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Hungary The Postrevolutionary Period
The HPA underwent a purge after the revolution.
Officers were
required to sign a declaration condemning the revolution,
praising Hungarian-Soviet "friendship," and pledging
allegiance
to the new government of Janos Kadar. Nearly 20 percent of
the
officer corps refused to sign the declaration, even under
threats, and were expelled from the army. In the year
following
the revolution, the army was reorganized under Soviet
supervision, with increased power given to the political
commanders. However, in order to assuage public opinion,
the
official mission of the army changed from "defending
socialism"
to defending Hungary.
The HPA became an integral part of the Warsaw Pact
forces in
1957 but did not participate in pact military exercises
until
1962. The HPA participated, although reluctantly, in the
Sovietled Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia in August 1968.
In
1989 the Hungarian government revealed that the HPA
participated
in the invasion because the Kadar regime feared that
failure to
do so would have halted Soviet exports of raw materials to
Hungary.
Through the late 1980s, the HPA and Soviet troops held
joint
exercises on Hungarian soil twice a year, and Hungarian
forces
participated in exercises held on the territory of other
Warsaw
Pact countries. Rarely, however, did forces from the other
Warsaw
Pact nations conduct military exercises in Hungary.
Data as of September 1989
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