A Defeated Hungary Converted to Communism 1945-1948

This map is part of a series of 16 animated maps showing the history of Europe and nations since 1945.

As Germany’s ally during the war, Hungary had to give up all the territory it had conquered between 1938 and 1941 and, after the war, was defined by its 1920 borders:

- Transylvania was returned to Romania;

- Carpathian Ruthenia, captured from Czechoslovakia before the war, was now annexed by the USSR;

- the southern part of Slovakia was integrated into Czechoslovakia;

- Vojvodina and the Mures region were returned to Yugoslavia.

As a result of these territorial changes, 200,000 Hungarians were thrown out of Slovakia, though minority Hungarian populations continued to live in Romania and Vojvodina.

The Red Army remained in the country. Elections held at the end of 1945 resulted in a coalition government comprising left-wing parties, including the communists, led by the moderate Independent Smallholders Party. However, the communists gradually eliminated its political partners and took over the reins of power in 1948, transforming the country into a “socialist republic” and a satellite of the USSR.