Hungary's Communist revolution lasted exactly 133 days, but here's the twist: it

1919 Event

Hungarian Soviet Republic Declared: Europe's Second Communist State

Hungary's Communist revolution lasted exactly 133 days, but here's the twist: it wasn't led by workers or peasants. Béla Kun, a former POW who'd been radicalized in Russian camps, convinced Hungary's exhausted liberal government to simply hand him power without a shot fired. They did it on March 21, 1919, hoping Communists could save them from Allied demands to carve up their country. Instead, Kun's Red Terror and disastrous war with Romania destroyed what little remained. When Romanian troops marched into Budapest that August, they found a population so relieved the revolution ended that they welcomed foreign occupation. The bloodless beginning guaranteed the bloody end.

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March 21, 1919

107 years ago

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Hungarian Soviet Republic Declared: Europe's Second Communist State

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