"Provide a thorough explanation of Hungary's impact on the communist bloc politically, and compare Hungary's situation to that of other Warsaw Pact members."
I've decided to use the Revolution of 1956 and Goulash Communism as my examples, but I'm not sure how to begin comparing Hungary to another country. I've read all I can online but can't find anything that relates to the direction I want to go in with this paper. Also, weren't most of the communist country's situations pretty much the same? Thanks
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Actually, after the Revolution, Hungary's situation improved markedly compared to its neighbours. (Under gulyás communism, some people were allowed to own and operate private businesses, as well as travel outside the country to some extent--albeit mainly within the Warsaw Pact member nations.) Poland, however, was quite poor and still struggling to recover from WWII's bombings and a large population loss (Hungary lost less than 1,000,000 Jews to Poland's 3,000,000+ as well as millions more civilians). Hungary was granted this leniency after the Revolution because the Soviets feared that they would try to leave the Warsaw Pact again, with international assistance, or inspire other member nations to revolt. It was easier to simply ease restrictions, and Kádár's government was less restrictive than the USSR's in almost all cases.
This is coming from a Hungarian, in case you were wondering haha.
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