Because Hungary was on the losing side in World War I, the country lost about two-thirds of its territory, including Transylvania. Admiral Horthy, the regent after the war, successfully resisted a communist takeover. Unfortunately, Hungary was on the losing side in World War II as well. The Hungarians were faced with the choice of being on Hitler’s side or Stalin’s. The correct choice was none of the above, but that option was not open to them. Not trusting the Hungarians, Hitler invaded the country in 1944. Tens of thousands of Jews went from Hungary into Hitler’s ovens.

Over a period of three years after the war communists gradually gained control of the country. Taking a signal from President Eisenhower that the United States would support a move for independence by Hungary, the Hungarians revolted against the Soviets on October 23, 1956, the first of the Eastern European sattlites to do so. Imre Nagy, the Hungarian leader, pled in vain for help from the West and Soviet tanks crushed the uprising and by November 10, the last of the resistance was over. About 2,500 Hungarians were killed and many more fled the country or were imprisoned. Although Nagy was himself a communist, he resented Soviet rule and wanted his country to be free of it. The Soviets realized that the forces unleashed by the revolution would have overthrown communism. As for Nagy, the Soviets filmed his trial with the intention of using the film for propaganda purposes, but they never made the film public. Nagy’s last words were, “History will prove me right.”

The crackdown after the revolt was severe, but Soviet rule became less repressive over time. When communism fell, the average Hungarian hardly noticed the difference.

We who lived through that time period remember the valiant Polish labor union, Solidarity, and the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. That was the beginning of the end for communism in Hungary, too, but the fall of communism had as much to do with economics as anything else. Since the government owned all businesses, they were able to set prices at any level they chose without regard to the cost of the item to be sold. To keep the people from revolt, the government set the prices arbitrarily low. Eventually western bankers refused to loan the Hungarian government any more money and insolvency became the communists’ downfall. (Many older Hungarians, who do not understand the laws of economics, cannot understand why prices have risen. Some of them even wish they could return to the “good old days.”

The day in 1991 when the last Soviet tank departed was a great day in Hungarian history.