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Hungarian Republic Magyar Köztársaság (Hungarian) | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1946–1949 | |||||||||
| Anthem: "Himnusz" (Hungarian) (English:"Hymn") | |||||||||
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| Capital and largest city | Budapest | ||||||||
| Official languages | Hungarian | ||||||||
| Religion | Christianity (majority)[i] Judaism (minority) | ||||||||
| Demonym | Hungarian | ||||||||
| Government | Unitaryparliamentary republic[a] | ||||||||
| President | |||||||||
• 1946–1948 | Zoltán Tildy | ||||||||
• 1948–1949 | Árpád Szakasits | ||||||||
| Prime Minister | |||||||||
• 1946–1947 | Ferenc Nagy | ||||||||
• 1947–1948 | Lajos Dinnyés | ||||||||
• 1948–1949 | István Dobi | ||||||||
| Legislature | National Assembly | ||||||||
| Historical era | Cold War | ||||||||
• Monarchy abolished | 1 February 1946 | ||||||||
| 10 February 1947 | |||||||||
| 31 May 1947[1] | |||||||||
| 31 August 1947 | |||||||||
| 20 August 1949 | |||||||||
| Area | |||||||||
| 1946[2] | 93,073 km2 (35,936 sq mi) | ||||||||
| 1947[2] | 93,011 km2 (35,912 sq mi) | ||||||||
| 1949[2] | 93,011 km2 (35,912 sq mi) | ||||||||
| Population | |||||||||
• 1949[3] | 9,204,799 | ||||||||
| Currency | Pengő / Adópengő[ii] Forint | ||||||||
| |||||||||
| Today part of | Hungary Slovakia[iii] | ||||||||
TheSecond Hungarian Republic[b] was theHungarian state that existed as aparliamentary republic briefly established after the disestablishment of theKingdom of Hungary on 1 February 1946. It was itself dissolved on 20 August 1949 and succeeded by the Soviet-backedHungarian People's Republic.
The Republic was proclaimed in the aftermath of the Soviet occupation of Hungary at theend of World War II in Europe and with the formal abolition of theHungarian monarchy, whose throne had been vacant since 1918,[iv] in February 1946. Initially the period was characterized by an uneasycoalition government between pro-democracy elements—primarily theIndependent Smallholders' Party—and theHungarian Communist Party. At Soviet insistence, the Communists had received key posts in the new cabinet, particularly theInterior Ministry, despite the Smallholders' Party's landslide victory in the1945 elections. From that position the Communists were able to systematically eliminate their opponents segment by segment through political intrigue and fabricated conspiracy, a process that Communist leaderMátyás Rákosi called "salami tactics".[4]
By June 1947 the Communist Party had gutted the Smallholders' Party as a political force through the mass arrests and forced exile of its main leaders and had gained effective control of the government, installing afellow traveller as Prime Minister.New elections in August 1947 increased the Communists' share of the vote, though non-Communist parties won essentially the same number of votes as in 1945 and the elections were marred with fraud and intimidation. Regardless, further Communist machinations and intrigues managed to liquidate most of the remaining opposition parties within the next year. This culminated in their merger with theSocial Democratic Party of Hungary in June 1948 to form theHungarian Working People's Party; essentially an expanded Communist Party under a new name. The government instituted programs ofnationalization of key industries as part of theSovietization of the Hungarian economy and society as the country entered theSoviet sphere of influence. In August 1949, the country was formally proclaimed to be apeople's republic with the Communists as thesole legal party. This arrangement would last, aside froma brief break in 1956, until theend of Communism in Hungary in 1989–90.
From September 1944 until April 1945, asWorld War II in Europe drew to a close, theRed Armyoccupied Hungary. TheSiege of Budapest lasted almost two months and much of the city was destroyed. Neither theWestern Allies nor theSoviet Union supported any changes to Hungary's pre-1938 borders, so thepeace treaty signed by Hungary in 1947 declared that "The decisions of theVienna Award of 2 November 1938 are declared null and void".[5] This meant that Hungary's borders were moved back to those that existed on 1 January 1938 and it lost the territories it had regained between 1938 and 1941. The Soviet Union also annexedSub-Carpathia, some of which had been part of Hungary before 1938.
