When was the Hungarian Revolution?
Demands of Hungarian Revolutionaries of 1956
On October 22, 1956, a group of Hungarian students compiled a list of sixteen points containing key national policy demands. Following an anti-Soviet protest march through the Hungarian capital of Budapest, the students attempted to enter the city's main broadcasting station to read their demands on the air. The students were detained, and when people gathered outside the broadcasting station to call for their release, the state security police fired on the unarmed crowd, setting off the Hungarian Revolution of 1956.
Hungarian Constitution of 1949
From 1988 on, as the economic situation deteriorated and opposition groups emerged, the idea of preparing a new constitution emerged. Reform Communists and the opposition took account of this development at the Hungarian Round Table Talks in mid-1989, desiring a document that would establish a multiparty system, parliamentary democracy and a social market economy. However, time constraints did not allow a completely new constitution to be written. On 18 October, the National Assembly approved a comprehensive amendment package which allowed the 1949 Constitution to prevail until a new constitution was framed. The reform (Act XXXI of 1989), changed nearly 100 provisions of the 1949 Constitution, and pruned out its Communist character. It was the first thoroughgoing constitutional transformation in the Soviet bloc. It was adopted like a normal constitutional amendment, and was passed by a margin of 333-5 (with eight abstentions)–well above the required two-thirds majority. The amended constitution went into effect on 23 October, the anniversary of the Hungarian Revolution of 1956.
Aster Revolution
Károlyi had helped establish the Hungarian National Council which demanded the secession of Hungary from the Austro-Hungarian Empire. In the early morning hours of 31 October 1918, with support of the soldiers from the Hungarian Army, HNC protesters wearing asters helped seize public buildings throughout Budapest. Prime Minister Sándor Wekerle resigned and former Prime Minister István Tisza was murdered.
Hungary–Poland relations
A student demonstration in Budapest in support of the Polish October and asking for similar reforms in Hungary was one of the events that sparked the Hungarian Revolution of 1956. During the revolution, Poles demonstrated their support for the Hungarians by donating blood for them; by 12 November 1956, 11,196 Poles had donated. The Polish Red Cross sent 44 tons of medical supplies to Hungary by air; even larger amounts were sent by road and rail.
Revolutions of 1848 in the Austrian Empire
After Vienna was recaptured by imperial forces, General Windischgrätz and 70,000 troops were sent to Hungary to crush the Hungarian revolution and as they advanced the Hungarian government evacuated Pest. However the Austrian army had to retreat after heavy defeats in the Spring Campaign of the Hungarian Army from March to May 1849. Instead of pursuing the Austrian army, the Hungarians stopped to retake the Fort of Buda and prepared defenses. In June 1849 Russian and Austrian troops entered Hungary heavily outnumbering the Hungarian army. Kossuth abdicated on August 11, 1849 in favour of Artúr Görgey, who he thought was the only general who was capable of saving the nation. 
However, in May 1849, Czar Nicholas I pledged to redouble his efforts against the Hungarian Government. He and Emperor Franz Joseph started to regather and rearm an army to be commanded by Anton Vogl, the Austrian lieutenant-field-marshal. The Czar was also preparing to send 30,000 Russian soldiers back over the Eastern Carpathian Mountains from Poland.
Hungarian–Romanian War
In 1918 the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy politically collapsed and disintegrated as a result of a defeat in the Italian Front (World War I). During the war Count Mihály Károlyi led a small but very active pacifist anti-war maverick fraction in the Hungarian parliament. He even organized covert contacts with British and French diplomats in Switzerland during the war. On 31 October 1918 the Aster Revolution in Budapest brought Hungarian liberal aristocrat Mihály Károlyi, a supporter of the Entente (Allied nations), to power. The huge Hungarian Royal Honvéd army still had more than 1.400.000 soldiers when Mihály Károlyi was announced as prime minister of Hungary. After World War I Károlyi yielded to Woodrow Wilson's (US) demand for pacifism by ordering the disarmament of the Hungarian army. This happened under the direction of Béla Linder, minister of war in the Károlyi government. Due to the full disarmament of its army, Hungary remained without a national defence at a time of particular vulnerability.
Torn from the Flag
Torn from the Flag is a 2007 documentary film about the international decline of communism and the 1956 Hungarian Revolution. The film encompasses the tense Cold War era (1945–1991) and presents the rivalry of the superpowers during that time. It shows the 1956 Hungarian Revolution as the first catalyst for the future decline of the communist system, and as a remarkable turning point for the advancement of democracy. The film’s Hungarian title is "A lyukas zászló".
Outline of Hungary
Following a Celtic (after c. 450 BC) and a Roman (9 BC - c. 4th century) period, the foundation of Hungary was laid in the late Ninth Century by the Magyar chieftain Árpád, whose great grandson István ascended to the throne with a crown sent from Rome in 1000. The Kingdom of Hungary existed with minor interruptions for more than 900 years, and at various points was regarded as one of the cultural centers of the Western world. It was succeeded by a Communist era (1947–1989) during which Hungary gained widespread international attention regarding the Revolution of 1956 and the seminal move of opening its border with Austria in 1989, thus accelerating the collapse of the Eastern Bloc. The present form of government is a parliamentary republic (since 1989). Hungary's current goal is to become a developed country by International Monetary Fund standards, having become already developed by most traditional measures, including GDP and HDI (world ranking 36th and rising). The country's first ever term of EU presidency is due in 2011.
Hungarian Revolution of 1848
The crisis came from abroad - as Kossuth expected - and he used it to the full. On 3 March 1848, shortly after the news of the revolution in Paris had arrived, in a speech of surpassing power he demanded parliamentary government for Hungary and constitutional government for the rest of Austria. He appealed to the hope of the Habsburgs, "our beloved Archduke Franz Joseph" (then seventeen years old), to perpetuate the ancient glory of the dynasty by meeting half-way the aspirations of a free people. He at once became the leader of the European revolution; his speech was read aloud in the streets of Vienna to the mob by which Metternich was overthrown (13 March), and when a deputation from the Diet visited Vienna to receive the assent of Emperor Ferdinand to their petition it was Kossuth who received the chief ovation. The arrival of the news of the revolution in Paris, and Kossuth's German speech about freedom and human rights had whipped up the passions of Austrian crowd in Vienna on March 13.
While Viennese masses celebrated Kossuth as their hero, revolution broke out in Buda on 15 March; Kossuth traveled home immediately.
Gyula Károlyi
After World War I broke out, he volunteered and fought on the Eastern Front as a lieutenant of hussars. After the war he returned to his estate, but the country's situation was chaotic: his cousin, Mihály Károlyi led the Aster Revolution and the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy collapsed. The new leadership decreased the Hungarian Army's numbers to indicate their peaceful intentions towards the Entente Powers. The adjacent countries (Romania, and Czechoslovakia) took advantage of this to gain even more territory: the Romanians occupied Transylvania and the Partium in Spring 1919. On top of this, the Hungarian Soviet Republic was established on 21 March 1919.
Kingdom of Hungary
Following its occupation of Hungary in 1944, the Soviet Union imposed harsh conditions allowing it to seize important material assets and control internal affairs. After the Red Army set up police organs to persecute class enemies, the Soviets assumed that the impoverished Hungarian populace would support the communists in the coming elections. The communists fared poorly, receiving only 17% of the vote, resulting in a coalition government under Prime Minister Zoltán Tildy. Soviet intervention, however, resulted in a government that disregarded Tildy, placed communists in important ministries, and imposed restrictive and repressive measures, including banning the victorious Independent Smallholders, Agrarian Workers and Civic Party. In 1945, Soviet Marshal Kliment Voroshilov forced the freely elected Hungarian government to yield the Interior Ministry to a nominee of the Hungarian Communist Party. Communist Interior Minister László Rajk established the ÁVH secret police, which suppressed political opposition through intimidation, false accusations, imprisonment and torture. In 1946 the form of government was changed to a republic. Soon after the monarchy was abolished, the Soviet Union pressed Hungarian leader Mátyás Rákosi to take a "line of more pronounced class struggle." What emerged was a communist state lasting until October 1989 when the Communists agreed to give up their monopoly on power, paving the way for free elections in March 1990. In today's free republic, the Kingdom is regarded as one long stage in the development of the state. This sense of continuity is reflected in the republic's national symbols such as the Holy Crown of Hungary and the Coat of arms of Hungary, which are the same as when the monarchy was still in place. Several holidays, the official language (Hungarian), and the capital city Budapest have also been retained. The official Hungarian name of the country is "Magyarország" (simply Hungary) since 2012; it was also the common name of the monarchy. The millennium of the Hungarian statehood was commemorated in 2000 and codified by the Millennium Act of 2000.
