republic · Balkans and Hungary
Second Hungarian Republic
Origins
After the Soviet army drove German forces from Hungary in 1945, free elections in November 1945 gave the Independent Smallholders' Party an absolute majority. The parliament abolished the monarchy of the Kingdom of Hungary (1920-1946) and proclaimed a republic on 1 February 1946, with the Smallholder Zoltán Tildy as president and Ferenc Nagy as prime minister.
Rule and society
Under Soviet occupation the communists of Mátyás Rákosi controlled the interior ministry and police and broke up rival parties by 'salami tactics'. The pengő collapsed in the worst hyperinflation ever recorded until the forint was introduced in August 1946. Land reform divided the great estates. Smallholder leader Béla Kovács was arrested by Soviet forces in 1947 and Nagy forced into exile.
Decline and legacy
Manipulated elections in 1947, the merger of the Social Democrats into a communist party in 1948 and the arrest of Cardinal Mindszenty ended pluralism. A Soviet-style constitution created the Hungarian People's Republic on 20 August 1949.
Lineage
On the connections map
Open the full map →More states of Balkans and Hungary →
Cite this page
- APA
- The Epoch Institute. (2026). Second Hungarian Republic. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/second-hungarian-republic
- MLA
- “Second Hungarian Republic.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/second-hungarian-republic. Accessed .
- Chicago
- The Epoch Institute. “Second Hungarian Republic.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/second-hungarian-republic.
- Harvard
- The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Second Hungarian Republic’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/second-hungarian-republic (Accessed: ).
Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