The Soviets set up an alternative government inDebrecen on 21 December 1944[6] before capturing Budapest between 18 January and 13 February, 1945.Zoltán Tildy became the provisional prime minister. The Soviet government would demand not merely the return of all materials taken from the USSR, but also the payment of 300 million USD in commodities to Moscow, 200 million to Czechoslovakia and 100 million to Romania.[7]
The combination of high demand for finance to pay war reparations with a very weak system of tax collection meant that during 1945 and 1946, the national currency,the pengő, would be destroyed by the most ruinoushyperinflation in recorded history.[8] The hyperinflation was largely due to the inability of tax revenues to pay the country’s war debts, but some historians argue it was a deliberate policy of the Soviet Union to destroy Hungary’s middle class.[9] The only way to restore sanity to the economy was a new currency, sothe forint was introduced in 1946.
Between 1946 and 1948, half ofHungary's ethnic German minority (around 250,000 people)[10] were deported to Germany and there wasa forced "exchange of population" between Hungary andCzechoslovakia.[11]
Inelections held in November 1945, theIndependent Smallholders' Party won 57% of the vote. TheHungarian Communist Party, now under the leadership ofMátyás Rákosi andErnő Gerő, two veterans from theHungarian Soviet Republic of 1919, received support from only 17% of the population. The Soviet commander in Hungary,MarshalKliment 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. Under Parliament, the leader of the Smallholders, Zoltán Tildy, was named president andFerenc Nagy prime minister in February 1946. Mátyás Rákosi became deputy prime minister.
László Rajk becameminister of the interior and in this post established thesecurity police (ÁVO). In February 1947 the police began arresting leaders of the Smallholders Party and theNational Peasant Party. It also pressured both parties to expel those members who weren't willing to do the Communists' bidding as "fascists."[citation needed] Several prominent figures in both parties escaped abroad. Later, Rákosi boasted that he had dealt with his partners in the government, one by one, "cutting them off like slices of salami."[4]
By 1947, the power of the other parties in the coalition had been reduced in favour of the Communists, and they became the largest single party inelections held that year. The Communists were the dominant partners in the coalition People's Independence Front government. Nagy was replaced as prime minister by the more pliableLajos Dinnyés.
In October 1947, Rákosi gave the leaders of the non-Communist parties an ultimatum: cooperate with a new, Communist-dominated coalition government or go into exile.[12] TheSocial Democratic Party effectively ceased to exist as an independent organization, and Independent Smallholders' Party secretaryBéla Kovács was arrested and sent to Siberia.[13] Other opposition leaders such asAnna Kéthly, Ferenc Nagy and István Szabó were imprisoned or sent into exile.[14]
The Republic of Hungary effectively ended in June 1948, when the Social Democrats were forced to merge with the Communists to form theHungarian Working People's Party (MDP). However, the few independent-minded Social Democrats still left in the party were pushed out in short order. For all intents and purposes, this left the MDP as the MKP under a new name. In August, Tildy was forced out as president in favour of Social Democrat-turned-CommunistÁrpád Szakasits. That December, Dinnyés was replaced as leader of the Smallholders and prime minister by the openly pro-CommunistIstván Dobi. At the1949 elections, voters were presented with a single list from the Communist-controlled Independent People's Front, which carried 95 percent of the vote. By this time,fellow travelers had taken over the other parties and turned them into loyal partners of the Communists.
On 18 August 1949, the Parliament passedHungary's first written constitution (1949/XX.) – a near-carbon copy of the1936 constitution of the Soviet Union. The name of the country became thePeople's Republic of Hungary, a "country of workers and peasants" where "every authority is held by the working people".[citation needed] Socialism was declared as the main goal of the nation. A new coat of arms was adopted with Communist symbols, such as thered star, ahammer, and an ear of wheat.
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