956 very soon radicalized. This resulted in massacres of servicemen, former employees of state security agencies, and even by ordinary Communists. More than 20 party leaders were executed in the building alone of the central committee of the WTO. In those days, photos of their mutilated bodies flew around the pages of many world publications. The Hungarian revolution began to take the features of a "senseless and ruthless" riot.

Re-entry of armed forces

The subsequent suppression of the uprising by Soviet troops became possible primarily as a result of the position taken by the US government. Promising military and economic support to I. Nadia's cabinet, the Americans at a critical moment gave up their obligations, allowing Moscow to interfere unchecked in the current situation. The Hungarian uprising in 1956 was almost doomed to defeat, when on October 31 at a meeting of the Central Committee of the CPSU NS Khrushchev spoke for taking the most radical measures for the establishment of a communist government in the country.

On the basis of his orders , the USSR Minister of Defense, Marshal GK Zhukov, headed the development of a plan for an armed invasion of Hungary, known as the Whirlwind. It provided for the participation in the hostilities of fifteen tank, motorized and rifle divisions, with the involvement of the air force and amphibious forces. For the implementation of this operation, almost all leaders of the Warsaw Pact countries expressed their views.

Operation "Vortex" began with the fact that on November 3, the newly appointed Hungarian Defense Minister Major-General Pal Maleter was arrested by the Soviet KGB. This happened during the negotiations held in the city of Tököl, not far from Budapest. Entering the same basic contingent of armed forces, which was commanded personally by GK Zhukov, was produced the next morning. The official reason for this was the request of the government headed by Janos Kadar. In a short time, the troops captured all the main objects of Budapest. Imre Nagy, saving his life, left the government building and took refuge in the embassy of Yugoslavia. Later, he would be lured out of there by deception, betrayed to the court and, together with Pal Maleter, will be publicly hanged as traitors to the Motherland.

Active suppression of the uprising

The main events unfolded on November 4. In the center of the capital, the Hungarian insurgents gave the Soviet troops a desperate resistance. To suppress it, flamethrowers, as well as incendiary and smoke shells were used. Only fear of the negative reaction of the international community to the large number of civilian casualties kept the command from bombing the city with airplanes already raised in the air.

In the next few days, all the existing centers of resistance were suppressed, after which the Hungarian uprising in 1956 took the form of an underground struggle against the communist regime. In one way or another, it has not subsided over the next decades. As soon as the pro-Soviet regime finally became firmly established in the country, mass arrests of participants of the recent insurrection began. The history of Hungary began to develop again according to the Stalinist scenario.

According to researchers, at that time, about 360 death sentences were passed, 25,000 citizens were prosecuted, and 14,000 of them were serving various terms of imprisonment. For many years, Hungary was behind the "Iron Curtain" that fenced the countries of Eastern Europe from the rest of the world. The USSR, the mainstay of communist ideology, was keenly watching everything that was happening in the countries under its control.