Uzhhorod
The beginning of the 19th century was characterized by economic changes, including the first factories in the city. The greatest influence on Ungvar among the political events of the 19th century was made by the Hungarian Revolution of 1848-1849, during which the native Hungarian nobility sought both get free of the Austrian Empire and to have authority over their own people. 27 March 1848 was officially celebrated in the city as the overthrow of the monarchy in Hungary. It is now celebrated in Hungary on the 15th of March.
Kingdom of Hungary
It lasted only from 21 March until 1 August 1919. The state was led by Béla Kun and was not recognized by France, the UK or the US. It was the second socialist state in the world to be formed after the October Revolution in Russia brought the Bolsheviks to power. The Hungarian Republic of Councils had military conflicts with the Kingdom of Romania (see Hungarian–Romanian War), the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes and the evolving Czechoslovakia. It collapsed on 1 August 1919 when Hungarians sent representatives to negotiate their surrender to the Romanian forces and Béla Kun, together with other high-ranking Communists, fled to Austria.
Hungarian Reform Era
-constitutional monarchy
Military history of Croatia
On the wave of French revolution, at the end of first half of 19th century Croatian romantic nationalism emerged to counteract the non-violent but apparent Germanization and Magyarization. By the 1840s, and during revolutions of 1848 the movement had moved from cultural goals to resisting Hungarian political demands which grew even bigger during the Hungarian Revolution of 1848. Croatian Ban Josip Jelačić cooperated with the Austrians in quenching the Hungarian Revolution of 1848 by leading a military campaign into Hungary.
The Historians' History of the World
"Book II: The Empire of Austria-Hungary" picked up in the year 1806 with the Napoleonic Wars, Klemens von Metternich, the Treaty of Paris, the suppression of the Prague Revolution in 1848, the Hungarian Revolution of 1848 and Hungary's declaration of independence in 1849, and ends with the Battle of Novara.
Hungary
During the Napoleonic Wars and afterwards, the Hungarian Diet had not convened for decades. In the 1820s, the Emperor was forced to convene the Diet, which marked the beginning of a Reform Period (1825–1848, ). Count István Széchenyi, one of the most prominent statesmen of the country, recognized the urgent need of modernization and his message got through. The Hungarian Parliament was reconvened in 1825 to handle financial needs. A liberal party emerged and focused on providing for the peasantry. Lajos Kossuth – a famous journalist at that time – emerged as leader of the lower gentry in the Parliament. A remarkable upswing started as the nation concentrated its forces on modernization even though the Habsburg monarchs obstructed all important liberal laws relating to civil and political rights and economic reforms. Many reformers (Lajos Kossuth, Mihály Táncsics) were imprisoned by the authorities.
Surrender at Világos
The Surrender at Világos, which was the formal end of the Hungarian Revolution of 1848, took place on 13 August 1849, at Világos, (now Şiria, Romania). The terms were signed by Hungarian General Artúr Görgey on the rebels' side and Count Theodor von Rüdiger of the Russian Imperial Army. Following the capitulation, General Julius Jacob von Haynau was appointed Imperial plenipotentiary in the country and brutally re-subjugated it.
Military occupations by the Soviet Union
The Hungarian Revolution of 1956 was a spontaneous nationwide revolt against the Communist government of Hungary and its Soviet-imposed policies. After announcing their willingness to negotiate the withdrawal of Soviet forces, the Soviet Politburo changed its mind and moved to crush the revolution. On 4 November 1956, a large joint military force of the Warsaw Pact, led by Moscow, entered Budapest to crush the armed resistance.
Democratic socialism
The Hungarian Revolution of 1956 was a spontaneous nationwide revolt against the government of the People's Republic of Hungary and its Soviet-imposed policies, lasting from 23 October until 10 November 1956. Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev's denunciation of the excesses of Stalin's regime during the Twentieth Party Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union on 1956 as well as the revolt in Hungary, produced ideological fractures and disagreements within the communist and socialist parties of Western Europe. In the United Kingdom, the democratic socialist tradition was represented in particular by William Morris's Socialist League and in the 1880s by the Fabian Society and later the Independent Labour Party (ILP) founded by Keir Hardie in the 1890s, of which writer George Orwell would later be a prominent member.
Hungarian State (1849)
The Hungarian State () was a short-lived state that existed for 4 months in the last phase of the Hungarian Revolution of 1848–49.
Hungarian Revolution of 1956
On 16 June 1989, the 31st anniversary of his execution, Imre Nagy's body was reburied with full honours. The Republic of Hungary was declared in 1989 on the 33rd anniversary of the Revolution, and 23 October is now a Hungarian national holiday.
Hungarian Revolution of 1848
The anniversary of the Revolution's outbreak, 15 March, is one of Hungary's three national holidays.
Hungarian Revolution of 1848
In April 1849, Ludwig Baron von Welden replaced Windischgrätz as the new supreme commander of Austrian forces in Hungary. Instead of pursuing the Austrian army, the Hungarians stopped to retake the Fort of Buda and prepared defenses. At the same time, however, victory in Italy had freed many Austrian troops which had hitherto been fighting on this front. In June 1849 Russian and Austrian troops entered Hungary heavily outnumbering the Hungarian army. After all appeals to other European states failed, Kossuth abdicated on August 11, 1849 in favour of Artúr Görgey, who he thought was the only general who was capable of saving the nation.
Cultural representations of the Hungarian Revolution of 1956
Dmitri Shostakovich's Eleventh Symphony, written in 1957, although subtitled "The Year 1905" and purporting to be a musical description of the ill-fated democratic uprising in Russia in that year, is often considered a commentary on the events in Hungary. Shostakovich makes frequent use of early 20th-century Russian revolutionary songs about the cruelty of the Tsar and the longing for freedom, and vividly depicts the violent crushing of the 1905 revolution. To Soviet audiences of the time, the analogy with the Hungarian revolution was unmistakable.
Ignaz Semmelweis
In 1848, a series of tumultuous revolutions swept across Europe. The resulting political turmoil would affect Semmelweis's career. In Vienna on 13 March 1848 students demonstrated in favor of increased civil rights, including trial by jury and freedom of expression. The demonstrations were led by medical students and young faculty members and were joined by workers from the suburbs. Two days later in Hungary, demonstrations and uprisings led to the Hungarian Revolution of 1848 and a full-scale war against the ruling Habsburgs of the Austrian Empire. In Vienna, the March demonstration was followed by months of general unrest.
Budapest
The 19th century was dominated by the Hungarian struggle for independence and modernisation. The national insurrection against the Habsburgs began in the Hungarian capital in 1848 and was defeated one and a half years later, with the help of the Russian Empire. 1867 was the year of Reconciliation that brought about the birth of Austria-Hungary. This made Budapest the twin capital of a dual monarchy. It was this compromise which opened the second great phase of development in the history of Budapest, lasting until World War I. In 1849 the Chain Bridge linking Buda with Pest was opened as the first permanent bridge across the Danube and in 1873 Buda and Pest were officially merged with the third part, Óbuda (Old Buda), thus creating the new metropolis of Budapest. The dynamic Pest grew into the country's administrative, political, economic, trade and cultural hub. Ethnic Hungarians overtook Germans in the second half of the 19th century due to mass migration from the overpopulated rural Transdanubia and Great Hungarian Plain. Between 1851 and 1910 the proportion of Hungarians increased from 35.6% to 85.9%, Hungarian became the dominant language, and German was crowded out. The proportion of Jews peaked in 1900 with 23.6%. Due to the prosperity and the large Jewish community of the city at the start of the 20th century, Budapest was often called the "Jewish Mecca" or "Judapest".
