Hungary between the Soviet Union and the West

• In Event: 1945 in Central Europe: Hopes and Uncertainties on the Brink of the Cold War

Abstract

Paper will discuss the external-internal dynamic of the rapid regime change that took place in Hungary between 1944-1947, arguing that the Soviet hold on Hungary was never seriously challenged and the Sovietization of the country was a foregone conclusion, i. e. in no way in response to anything Western powers did or did not do: they simply had no jurisdiction. The Soviet/communist takeover, which was both ideological and imperial in nature, was facilitated by the fragmentation of democratic forces and their less than powerful pushback versus the HCP and the Soviets. The US used the perceived of the democratic parties as a pretext not to intervene in the country’s domestic affairs. Paradoxically, the lack any prospect for foreign intervention on their behalf led the Smallholder Party to gradually surrender to the Communists with little resistance, completing a vicious circle.

Author

• Laszlo Borhi, Indiana U Bloomington / Hungarian Academy of Sciences (Hungary)