Chechoslovakia and Hungary

A detailed Summary of Chechoslovakia and Hungary

Why did both Hungary in 1956 and Czechoslovakia in 1968 rebel against Soviet Domination?

The causes for such a massive and all-captivating rebellion, which occurred both in Hungary (1956) and in Czechoslovakia (1968), originated most from deep-rooted antagonism towards Soviet domination in the Eastern Europe in the post-war era. A continuous political and cultural suppression by Soviet dictatorial policies, obviously linked with economic constraints, coalesced to provoke robust insurrections. Short-term reasons are of no less importance in the analysis of these events. In the case of Hungary, Khrushchev's speech on the 20th Part Congress - which discredited Stalinist rule and encouraged a policy of diversion - played a significant role in the development of Hungarian resistance. While observing events in Czechoslovakia, the role of Dubcek's government should be emphasized, since it was their new program, which raised a significant enthusiasm in Czechs, to aim for a neutral course.

One of the main reasons for the initiation of a certain alienation process in Hungary was the brink of an economic catastrophe, to which Hungary was brought by its ex-premier Matyas Rakosi in the mid-1950's. Since Hungarian economic developments m

From 1918 until 1938, Czechoslovakia had been a liberal, west-orientated state, valuing democratic principles, such as freedom of speech, freedom of movement and so forth. Soviet acquisition of Czech territory has not only brought Russian domination in the country's political affairs, but also the ideological uncertainty. Social-political repression - media/press censorship, restrictions on personal liberty, economic imposition of Soviet delegated economic measures - were resented by Czech intellectuals and masses in general. Violent and brutal methods of the police, which were often used to disperse various protest marches and demonstrations, only mounted tenacious opposition in the Czech population.

From the afore-analyzed events we can make a conclusion that rebellions which occurred in Hungary and in Czechoslovakia were bound to take place sooner or later. Masses were tormented through the extensive control of the Soviet Union. They longed for better standards of living, for freedom of various life aspects, such as speech, movement, choice. People were suppressed from communication with the rest of the world, suppressed form cultural and industrial progress. This degradation could not be endured for a long period of time, which was justified later on in Hungary and Czechoslovakia.

Although the Hungarian uprising had failed due to the military predominance of the Soviet Union, the longing for liberalization and independence refused to be suppressed. In Czechoslovakia in the 1960's the internal reforms went furthest from any other satellite state in the Eastern block, which posed the most direct challenge to the Soviets. The Czechoslovakian opposition escalated gradually for several reasons. First of all, the Czechs were industrially and culturally the mos

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Approximate Word count = 1196
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: History