In 1918, Austria-Hungary lost the war and collapsed; Hungary declared itself an independent republic (Republic of Hungary). In 1920 the Treaty of Trianon partitioned the country, and as a result, Hungary lost over two-thirds of its territory, and about two-thirds of its inhabitants, including 3.3 million out of 15 million ethnic Hungarians.
Lajos Kossuth
He appealed to the hope of the Habsburgs, "our beloved Archduke Franz Joseph" (then seventeen years old), to perpetuate the ancient glory of the dynasty by meeting half-way the aspirations of a free people. He at once became the leader of the European revolution; his speech was read aloud in the streets of Vienna to the mob which overthrew Metternich (13 March); when a deputation from the Diet visited Vienna to receive the assent of Emperor Ferdinand to their petition, Kossuth received the chief ovation. While Viennese masses celebrated Kossuth as their hero, revolution broke out in Buda on 15 March; Kossuth traveled home immediately. On 17 March 1848 the Emperor assented and Lajos Batthyány created the first Hungarian responsible government. On 23 March 1848, Pm. Batthyány commended his government to the Diet. In the new government Kossuth was appointed as the Minister of Finance.
Hungarian Revolution of 1848
In 1848 and 1849, the Hungarian people or Magyars, who wanted independence, formed a majority only in the central areas of the country. The Hungarians were surrounded by other nationalities.
Hungarian Declaration of Independence
The Hungarian Declaration of Independence declared the independence of Hungary from the Habsburg Monarchy during the Hungarian Revolution of 1848. It was presented to the National Assembly in closed session on 13 April 1849 by Lajos Kossuth, and in open session the following day, despite political opposition from within the Hungarian Peace Party. The declaration was passed unanimously the following day.
Regent of Hungary
During the Hungarian Revolution of 1848 the new Emperor Francis Joseph revoked all the concessions granted in March and outlawed Kossuth and the Hungarian government - set up lawfully on the basis of the April Laws. In April 1849, when the Hungarians had won many successes, after sounding the army, Lajos Kossuth issued the celebrated Hungarian Declaration of Independence, in which he declared that "the house of Habsburg-Lorraine, perjured in the sight of God and man, had forfeited the Hungarian throne." Establishing the Hungarian State, the declaration was a step characteristic of his love for extreme and dramatic action, but it added to the dissensions between him and those who wished only for autonomy under the old dynasty, and his enemies did not scruple to accuse him of aiming for Kingship. The dethronement also made any compromise with the Habsburgs practically impossible. Lajos Kossuth became head of state as Governor-President of Hungary.
History of Hungary
In October 1989, the Communist Party convened its last congress and re-established itself as the Hungarian Socialist Party (MSZP). In a historic session on 16–20 October 1989, the Parliament adopted legislation providing for multi-party parliamentary elections and a direct presidential election. The legislation transformed Hungary from a People's Republic into the Republic of Hungary, guaranteed human and civil rights, and created an institutional structure that ensures separation of powers among the judicial, executive, and legislative branches of government. On the anniversary of the 1956 Revolution, 23 October, the Hungarian Republic was officially declared by the provisional President of the Republic Mátyás Szűrös as the replacement for the Hungarian People's Republic. The revised constitution also championed the "values of bourgeois democracy and democratic socialism" and gave equal status to public and private property.
Nemzeti dal
Hungarians celebrate the anniversary of the revolution on March 15. Red-white-green ribbons are worn to commemorate the fallen revolutionaries and the ideal of the revolution. Hungary briefly achieved independence from 1848–1849, but was defeated by the combined forces of the Habsburgs and the Russian Empire. Despite its ultimate defeat, the revolution initiated a chain of events that led to the autonomy of Hungary within the new Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1867.
Minister of Defence (Hungary)
"After the collapse of the Hungarian Revolution of 1848, the Hungarian Kingdom became an integral part of the Austrian Empire until 1867, when dual Austro-Hungarian Monarchy was created".
Hungarian Revolution of 1956
In June 1956, a violent uprising by Polish workers in Poznań was put down by the government, with scores of protesters killed and wounded. Responding to popular demand, in October 1956, the government appointed the recently rehabilitated reformist communist Władysław Gomułka as First Secretary of the Polish United Workers' Party, with a mandate to negotiate trade concessions and troop reductions with the Soviet government. After a few tense days of negotiations, on 19 October the Soviets finally gave in to Gomułka's reformist demands. News of the concessions won by the Poles, known as Polish October, emboldened many Hungarians to hope for similar concessions for Hungary and these sentiments contributed significantly to the highly charged political climate that prevailed in Hungary in the second half of October 1956.
Politics in 19th-century Hungary
Politics in 19th-century Hungary substantially driven by the "Ideology of '47, '48, '49 and '67", which refer to a set of different normative beliefs that were prevalent in the country in the second half of the 19th century. The political spectrum and the society changed dramatically during that time, especially through decisive events such as the Hungarian Revolution of 1848 or the Ausgleich in 1867. Many scholars have argued that this had a transformative effect not only on the legal and governmental systems of the time, but also on the legal claims of different social groups which resulted in the formation of a new political landscape after both major historical events.
Anti-communism
The Hungarian Revolution of 1956 was a revolt against the government of the Hungarian People's Republic and its Stalinist policies, lasting from 23 October until 10 November 1956. The revolt began as a student demonstration which attracted thousands as it marched through central Budapest to the Parliament building. A student delegation entering the radio building in an attempt to broadcast its demands was detained. When the delegation's release was demanded by the demonstrators outside, they were fired upon by the State Security Police (ÁVH) from within the building. The news spread quickly and disorder and violence erupted throughout the capital. The revolt spread quickly across Hungary and the government fell. After announcing a willingness to negotiate a withdrawal of Soviet forces, the Politburo of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union changed its mind and moved to crush the revolution.
History of Hungary
On 23 October 1956, a peaceful student demonstration in Budapest produced a list of 16 Demands of Hungarians Revolutionaries for reform and greater political freedom. As the students attempted to broadcast these demands, the State Protection Authority made some arrests and tried to disperse the crowd with tear gas. When the students attempted to free those arrested, the police opened fire on the crowd, setting off a chain of events which led to the Hungarian Revolution of 1956.
Aster Revolution
The Aster Revolution or Chrysanthemum Revolution () was a revolution in Hungary led by Count Mihály Károlyi in the aftermath of World War I which led to the foundation of the short-lived First Hungarian People's Republic.
History of Christianity in Hungary
Mihály Károlyi decided to hand over power "to the proletariat" when the Entente Powers issued an ultimatum, demanding the evacuation of a large zone east of the Tisza. The new government led by the Communist Béla Kun declared Hungary a soviet republic on March 21, 1919. The counter-revolutionary propaganda did not fail to emphasize that over half of the commissars were of Jewish origin. Under the new regime Church property, along with schools so far run by the Churches, was nationalized. After 133 days of rule, the Communist regime collapsed when its offensive against the advancing Romanian troops proved abortive. After general elections, a new Parliament was convoked and Hungary was again proclaimed a kingdom. A "numerus clausus law" was soon adopted to reduce the ratio of Jewish students in universities. However, following the punitive Treaty of Trianon of June 4, 1920, that stripped Hungary of two-third of its territory, irredentism became the dominant political ideology.
János Kádár
As the Communists took over Hungary in 1947-48, Kádár rose quickly through the Party ranks, serving as Interior Minister from 1948 to 1950. He took part in the trial and interrogation of former secret police chief László Rajk, one of the most infamous show-trials in the post-war Eastern bloc. In 1951, he was imprisoned by the Stalinist regime of Mátyás Rákosi, released in 1954 by reformist Prime Minister Imre Nagy. On 25 October 1956, during the Hungarian Revolution, Kádár replaced Ernő Gerő as General Secretary of the Party, taking part in Nagy's short-lived revolutionary government. However, on 1 November he broke with Nagy over the latter's decision to withdraw from the Warsaw Pact; secretly defecting to the Soviets. When the Soviets crushed the Revolution on 4 November, they selected Kádár as the next leader of Hungary. After the Revolution was crushed, Kádár initially presided over a reign of terror, ordering the execution of many participants in the Revolution (including Imre Nagy and his close associates) and the imprisonment of many others. However, he gradually softened his approach as the years passed, often granting individual amnesties, and moderating his regime's overall governing style. By 1963, the last prisoners from the Hungarian Revolution had been released.
