Abstract
The purpose of this chapter is to discuss the doctrinal, political and military evolution of the Hungarian People’s Army (HPA). From the very existence of the Warsaw Pact alliance system, both from the Hungarian and from the Soviet point of view, Hungary has been one of the more problematic members of the Warsaw Treaty Organisation (WTO). Although Hungarian displeasure with some aspects of the alliance by no means approximated the general recalcitrance of Romania, the Revolution of 1956, the survival of some historical-attitudinal patterns and some disturbing socio-economic developments of recent years, all attest to the fact that all is not well in the relationship between the Red Army, the Warsaw Pact and Hungary. The major goal of this chapter is to describe, analyse, and consequently, to evaluate this dynamic relationship.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Notes
International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), The Military Balance 1986/87 (London: IISS, 1986) p. 52.
Friedrich Wiener, Armies of the Warsaw Pact Nations (Vienna: Uberreuter, 1981) p. 33.
See Dale Herspring and Ivan Volgyes, ‘The Military as an Agent of Political Socialization in Eastern Europe: A Comparative Framework,’ in Armed Forces and Society, vol. 3, no. 2 (Winter 1977) pp. 249–71.
Colonel István Major, ‘A 25 éves hivatásos tiszthelyettes képzésről’, Honvédségi Szemle, 9 (1982) p. 3.
F. Rubin, ‘The Hungarian People’s Army’ RUSI Journal, vol. 121, no. 3 (September 1976) p. 62.
Christopher D. Jones, Soviet Influence in Eastern Europe (New York: Praeger, 1981) p. 204.
See Ivan Volgyes, ‘Guns or Butter? The Impact of Military Spending on the Domestic Economy in Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and Romania: 1978–1983’, prepared for the National Council for Soviet and East European Studies, 1985, pp. 29–31.
See for instance, the recent study by Keith Crane, Military Spending in East Europe (Santa Monica, CA: The Rand Corp., 1987).
László Révész, Militarische Ausbildung in Osteuropa (Bern: Verlag SOI, 1975) provides extensive treatment of the subject.
Mihály Kocsis, ‘Tapasztalataink az általános iskolai oktatásrol’ Honvédségi Szemle, 1 (1982) pp. 47–9.
Mihály Kocsis, A katonai fegyelem megszilárditásának módszerei (Budapest: Zrinyi, 1975) p. 57.
Lieutenant-Colonel István Matuszka, ‘A politikai aktivitás fejlesztésének néhány kérdése’, in Károly Molnár (ed.) Az egyén és a handsereg (Budapest: Zrínyi, 1975) p. 293.
Dr Artur Zentai, ‘Gondolatok a MN fejlodesenek nehany kerdeserol’, A társadalom és a hadsereg (Budapest: Zrinyi, 1979) p. 92.
Dale Herspring and Ivan Volgyes, ‘Political Reliability in the Eastern European Warsaw Pact Armies’, Armed Forces and Society, vol. 6, no. 2 (Winter 1980) pp. 276.
P. Gosztonyi, Zur Geschichte der Europaischen Volksarmeen (Bonn/Bad Godesberg: Hochwacht, 1976) p. 125.
Béla Király, ‘Hungary’s Army under the Soviets’, East Europe, 3 (1958) pp. 8–10.
Bennett Kovrig, Communism in Hungary from Kun to Kadar (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1979) p. 284.
Béla Király, ‘The Hungarian Revolution and Soviet Readiness to Wage War against Socialist States’, in Béla Király et al. (eds) The First War Between Socialist States (New York: Columbia University Press, 1984) p. 10.
J. M. Mackintosh, Strategy and Tactics of Soviet Foreign Policy (Oxford University Press, 1963) p. 171.
See András Hegedüs, Élet egy eszme árnyékában, (Vienna: Zoltán Zsille, 1985).
For a thorough discussion of this subject, see ‘Experiencing History’, János Berecz interviewed by György Baló, The New Hungarian Quarterly, vol. 27, no. 104 (Winter 1986) pp. 13–33.
For the most comprehensive account, see Péter Gosztonyi, ‘A magyar néphadsereg a forradalomban’, Magyar Valtozasok, (Vienna: Integratio, 1979) pp. 36–59.
Károly Munk, ‘A hadsereg pártirányitásának megszilarditását biztositó néhány fontos 1957-ben hozott intézkedésről’, Honvédelem, 6 (1966) p. 11.
See for example Keljko Micunovic, Moscow Diary (New York: Doubleday, 1980), pp. 133–4 and 153–4;
György Kiss, Jegyzetek az első évekről (Budapest: Gondolat, 1976) p. 307;
and Lajos Illés, Örökös őrségen (Budapest: Zrinyi, 1976) p. 107.
For the above scenario, see General Sir John Hackett et al., The Third World War (London: Sidgwick & Jackson, 1978).
Zdenek Mlynar, Nachtfrost (Koln: Europaische Verlagsanstalt, 1978) pp. 300–301.
I. I. Iakubovskii, Boevoe sodruzhestvo bratskikh narodov i armii (Moscow: Voennizdat, 1975) p. 28.
Richard F. Staar, Communist Regimes in Eastern Europe (Stanford, CA: Hoover Institution Press, 1982) p. 270.
Cited in Robert L. Hutchings, Soviet-East European Relations: Consolidation and Conflict 1968–1980 (Madison, WI: The University of Wisconsin Press, 1983) p. 45.
See Christopher D. Jones, ‘The USSR, the Warsaw Pact and NATO’, in Ingmar Oldberg (ed.) Unity and Conflict in the Warsaw Pact (Stockholm: The Swedish National Defence Research Institute, 1984) p. 108.
John Erickson et al., Soviet Ground Forces (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1986) p. 46.
William T. Lee and Richard F. Staar, Soviet Military Policy since World War II (Stanford, CA: Hoover Institution Press, 1986), p. 59.
Figures are derived from Jeffrey Simon, Warsaw Pact Forces: Problems of Command and Control (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1985) pp. 219–28.
Colonel A. A. Timorin, ‘Sotsial’ no-politicheskaia priroda i naznachenie sotsialisticheskikh armii’; in S. A. Tiushkievich et al. (eds) Voina i armiia (Moscow: Voennizdat, 1977) p. 348.
For an extensive treatment of the para-military organizations see Peter Gosztonyi (ed.) Paramilitärische Organisationen in Sowjet-block (Bonn: Hochwacht, 1977) pp. 259–331.
Jenő Andics, ‘A politika és a gazdaság közötti kölcsonhatások a nyolcvanas évek elején’, Valóság, 7 (1983) p. 1.
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 1989 Royal United Services Institute
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Volgyes, I., Barany, Z. (1989). Hungary: The Evolution of the Hungarian People’s Army. In: Eyal, J. (eds) The Warsaw Pact and the Balkans. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-09941-2_2
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-09941-2_2
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-09943-6
Online ISBN: 978-1-349-09941-2
eBook Packages: Palgrave Political & Intern. Studies CollectionPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)