Example research essay topic: Hungarian Revolution Of 1848 And 1956 - 1,534 words

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Hungarian Revolution of 1848 and 1956 [Name of Author] [Name of Institution] Introduction to the Hungarian Revolution of 1848 March 15 is one of the three Hungarian national holidays and it is in honor of the Hungarian Revolution of 1848. The outbreak of this revolution had begun on this date with mass demonstrations in Pest and Buda and this was followed by other insurrections throughout the kingdom to declare autonomy for Hungary within the Habsburg Empire under the first Hungarian Prime Minister Lajos Batthyany with Lajos Kossuth as the governor. The new Hungarian government passed new sweeping reforms known as the April Laws that in essence created the autonomous kingdom of Hungary with the Emperor of Habsburg as their king. The government further demanded that the government receive all taxes raised in Hungary and also to be handed over authority of the Hungarian regiments in the army of Habsburg. (Alice Freifeld, Crowd Politics in the Hungarian Revolution & Revolutions of 1848 in Hungary) Background As the Hungarian government realized that a civil war was imminent, it tried to get the support of Habsburg against the Conservative Josip Jelacic of Croatia-Slavonia and even offered the services of their troop for north Italy.

However, by the August end of that year the imperial government in Vienna ordered the government in Hungary to end their army plans. With war was being fought on three fronts, including with Jelacic who had taken military action against the government, the radicals in Hungary saw this as an opportunity to make further demands, which the parliament had to agree so as to avoid the ongoing events to erupt violently into confrontations. As Austria was also faced with revolution in Vienna, it had initially accepted Hungary's demand for autonomy, however after the revolution there was defeated, Austria refused to accept Hungary's autonomy with Austria taking over the control of all the Hungarian armies including that of Jelacic. Initially Hungary had resisted this move but war between Austria and Hungary broke out when Jelacic was asked to take over the full control of all the armies. (Alice Freifeld, Crowd Politics in the Hungarian Revolution) Lack of Support from Neighbor States In response to the Hungarian parliaments (Diet) reconvening in 1825 to handle financial requirements, a liberal party hand emerged which focused in a symbolic manner needs of the peasantry with Lajos Kossuth becoming the leader of the party. Subsequent to this event the Croats, Romanians, Serbs, Slovaks and Transylvanian Germans within the territory of the Hungarian Kingdom who all had their own ethnic based national movements were unwilling to accept Hungarian dominance.

Due to the existence of this animosity Hungary could not have the support of its neighboring states during the revolution and the war with Austria. Initially the Hungary forces had defeated Austria and had even declared its total independence from Austria. However, the Austrians had asked for help from the Czar Nicholas, which led to the invasion of Hungary by the Russian armies, thus, good neighborly relations between Hungary and its one more neighbor Russia were also non-existent. By the December end of 1849, the last challenges of the Hungarian revolution to the Austrian empire had been crushed and the Hungarian government was forced evacuate from its capital Pest. (Alice Freifeld, Crowd Politics in the Hungarian Revolution & Revolutions of 1848 in Hungary) Conclusion Consequently after the war of 1848 - 49, Hungary could only put up passive resistance when Archduke Albrecht von Habsburg was appointed as the governor of the Hungary. The former Hungarian governor Lajos Kossuth who went into exile in the United States came to the conclusion that the main reason for the Hungarian revolution to fail was because of his biggest political error of confronting the minorities of Hungary. He regretted not to have popularized the concept of a multi-ethnic confederation of republics during his tenure as Hungary's governor, which perhaps might have prevented hostilities among the ethnic groups during the Hungarian revolution of 1848 - 49. (Revolutions of 1848 in Hungary) Introduction & Background to the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 As the old Stalinist leadership in Hungary had become completely discredited, a popular anti-Communist uprising had begun in the country that threatened the rule of the Soviet Union in their satellite colonies ruled through the Soviets hand-picked leaders.