Hungary
Following the First World War, Hungary underwent a period of profound political upheaval, beginning with the Aster Revolution in 1918, which brought the social-democratic Mihály Károlyi to power as Prime Minister. Károlyi dissolved the union with Austria and disarmed the Hungarian Army, leaving the country without any national defense. The Little Entente, sensing an opportunity, invaded the country from three sides—Romania invaded Transylvania, Czechoslovakia annexed Upper Hungary (today's Slovakia), and a joint Serb-French coalition annexed Vojvodina and other southern regions. In March 1919, communists led by Béla Kun ousted the Károlyi government and proclaimed the Hungarian Soviet Republic ("Tanácsköztársaság"), followed by a thorough Red Terror campaign. Despite some successes on the Czechoslovak front, Kun's forces were ultimately unable to resist the Romanian invasion; by August 1919, Romanian troops occupied Budapest and ousted Kun.
Hungarian Revolution of 1848
The ensuing parliamentary elections resulted in a complete victory of the Progressives. This was also the last election which was based on the parliamental system of the old feudal estates. All efforts to bring about an understanding between the government and the opposition were fruitless. Kossuth demanded not merely the redress of actual grievances, but a liberal reform which would make grievances impossible in the future. In the highest circles a dissolution of the diet now seemed to be the sole remedy; but, before it could be carried out, tidings of the February revolution in Paris reached Pressburg on the 1st of March, and on the 3rd of March Kossuth's motion for the appointment of an independent, responsible ministry was accepted by the Lower House. The moderates, alarmed not so much by the motion itself as by its tone, again tried to intervene; but on the 13th of March the Vienna revolution broke out, and the Emperor, yielding to pressure or panic, appointed Count Louis Batthyány premier of the first Hungarian responsible ministry, which included Kossuth, Széchenyi and Deák.
Hungarian Revolution of 1956
The rapid spread of the uprising in the streets of Budapest and the abrupt fall of the Gerő-Hegedüs government left the new national leadership surprised, and at first disorganised. Nagy, a loyal party reformer described as possessing "only modest political skills", initially appealed to the public for calm and a return to the old order. Yet Nagy, the only remaining Hungarian leader with credibility in both the eyes of the public and the Soviets, "at long last concluded that a popular uprising rather than a counter-revolution was taking place". At 13:20 on 28 October, Nagy announced an immediate and general cease-fire over the radio and, on behalf of the new national government, declared the following:
On 1 November, in a radio address to the Hungarian people, Nagy formally declared Hungary's withdrawal from the Warsaw Pact as well as Hungary's stance of neutrality. Because it held office only ten days, the National Government had little chance to clarify its policies in detail. However, newspaper editorials at the time stressed that Hungary should be a neutral, multi-party social democracy. Many political prisoners were released, most notably Cardinal József Mindszenty. Political parties that were previously banned, such as the Independent Smallholders and the National Peasant Party (under the name "Petőfi Party"), reappeared to join the coalition.
Hungarian Working People's Party
During the Hungarian Revolution of 1956, the party was reorganised into the Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party (MSZMP) by a circle of communists around Kádár and Imre Nagy. The new government of Nagy declared to assess the uprising not as counter-revolutionary but as a "great, national and democratic event" and to dissolve State Security Police (ÁVH). Hungary's declaration to become neutral and to exit the Warsaw Pact, caused the second Soviet intervention on 4 November 1956.
After 8 November 1956, the MSZMP, under Kádár's leadership, fully supported the Soviet Union.
Ágnes Heller
The 1956 Hungarian Revolution was the most important political event of her life, for at this time she saw the effect of the academic freedoms of Marxist critical theory as dangerous to the entire political and social structure of Hungary. The uprising confirmed Heller's ideas that what Marx really means for the people is to have political autonomy and collective determination of social life.
Hungarian Revolution of 1848
Hungarian liberals in Pest saw this as an opportunity. In September 1848, the Diet made concessions to the Pest Uprising, so as not to break up the Austro-Hungarian Union. But the counter-revolutionary forces were gathering. After many local victories, the combined Bohemian and Croatian armies entered Pest on 5 January 1849.
Hungarian Revolution of 1848
Though the Hungarian Jacobin republican movement did not affect the policy of the Hungarian Parliament and the parliamentary parties, it had strong ideological ties with the extra-parliamentary forces: the radical youths and students like the poet Sándor Petőfi, the philosopher and historian Pál Vasvári and the novel-writer Mór Jókai, who sparked the revolution in the Pilvax coffee house on 15 March 1848.
Hungarian People's Republic
The Hungarian People's Republic () was a one-party socialist republic from 20 August 1949
to 23 October 1989.
It was governed by the Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party, which was under the influence of the Soviet Union pursuant to the 1944 Moscow Conference during which Winston Churchill and Joseph Stalin had agreed that after the war Hungary was to be allocated to the Soviet Union.
Hungarian Revolution of 1956
In January 1957, United Nations Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld, acting in response to UN General Assembly resolutions requesting investigation and observation of the events in Soviet-occupied Hungary, established the Special Committee on the Problem of Hungary. The Committee, with representatives from Australia, Ceylon (Sri Lanka), Denmark, Tunisia, and Uruguay, conducted hearings in New York, Geneva, Rome, Vienna, and London. Over five months, 111 refugees were interviewed including ministers, military commanders and other officials of the Nagy government, workers, revolutionary council members, factory managers and technicians, Communists and non-Communists, students, writers, teachers, medical personnel, and Hungarian soldiers. Documents, newspapers, radio transcripts, photos, film footage, and other records from Hungary were also reviewed, as well as written testimony of 200 other Hungarians.
János Kádár
Rákosi was forced to resign in 1956, replaced by Gerő. On 23 October 1956, students marched through Budapest intending to present a petition to the government. The procession swelled as several people poured onto the streets. Gerő replied with a harsh speech that angered the people, and police opened fire. It proved to be the start of the Hungarian Revolution of 1956. As the revolution spread throughout the country, Nagy was called back as Prime Minister.
Records of Prime Ministers of Hungary
The shortest ever period was only 17 hours, a record held by Count János Hadik, from 30 October to 31 October 1918, who was asked to form a government by King Charles IV but the Aster Revolution broke out led by leftist liberal Count Mihály Károlyi, who founded the Hungarian Democratic Republic. By the end of the day, King Charles IV had accepted the coup and appointed Károlyi as Hungary's new Prime Minister. Hadik had no time to form a government, so many historians believe he was just a designated premier.
Hungary–Soviet Union relations
In elections held in November 1945, the Independent Smallholders' Party won 57 percent of the vote. The Hungarian Communist Party, under the leadership of Mátyás Rákosi and Ernő Gerő, received support from only 17 percent of the population. The Soviet commander in Hungary, Marshal Kliment 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. Later, Mátyás Rákosi boasted that he had dealt with his partners in the government one by one, "cutting them off like slices of salami." The Hungarian monarchy was formally abolished on February 1, 1946, and replaced by the Republic of Hungary. The gradual takeover by the Communists was completed on August 18, 1949, when Hungary became the People's Republic of Hungary.
