Béla Kun

Béla Kun was a Hungarian communist revolutionary who led the Hungarian Soviet Republic in 1919 and later held positions in the Soviet Union.

Sándor Garbai: A Hungarian Social Democratic politician who served as the formal head of the Hungarian Soviet Republic’s Revolutionary Governing Council. Garbai shared the republic’s leadership with Kun, though Kun held greater practical influence.
Hungary in World War I: The wartime experience of the Kingdom of Hungary within Austria-Hungary from 1914 to 1918. Military defeat and social dislocation created the crisis in which Kun’s movement gained influence.
Hungarian Soviet Republic: A communist state that governed Hungary from March to August 1919. Kun’s leadership is inseparable from this short-lived revolutionary government.
Hungarian emigration in the interwar period: The movement of Hungarians abroad between the world wars, driven by political change, repression, and economic pressures. Kun joined the post-1919 exile community after leaving Hungary.
Gyula Peidl: A Hungarian trade-union leader and Social Democratic politician who headed the government that replaced the Soviet Republic in August 1919. Peidl led the successor government after Kun’s regime collapsed.
Russian Revolution: The revolutions of 1917 that overthrew Russia’s monarchy and brought the Bolsheviks to power. Kun adopted Bolshevik politics after encountering the Russian revolutionary movement as a prisoner of war.
Hungarian Red Army: The military force organized by the Hungarian Soviet Republic to defend its rule and territory. Its campaigns briefly improved the regime’s position but could not prevent its defeat.
Comintern: The Communist International, founded in 1919 to coordinate communist parties worldwide. Kun worked in the international communist movement after his Hungarian government fell.
Miklós Horthy: A Hungarian admiral and conservative leader who became regent after the fall of the Soviet Republic. Horthy’s rise marked the reactionary consolidation that followed Kun’s government.
Austro-Hungarian prisoners of war in Russia: Captured soldiers from Austria-Hungary held in Russia during and after World War I. Kun’s wartime captivity in Russia connected him to revolutionary organizing and Bolshevik circles.

Linked from 4 pages

Mátyás RákosiRelated: Kun’s revolutionary government formed part of the early communist milieu in which Rákosi became active.