The development within the Hungarian leadership also played a part when it announced unprecedented political, economic and social reforms that included the establishment of a multi-party state in Hungary. The leadership also insisted on the withdrawal of Soviet forces from the country and took the dramatic step of Hungary's rejection of the Warsaw Pack. Furthermore, the leadership appealed to the United Nations to help in the establishing a status with neutrality for Hungary. However, in the follow-up to all these events, the Soviet forces launched a major attack on November 4, 1956 to crush the spontaneous nationalistic uprising that had a mere 12 days before. The Prime Minister of Hungary, Imre Nagy grimly announced this invasion in a 35 -second broadcast, declaring: "Our troops are fighting. The Government is in its place. " However, within hours he had to seek asylum at the Yugoslav Embassy in Budapest.

In the meantime his former colleague and replacement, Janos Kadar had been flown secretly from Moscow to take power with Moscow's backing. It took only a few days for the Soviets to complete their military phase and place their forces firmly in control of the country that Kadar would rule over on their behalf. Even though pockets of resistance remained, Kadar begin the long process of "normalization" that featured suppressing dissent and getting the Hungarian society to accept the new regime. After the Hungarian resistance had been destroyed, on November 22, Kadar had been given assurances of safe passage from the Yugoslavian Embassy and as soon as he made his exit, he was arrested by Soviet security officers and flown to a secret location in Romania. (Malcolm Byrne, 2002, Hungarian Revolution of 1956 & Hungary, 1956) Lack of Support from Hungary's Neighboring States The Soviet military occupied Hungary after the Second World War and gradually replaced the elected government with the Hungarian Communist Party. However the nationalization of economy based on Soviet model produced stagnation and lower the standards of living that created great malaise against the Soviets. All the Soviet actions had strengthened the Soviet control over Central Europe and thus, none of Hungary's neighboring countries was in a position to support the Hungarian people against the Soviet Union, which was the dominant force in the area. (Malcolm Byrne, 2002 & Hungary 1956) Lack of International Support The defeat of the revolution in Hungary was one of the darker moments of the Cold War as the revolt had initially looked like it would amazingly succeed.

The entire country had taken up arms against the ruling regime and small but meaningful victories were being achieved with some Soviet tanks being disabled. The United States observed the crushing of this resistance with shock, as the policy of President Eisenhower was to actively promote independence in the so-called captive nations. He was deeply upset by this defeat and he was not immune to the public pressure and emotional lobbying being exerted on him to intervene in Hungary. But there was little that the United States could do, that would be short of risking a global war to help the rebels in Hungary. Furthermore, he felt that the improving of relations with Moscow outweighed the intervention of the United States in Hungary, which he did not want to risk jeopardizing. (Malcolm Byrne, 2002) Consequential Effects The role of the United States become mired as it had used the CIA-administered Radio Free Europe as a successful weapon to influence the hearts and minds in Eastern Europe in the wake of the uprising in Hungary. But as the tone sometimes used in the broadcast services of Radio Free Europe was more aggressive it even gave tactical advice on how to fight the Soviets.

This encouraged the rebels to believe that the support from the West was imminent. However their hopes were never realized and the unfolding Hungarian tragedy left many embittered against the United States and the West for not supporting them in their struggle against the Soviets. (Hungarian Revolution of 1956) Conclusion The consequences of the crushing of the Hungarian revolution lasted for the next three decades with the tragic events of 1956 effectively sealed for the Hungarians and even the very mention of the past Prime Minister of Hungary, Imre Nagy in public risked punishment. It only became possible to excavate the details of the Hungarian revolution after the Communist regimes in Hungary had collapsed in 1989. (Hungarian Revolution of 1956) References to Hungarian Revolution of 1848: Alice Freifeld, Crowd Politics in the Hungarian Revolution web (Accessed 30 March, 2007) Revolutions of 1848 in Hungary (Accessed: 30 March, 2007) web References to Hungarian Revolution of 1956: Hungary, 1956 web (Accessed: 30 March, 2007) Hungary 1956 and the Political Revolution web (Accessed: 30 March, 2007) Hungarian Revolution of 1956 web (Accessed: 29 March, 2007) Malcolm Byrne, November 4, 2002, The 1956 Hungarian Revolution, A National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book web (Accessed: 29 March, 2007)

Research essay sample on Hungarian Revolution Of 1848 And 1956