Hungarian People's Republic

The Hungarian People's Republic was a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It bordered Czechoslovakia to the north, the Soviet Union to the northeast, Romania to the Southeast, Yugoslavia to the south, and Austria to the west.

Appearances

 * The Cold War (both parts)

The Cold War
In 1956, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev brutally suppressed the Hungarian Revolution.

When Mikhail Gorbachev became the Soviet leader, Hungary's Prime Minister asked the question, "Would the Soviets allow the eastern bloc be allowed to change?". Gorbachev responded, saying he "didn't necessarily agree with the reforms, but he wouldn't stop them either." In October 1989, Hungary had free, multi-party elections, and the Iron Curtain on its border with Austria was removed. East Germans quickly exploited this, since they were still allowed to visit other Eastern Bloc countries. Now that Hungary removed its barbed wire, East Germans could now escape through Hungary, into Austria, and finally to West Germany. Furious, the East German leader, Erich Honecker, tried to block travel to Hungary, but it was too late, and he was voted out of power.