History of Budapest
The Hungarian Revolution of 1956 was suppressed, the Soviets, rather than appointing a Hungarian hardliner or a Soviet general, gave a chance to János Kádár, a former kidnapped minister of the revolution. He defeated the remaining rebel forces, then embarked on cautious reforms to create a "Goulash Communism" that differentiated Hungary from its Warsaw Pact neighbors. Due to the co-operative efforts of Kádár and huge loans taken from the West to offset the failing economy, Hungary became the favorite Communist state of the West by the late 1970s. A decade later, the city was the center of opposition activity, rallies, printing and selling of unauthorized material and secret-service surveillance. In addition the talks between opposition and government representatives (dubbed the "Round Table Consultations") were held there. Finally, the majority of the multi-sided regime decided to step over Gorbachev's line and open the borders (the first official break of the Iron Curtain), declared Hungary a Republic on October 23, 1989 then issued free elections. While communism was toppled in Berlin and Prague, the Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party was simply voted out of power in Hungary, initiating a peaceful transition from one political system to another. Hungarians simply refer to all that has happened since then as "after the System-change".
Revolutionary Workers'-Peasants' Government of Hungary
The Revolutionary Workers'-Peasants' Government of Hungary (Hungarian: magyar Forradalmi Munkás-Paraszt Kormány or első Kádár-kormány) was formed during the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 with Soviet support with the aim of replacing the Imre Nagy government.
Budapest School (Lukács)
The 1956 Hungarian Revolution was one of the most important political events of Agnes Heller's life, for at this time she saw the effect of the academic freedoms of Marxist critical theory as dangerous to the entire political and social structure of Hungary. The uprising confirmed Heller’s ideas that what Marx really intended is for the people to have political autonomy and collective determination of social life.
Hungarian Revolution of 1956
Initially appearing open to negotiating a withdrawal of Soviet forces, the Politburo changed its mind and moved to crush the revolution. On 4 November, a large Soviet force invaded Budapest and other regions of the country. The Hungarian resistance continued until 10 November. Over 2,500 Hungarians and 700 Soviet troops were killed in the conflict, and 200,000 Hungarians fled as refugees. Mass arrests and denunciations continued for months thereafter. By January 1957, the new Soviet-installed government had suppressed all public opposition. These Soviet actions, while strengthening control over the Eastern Bloc, alienated many Western Marxists, leading to splits and/or considerable losses of membership for communist parties in capitalist states.
Debrecen
In 1849, Debrecen was the capital of Hungary for a short time when the Hungarian revolutionary government fled there from Pest-Buda (modern-day Budapest). In April 1849, the dethronization of Habsburgs (neglected after the fall of the revolution) and the independence of Hungary was proclaimed here by Lajos Kossuth at the Great (Calvinist) Church ("Nagytemplom" in Hungarian.) The last battle of the war of independence was also close to Debrecen. The Russians, allied to Habsburgs, defeated the Hungarian army close to the western part of the town.
Austria-Hungary
In Hungary, the most prominent opponent of continued union with Austria, Count Mihály Károlyi, seized power in the Aster Revolution on 31 October. Charles was all but forced to appoint Károlyi as his Hungarian prime minister. One of Károlyi's first acts was to cancel the compromise agreement, officially dissolving the Austro-Hungarian state.
History of Hungary
On 15 March 1848, mass demonstrations in Pest and Buda enabled Hungarian reformists to push through a list of Twelve Demands. The Hungarian Diet took advantage of the Revolutions of 1848 in the Habsburg areas to enact the April laws, a comprehensive legislative program of dozens of civil rights reforms. Faced with revolution both at home and in Hungary, Austrian Emperor Ferdinand I at first had to accept Hungarian demands. After the Austrian uprising was suppressed, a new emperor Franz Joseph replaced his epileptic uncle Ferdinand. Franz Joseph rejected all reforms and started to arm against Hungary. A year later, in April 1849, an independent government of Hungary was established.
Hungary–Soviet Union relations
The Hungarian Revolution of 1956 was a spontaneous nationwide revolt against the Communist government of Hungary and its Soviet-imposed policies. After announcing their willingness to negotiate the withdrawal of Soviet forces, the Soviet Politburo changed its mind and moved to crush the revolution. On November 4, 1956, a large joint military force of the Warsaw Pact, led by Moscow, entered Budapest to crush the armed resistance.
Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867
Hungarian statesman Ferenc Deák is considered the intellectual force behind the Compromise. Deák initially wanted independence for Hungary and supported the 1848 Revolution, but he broke with hardline nationalists and advocated a modified union under the Habsburgs. Deák believed that while Hungary had the right to full internal independence, questions of defence and foreign affairs were "common" to both Austria and Hungary, under the Pragmatic Sanction of 1723. He also felt that Hungary benefited from continued union with wealthier, more industrialized Austria and that the Compromise would end the continual pressures on Austria to choose between the Magyars and the Slavs of the Kingdom of Hungary. Imperial Chancellor Beust quickly negotiated the Compromise with the Hungarian leaders. Beust was particularly eager to renew the conflict with Prussia and thought a quick settlement with Hungary would make that possible. Franz Joseph and Deák signed the Compromise, and it was ratified by the restored Diet of Hungary on 29 May 1867.
Hungarian Revolution of 1848
During all the terrible winter which followed, his energy and spirit never failed him. It was he who overcame the reluctance of the army to march to the relief of Vienna; after the defeat at the Battle of Schwechat, at which he was present, he sent Józef Bem to carry on the war in Transylvania. At the end of the year, when the Austrians were approaching Pest, he asked for the mediation of Mr William Henry Stiles (1808–1865), the American envoy. Alfred I, Prince of Windisch-Grätz, however, refused all terms, and the Diet and government fled to Debrecen, Kossuth taking with him the Crown of St Stephen, the sacred emblem of the Hungarian nation. In November 1848, Emperor Ferdinand abdicated in favour of Franz Joseph. The new Emperor revoked all the concessions granted in March and outlawed Kossuth and the Hungarian government – set up lawfully on the basis of the April laws. In April 1849, when the Hungarians had won many successes, after sounding the army, Kossuth issued the celebrated Hungarian Declaration of Independence, in which he declared that "the house of Habsburg-Lorraine, perjured in the sight of God and man, had forfeited the Hungarian throne." It was a step characteristic of his love for extreme and dramatic action, but it added to the dissensions between him and those who wished only for autonomy under the old dynasty, and his enemies did not scruple to accuse him of aiming for Kingship. The dethronement also made any compromise with the Habsburgs practically impossible.
Cold War
The Hungarian Revolution of 1956 occurred shortly after Khrushchev arranged the removal of Hungary's Stalinist leader Mátyás Rákosi. In response to a popular uprising, the new regime formally disbanded the secret police, declared its intention to withdraw from the Warsaw Pact and pledged to re-establish free elections. The Soviet Army invaded. Thousands of Hungarians were arrested, imprisoned and deported to the Soviet Union, and approximately 200,000 Hungarians fled Hungary in the chaos. Hungarian leader Imre Nagy and others were executed following secret trials.
From 1957 through 1961, Khrushchev openly and repeatedly threatened the West with nuclear annihilation. He claimed that Soviet missile capabilities were far superior to those of the United States, capable of wiping out any American or European city. However, Khrushchev rejected Stalin's belief in the inevitability of war, and declared his new goal was to be "peaceful coexistence". This formulation modified the Stalin-era Soviet stance, where international class conflict meant the two opposing camps were on an inevitable collision course where communism would triumph through global war; now, peace would allow capitalism to collapse on its own, as well as giving the Soviets time to boost their military capabilities, which remained for decades until Gorbachev's later "new thinking" envisioning peaceful coexistence as an end in itself rather than a form of class struggle.
Hungarian Revolution of 1956
On 13 February 2006, the US State Department commemorated the fiftieth anniversary of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution. US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice commented on the contributions made by 1956 Hungarian refugees to the United States and other host countries, as well as the role of Hungary in providing refuge to East Germans during the 1989 protests against Communist rule. US President George W. Bush also visited Hungary on 22 June 2006, to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary.
Hungarian Reform Era
The Hungarian Reform Era was a period of Hungarian history which led to the awakening of the Hungarian national identity after 150 years of Ottoman and 300 years of Habsburg rule. Its beginning was marked by the reconvening of the Diet of Hungary of 1825 and the foundation of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. The era ended with the 1848 revolution and the ensuing Hungarian War of Independence.
Hungarian Revolution of 1956
On 16 October 1956, university students in Szeged snubbed the official communist student union, the DISZ, by re-establishing the MEFESZ (Union of Hungarian University and Academy Students), a democratic student organization, previously banned under the Rákosi dictatorship. Within days, the student bodies of Pécs, Miskolc, and Sopron followed suit. On 22 October, students of the Technical University compiled a list of sixteen points containing several national policy demands. After the students heard that the Hungarian Writers' Union planned on the following day to express solidarity with pro-reform movements in Poland by laying a wreath at the statue of Polish-born hero General Józef Zachariasz Bem, who was also a hero of the Hungarian Revolution of 1848 (1848–49), the students decided to organize a parallel demonstration of sympathy and unity.
April Laws
The April Laws, also called March Laws, were a collection of laws legislated by Lajos Kossuth with the aim of modernizing the Kingdom of Hungary into a nation state. The imperative program included Hungarian control of its popular national guard, national budget and Hungarian foreign policy, as well as the removal of serfdom. They were passed by the Hungarian Diet in March 1848 in Pozsony (now Bratislava, Slovakia) (German: Pressburg) and signed by Ferdinand V at the Primate's Palace in the same city on 11 April 1848, as a reaction to the Revolution of 1848. When the revolution was crushed by the help of Russian intervention in 1849, Austria did not pass the laws, and Hungary did not retain full external autonomy until the Compromise of 1867 which would later influence Hungary's position in World War I.
Edward T. Wailes
Eisenhower then named Wailes United States Ambassador to Hungary, with Ambassador Wailes receiving his commission on July 26, 1956. At the time of this appointment, the People's Republic of Hungary was ruled by the Hungarian Communist Party, under Prime Minister of Hungary András Hegedüs. The Hungarian Revolution of 1956 began on October 23, 1956, with crowds demanding the return of former Prime Minister Imre Nagy, who had pledged to lead Hungary out of the Warsaw Pact and promised democratic reforms. The next day, Nagy took over as Prime Minister. On the advice of Soviet Ambassador to Hungary Yuri Andropov, Hegedüs fled to the Soviet Union and signed papers asking for Soviet intervention in Hungary to stop Nagy. Wailes arrived in Hungary on November 2, 1956. Soviet tanks entered Budapest on November 4, Nagy fled, and the pro-Soviet János Kádár became Prime Minister of Hungary. The Hungarian Revolution ended on November 10, with the Soviets having succeeded in blocking any movement towards democratic reforms in Hungary. Wailes refused to present his credentials to the new government, stating that the government "did not represent the people." Shortly thereafter he was "recalled for consultations" and left Hungary on February 27, 1957.
Hungarian Revolution of 1848
In 1848 and 1849, however, the Hungarians were supported by most Slovaks, Germans, Rusyns and Hungarian Slovenes, the Hungarian Jews, and many Polish, Austrian and Italian volunteers.
On 28 July 1849, the Hungarian Revolutionary Parliament proclaimed and enacted the first laws on ethnic and minority rights in Europe, but these were overturned after the Russian and Austrian armies crushed the Hungarian Revolution.
Occasionally, the Austrian throne would overplay their hand in their tactics of divide and conquer in Hungary – with some quite unintended results. This happened in the case of the Slovaks who had begun the war as at least indifferent if not positively anti-Magyar, but came to support the Hungarian Government against the Dynasty. But in another case, the Austrians' double-dealing brought some even more surprising new allies to the Hungarian cause during the war in 1849.
Ádám Récsey
During the Hungarian Revolution of 1848, Récsey remained a loyal supporter of the imperial court at Vienna. On 1 October 1848, Austrian Minister-President Johann von Wessenberg-Ampringen, negotiating with Hungarian Prime Minister Lajos Batthyány, tried unsuccessfully to reach the appointment of Récsey as Minister besides the King (i.e. Foreign Minister) in the Hungarian cabinet. Following the resignation of Batthyány, Ferdinand V appointed Récsey as Prime Minister in an unconstitutional manner on 3 October, neglecting Lajos Kossuth's Committee of National Defence (OHB), which took the role of government after the dissolution of the Batthyány cabinet. Some argue that Récsey reluctantly accepted the position in return of the forgiveness of his massive debt of 16 thousand forints towards the Austrian royal court. As "Prime Minister", Récsey countersigned his own appointment and Ferdinand's imperial rescript to dissolve the Hungarian Diet, to place Hungary under martial law and to appoint Josip Jelačić as Military and Civic Imperial Commissioner in Hungary.
Flag of Hungary
As described above, the red-white-green tricolour clearly emerged as a sign of national sovereignty during the 1848–1849 revolution against the Habsburgs. Hungarian volunteers and Émigrés fought for the social movement and wars of Italian unification under the banner for Garibaldi. After the revolution in Hungary was defeated, the tricolour flag was prohibited by the Austrian Emperor; after the Compromise of 1867, however, the tricolour became not only legal, but also the official flag of Hungary. The flag had the so-called "minor arms" (also known as the Kossuth coat of arms) of Hungary with archangels as supporters were used as a badge on the flag. This configuration was used until the end of the Habsburg Empire in 1918.
Imre Nagy
The outbreak of Hungarian Revolution in October 1956 saw Nagy's return to government as a central demand of the revolutionaries and common people, becoming Prime Minister on 24 October by popular demand. Nagy's reformist faction gained full control of the government, admitted non-communist politicians, dissolved the ÁVH secret police, promised democratic reforms, and on 1 November unilaterally withdrew Hungary from the Warsaw Pact. The Soviet Union launched a massive counter-revolution on 4 November, forcibly deposing Nagy who fled to the Embassy of Yugoslavia in Budapest. Nagy was lured out of the Embassy under false promises on 22 November but was arrested and deported to Romania. On 16 June 1958, Nagy was tried and executed for treason alongside his closest allies, and his body was buried in an unmarked grave.
Revolutions of 1848
The Hungarian revolution of 1848 was the longest in Europe, crushed in August 1849 by Austrian and Russian armies. Nevertheless, it had a major impact in freeing the serfs. It started on 15 March 1848, when Hungarian patriots organized mass demonstrations in Pest and Buda (today Budapest) which forced the imperial governor to accept their 12 points of demands, which included the demand for freedom of press, an independent Hungarian ministry residing in Buda-Pest and responsible to a popularly elected parliament, the formation of a National Guard, complete civil and religious equality, trial by jury, a national bank, a Hungarian army, the withdrawal of foreign troops from Hungary (Austrian troops), the freeing of political prisoners, and the union with Transylvania. On that morning, the demands were read aloud along with poetry by Sándor Petőfi with the simple lines of "We swear by the God of the Hungarians. We swear, we shall be slaves no more". Lajos Kossuth and some other liberal nobility that made up the Diet appealed to the Habsburg court with demands for representative government and civil liberties. These events resulted in Klemens von Metternich, the Austrian prince and foreign minister, resigning. The demands of the Diet were agreed upon on March 18 by Emperor Ferdinand. Even though Hungary would remain part of the Empire through personal union with the emperor, a constitutional government would be founded. The Diet then passed the April laws that established equality before the law, a legislature, a hereditary constitutional monarchy, and an end to the transfer and restrictions of land use.
Hungarian Soviet Republic
As the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy collapsed in 1918, an independent Hungarian People's Republic was formed after the Aster Revolution. The official proclamation of the republic was on 16 November 1918 and its president became Mihály Károlyi. Károlyi struggled to establish the government's authority and to control the country.An initial nucleus of a Hungarian communist party had been organized in a Moscow hotel on 4 November 1918, when a group of Hungarian prisoners of war and other communist proponents formed a Central Committee. Led by Béla Kun, the first members returned to Hungary, and on 24 November created the Party of Communists from Hungary (Hungarian: Kommunisták Magyarországi Pártja). The name was chosen instead of "The Hungarian Communist Party" because the vast majority of supporters were from the urban industrial working class in Hungary which at the time was largely made up of people from non-Hungarian ethnic backgrounds, with ethnic Hungarians only a minority in the new party itself. The party recruited members while propagating its ideas, radicalising many members of the Social Democratic Party of Hungary in the process. By February 1919, the party numbered 30,000 to 40,000 members, including many unemployed ex-soldiers, young intellectuals and ethnic minorities.
Hungarian Revolution of 1956
"Time" magazine named the Hungarian Freedom Fighter its Man of the Year for 1956. The accompanying "Time" article comments that this choice could not have been anticipated until the explosive events of the revolution, almost at the end of 1956. The magazine cover and accompanying text displayed an artist's depiction of a Hungarian freedom fighter, and used pseudonyms for the three participants whose stories are the subject of the article. In 2006, Hungarian Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsány referred to this famous "Time" Man of the Year cover as "the faces of free Hungary" in a speech to mark the 50th anniversary of the 1956 uprising. Prime Minister Gyurcsány, in a joint appearance with British Prime Minister Tony Blair, commented specifically on the Time cover itself, that "It is an idealised image but the faces of the figures are really the face of the revolutionaries"
History of communism
The Hungarian Revolution of 1956 was a major challenge to Moscow's control of Eastern Europe. This revolution saw general strikes, the formation of independent workers councils, the restoration of the Social Democratic Party as a party for revolutionary communism of a non-Soviet variety and the formation of two underground independent communist parties. The mainstream Communist Party was controlled for a period of about a week by non-Soviet aligned leaders. Two non-communist parties which supported the maintenance of socialism also regained their independence. This flowering of dissenting communism was crushed by a combination of a military invasion supported by heavy artillery and airstrikes; mass arrests, at least a thousand juridical executions and an uncounted number of summary executions; the crushing of the Central Workers Council of Greater Budapest; mass refugee flight; and a worldwide propaganda campaign. The effect of the Hungarian Revolution on other communist parties varied significantly, resulting in large membership losses in Anglophone communist parties.
Kingdom of Hungary
The European revolutions of 1848 swept into Hungary, as well. The Hungarian Revolution of 1848 sought to redress the long suppressed desire for political change, namely independence. The Hungarian National Guard was created by young Hungarian patriots in 1848. In literature, this was best expressed by the greatest poet of the revolution, Sándor Petőfi.
Kingdom of Hungary
As war broke out with Austria, Hungarian military successes, which included the campaigns of the Hungarian general, Artúr Görgey, forced the Austrians on the defensive. One of the most famous battles of the revolution, the Battle of Pákozd, was fought on 29 September 1848, when the Hungarian revolutionary army led by Lieutenant-General János Móga defeated the troops of the Croatian Ban Josip Jelačić. Fearing defeat, the Austrians pleaded for Russian help. The combined forces of the two empires quelled the revolution. The desired political changes of 1848 were again suppressed until the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867.
CIA activities in Hungary
CIA had one officer, Geza Katona, in Hungary from 1950 to 1957 period, and for several years that person spent "95 percent" of his time on "cover duties." "He mailed letters, purchased stamps and stationery ...," among other "support tasks," the history noted. At the time of the Revolution in fall 1956, he was preoccupied with official contacts, maintaining diplomatic cover, and doing interviews with Hungarian visitors.
CIA was completely surprised by the Hungarian Revolution of 1956. A CIA Clandestine Service (CS) report of the events, written in 1958, said "This breath-taking and undreamed-of state of affairs not only caught many Hungarians off-guard, it also caught us off-guard, for which we can hardly be blamed since we had no inside information, little outside information, and could not read the Russians' minds."
History of Christianity in Hungary
In spite of a monarchist campaign led by József Mindszenty, Archbishop of Esztergom, Hungary was declared a republic on February 1, 1946. The Communist Party acquired power step by step, using its "salami tactics" in order to slice up its opposition. For instance, after the murder of a Soviet officer, about 1,500 "reactionary associations", such as the Catholic Youth Association, were dissolved in July 1946. Clergymen were excluded from the general elections held in November 1946. Among the Church leaders, the Evangelical Bishop Lajos Ordass was sentenced for fabricated "foreign currency offenses" in 1948, and Cardinal Mindszenty, who had in 1948 spoke of one kind of dictatorship being replaced with another, was brought to court upon similarly fabricated charges of espionage and subversion in 1949. Meanwhile, in 1947 a new law abolished all discriminations against those denominations that had not thereto received the "received" status.
Hungarian Revolution of 1848
The alarm of the government at the power and popularity of the Liberal party induced it, soon after the accession of the new king, the emperor Ferdinand I (1835–1848), to attempt to crush the reform movement by arresting and imprisoning the most active agitators among them, Lajos Kossuth and Miklós Wesselényi. But the nation was no longer to be cowed. The diet of 1839 refused to proceed to business till the political prisoners had been released, and, while in the Lower Chamber the reforming majority was larger than ever, a Liberal party was now also formed in the Upper House under the leadership of Count Louis Batthyány and Baron Joseph Eotvos. From 1000AD up to 1844, Latin language was the official language of administration, legislation and schooling in Kingdom of Hungary. Two progressive measures of the highest importance were passed by this diet, one making Magyar the official language of Hungary, the other freeing the peasants' holdings from all feudal obligations.
Significant events of the Hungarian Revolution of 1956
Listed below are some significant events in the Hungarian Revolution of 1956, which began on October 23, 1956 and was brutally crushed by Soviet forces in November.
List of Interior Ministers of Hungary
"After the collapse of the Hungarian Revolution of 1848, the Hungarian Kingdom became an integral part of the Austrian Empire until 1867, when dual Austro-Hungarian Monarchy was created".
Hungarian Revolution of 1848
This combat led to the Vienna Uprising of October 1848, when insurgents attacked a garrison on its way to Hungary to support forces. However, the Austrian army was able to quell the rebellion. At the same time, at Schwechat, the Austrians defeated a Hungarian attempt to capture Vienna. After this victory, General Windischgrätz and 70,000 troops were sent to Hungary to crush the Hungarian revolution. the Austrians followed the Danube down from Vienna and crossed over into Hungary to envelope Komorn (now Komárom, Hungary and Komárno, Slovakia). They continued down the Danube to Pest, the capital of the Hungarian Kingdom. After some fierce fighting, the Austrians, led by Alfred I, Prince of Windisch-Grätz, captured Buda and Pest. (the town was known in German as Ofen and later Buda and Pest were united into Budapest).
Hungarian Revolution of 1956
The Hungarian Working People's Party set about to modify the economy into socialism by undertaking radical nationalization based on the Soviet model. Writers and journalists were the first to voice open criticism of the government and its policies, publishing critical articles in 1955. By 22 October 1956, Technical University students had resurrected the banned MEFESZ student union, and staged a demonstration on 23 October that set off a chain of events leading directly to the revolution.
Hungarian Village
Hungarian village is contained within the original boundaries of the Merion estate, established by Nathaniel Merion in 1809. This area is part of the Refugee Tract, where Congress compensated Refugee Soldiers, or Loyalists, for their service in the American Revolutionary War. Throughout history this area was settled and populated–first by Early British and Nova Scotian settlers and later by many German, Italian, and Irish immigrants–during the Building Boom of the early 1900s when the area became known as ‘Steelton’. In 1913 the Hungarian Reformed Church was established and later rebuilt in 1923. Located at the intersection of East Woodrow Avenue and South Washington Avenue the church lies on the far south border of the community. One corner stone on the face of the Hungarian Reformed church is inscribed with “United Magyar Protestant Church June 26, 1921”. This simple inscription links the church and its early Hungarian immigrant congregation to the Magyars of Hungary. In 1922 there were an estimated 1,200 Magyars living in Columbus. It is of no surprise that many Hungarian refugees came to the area during the failed 1956 Hungarian Revolution, while many others would settle in Cleveland, New Jersey, and New York. In 1973 it was Reverend Zoltan Szabo that proposed the idea of defining the community as Hungarian Village, looking at the revitalization in nearby German Village as a model for a successful community. Twenty-five years after the Hungarian Revolution a plaque was erected, recognizing the Hungarians who died for human rights and freedom. This memorial stands outside of the Hungarian Reformed Church which still houses the Hungarian Village Society today. 
In 1991, Hungarian President Árpád Göncz visited the village on a seven-day U.S. trip, stopping at the Hungarian Reformed Church.
History of Hungary
The Magyars were Christianized at the end of the 10th century, and the Christian Kingdom of Hungary was established in AD 1000, 
ruled by the Árpád dynasty for the following three centuries.
In the high medieval period, the kingdom expanded beyond Pannonia, to the Adriatic coast. In 1241 during the reign of Béla IV, Hungary was invaded by the Mongols under Batu Khan. The Hungarians were decisively defeated at the Battle of Mohi by the outnumbered Mongol army. King Béla fled to the Holy Roman Empire and left the Hungarian population under the mercy of the Mongols. In this invasion more than 500,000 Hungarian population were massacred and the whole kingdom reduced to ashes.
After the extinction of the Árpád dynasty in 1301, the late medieval kingdom persisted, albeit no longer under Hungarian monarchs, and gradually reduced due to the increasing pressure by the expansion of the Ottoman Empire. Hungary bore the brunt of the Ottoman wars in Europe during the 15th century. The peak of this struggle took place during the reign of Matthias Corvinus (r. 1458–1490). The Ottoman–Hungarian wars concluded in significant loss of territory and the partition of the kingdom after the Battle of Mohács of 1526.
Hungarian Revolution of 1956
Public discussion about the revolution was suppressed in Hungary for more than 30 years. Since the thaw of the 1980s, it has been a subject of intense study and debate. At the inauguration of the Third Hungarian Republic in 1989, 23 October was declared a national holiday.
Revolutions of 1848
The revolution grew into a war for independence from the Austrian Empire when Josip Jelačić, Ban of Croatia, crossed the border to restore Habsburg control. The new government, led by Lajos Kossuth, was initially successful against the Habsburg forces. Although Hungary took a national united stand for its freedom, some minorities of the Kingdom of Hungary, including the Serbs of Vojvodina, the Romanians of Transylvania and some Slovaks of Upper Hungary supported the Habsburg Emperor and fought against the Hungarian Revolutionary Army. Eventually, after one and a half years of fighting, the revolution was crushed when Russian Tsar Nicholas I marched into Hungary with over 300,000 troops. Hungary was thus placed under brutal martial law, with the Austrian government restored. The leading rebels like Kossuth fled into exile or were executed. In the long run, the passive resistance following the revolution led to the Austro-Hungarian Compromise (1867), which marked the birth of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
Kingdom of Hungary (1526–1867)
Two major Hungarian rebellions as the Rákóczi's War of Independence in the beginning of the 18th century and the Hungarian Revolution of 1848 marked important shifts in the evolution of the polity. The kingdom became a dual monarchy in 1867 known as the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
May Assembly
After the outbreak of the revolution in the Habsburg Kingdom of Hungary on 15 March 1848, the new government of the kingdom refused to accept the Serbs' request for recognition of their national rights, taking a stance that all citizens of the Kingdom of Hungary are Hungarians. Serbs, whose national rights and freedoms were previously regulated within the Habsburg Monarchy saw the Hungarian position as a degradation of their status. After the initial Serb political demands for recognition of their national rights were rejected by the new government of the Kingdom of Hungary, Serb demands became more radical and the Serb national movement turned against the new revolutionary government of the Kingdom of Hungary.
Hungarian Revolution of 1956
At 06:00, on 4 November, in the town of Szolnok, János Kádár proclaimed the "Hungarian Revolutionary Worker-Peasant Government". His statement declared "We must put an end to the excesses of the counter-revolutionary elements. The hour for action has sounded. We are going to defend the interest of the workers and peasants and the achievements of the people's democracy." Later that evening, Kádár called upon "the faithful fighters of the true cause of socialism" to come out of hiding and take up arms. However, Hungarian support did not materialise; the fighting did not take on the character of an internally divisive civil war, but rather, in the words of a United Nations report, that of "a well-equipped foreign army crushing by overwhelming force a national movement and eliminating the Government."
Hungarian Revolution of 1848
In 1825 Emperor Francis II convened the Diet in response to growing concerns amongst the Hungarian nobility about taxes and the diminishing economy, after the Napoleonic wars. This – and the reaction to the reforms of Joseph II – started what is known as the Reform Period (). But the Nobles still retained their privileges of paying no taxes and not giving the vote to the masses.
History of Vojvodina
The Hungarian government replied by the use of force: on June 12, 1848, a war between Serbs and Hungarians started. Austria took the side of Hungary at first, demanding from the Serbs to "go back to being obedient". Serbs were aided by volunteers from Serbia. A consequence of this war, was the expansion of the conservative factions. Since the Austrian court turned against the Hungarians in the later stage of revolution, the feudal and clerical circles of the Voivodship formed an alliance with Austria and became a tool of the Viennese government. Serbian troops from the Voivodship then joined the Habsburg army and helped in crushing the revolution in the Kingdom of Hungary. With the help of Imperial Russia, the forces of reaction smothered the revolution in the summer of 1849, defeating all the national and social movements in the Habsburg Monarchy.
Eastern Bloc
The revolution began after students of the Technical University compiled a list of Demands of Hungarian Revolutionaries of 1956 and conducted protests in support of the demands on 22 October. Protests of support swelled to 200,000 by 6 pm the following day, The demands included free secret ballot elections, independent tribunals, inquiries into Stalin and Rákosi Hungarian activities and that "the statue of Stalin, symbol of Stalinist tyranny and political oppression, be removed as quickly as possible." By 9:30 pm the statue was toppled (see photo to the right) and jubilant crowds celebrated by placing Hungarian flags in Stalin's boots, which was all that remained the statue. The ÁVH was called, Hungarian soldiers sided with the crowd over the ÁVH and shots were fired on the crowd.
Minister of Justice (Hungary)
"After the collapse of the Hungarian Revolution of 1848, the Hungarian Kingdom became an integral part of the Austrian Empire until 1867, when dual Austro-Hungarian Monarchy was created".
Spring Campaign
The Spring Campaign (), named also the "Glorious Spring Campaign" () is the military campaign of the Hungarian Revolutionary Army against the forces of the Habsburg Empire in Middle and Western Hungary during the Hungarian Revolution of 1848 between 2 April and 21 May 1849, which resulted in the liberation of almost the whole territory of Hungary from the Habsburg forces.
Béla Király
The Hungarian Revolution of 1956 began shortly after his release from prison. He was ill and recovering from surgery, but he escaped the hospital to join the Hungarian revolutionaries and accept appointment as commander-in-chief of the military guard and military commander of Budapest against the Soviets.
Flag of Hungary
The modern flag of Hungary originated from the national freedom movement from before 1848, which culminated in the Hungarian Revolution of 1848. The revolution was not only in opposition against the monarchy but also the Habsburg Empire, as well as to form an independent republic. Accordingly, the Hungarian flag features a tricolour element, which is based upon the French flag, as a reflection of the ideas of the French revolution; while red, white, and green are colours derived from the historical Hungarian coat of arms, which have essentially remained in the same form since the mid-15th century, with exception to some minor differences, and were marshalled from arms that first appeared in the late 12th and early 13th century as arms of the Árpáds, Hungary's founding dynasty. The stripes are horizontal rather than vertical to prevent confusion with the Italian flag despite the banner in that form predating the Italian tricolour by at least 7 years, which had been designed after the French flag. According to other data, the recent form of the Hungarian tricolour had been already used from 1608 at the coronation of Mathias II of Hungary and following coronations.
Kingdom of Hungary (1526–1867)
Joseph's successor, Leopold II (1790–92), re-introduced the bureaucratic technicality which viewed Hungary as a separate country under a Habsburg king. In 1791 the Diet passed Law X, which stressed Hungary's status as an independent kingdom ruled only by a king legally crowned according to Hungarian laws. Law X later became the basis for demands by Hungarian reformers for statehood in the period from 1825 to 1849. New laws again required approval of both the Habsburg king and the Diet, and Latin was restored as the official language. The peasant reforms remained in effect, however, and Protestants remained equal before the law. Leopold died in March 1792 just as the French Revolution was about to degenerate into the Reign of Terror and send shock waves through the royal houses of Europe.