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Kun, Béla
Kun, Béla (b. 20 Feb. 1886, d. 1941). Hungarian Communist leader Born in Cehu Silvaniei, he graduated as a lawyer from Kolozsvar before World War I. As prisoner of war (1916–18) in Russia he became a Communist. He returned to Hungary to build up a Communist Party which gained increasing support as it promised all things to all people in a country suffering from severe economic and national dislocation. He replaced Károlyi in March 1919 on a wave of nationalist outrage at the Romanian occupation of Transylvania. This proved part of his eventual downfall: as he exhausted Hungarian troops in an effort to regain territory occupied by the Czechs and Romanians, he was unable to accept any peace which involved a compromise on formerly Hungarian territory. Domestically, he managed to offend virtually all sections of the society in his reforming zeal: the Roman Catholic Church and the agrarian population through his destruction of traditional customs (e.g. the transformation of churches into cinemas, nationalization without redistribution of land), as well as urban workers and the bourgeoisie, through inflation and continued war. His regime collapsed on 2 August 1919 below the weight of the Nationalist Army under Horthy, and the Romanians, who entered Budapest on 4 August 1919. His regime had allowed the co-ordination of the nationalist right, which then controlled the country for twenty-five years. The Jewish descent of Kun and many other leaders of his regime also added fuel to the already growing anti-Semitism of the country. Kun himself fled first to Vienna and then to Moscow, where he became the President of Comintern. In 1938 he became a victim of Stalin's Great Purge, and was sent to a labour camp, where he died.
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JAN PALMOWSKI. "Kun, Béla." A Dictionary of Contemporary World History. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. 8 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. JAN PALMOWSKI. "Kun, Béla." A Dictionary of Contemporary World History. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. (February 8, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O46-KunBla.html JAN PALMOWSKI. "Kun, Béla." A Dictionary of Contemporary World History. 2004. Retrieved February 08, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O46-KunBla.html |
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Béla Kun
Béla Kun , 1886-1937, Hungarian Communist. A prisoner of war in Russia after 1915, he embraced Bolshevism. After the outbreak of the Russian Revolution in 1917 he was sent to Hungary as a propagandist. In 1919, Count Michael Károlyi and his government resigned and the Communists and Social Democrats formed a coalition government under Kun. Kun set up a dictatorship of the proletariat; nationalized banks, large businesses and estates, and all private property above a certain minimum; and ruthlessly put down all opposition. He raised a Red Army and overran Slovakia. The allies forced Kun to evacuate Slovakia, and a counterrevolution broke out. Kun was at first victorious over the counterrevolutionists, but he was defeated by a Romanian army of intervention and was forced to flee to Vienna. Kun's Red Terror was followed by a White Terror. Nicholas Horthy de Nagybanya became regent of Hungary. Kun, after being held at an insane asylum in Vienna, went (1920) to Soviet Russia. He reappeared (1928) in Vienna and was briefly imprisoned but was allowed to return to the USSR. There he took an active part in the Comintern until he was accused of anti-Stalinism and perished in the Communist party purges of the 1930s. In the late 1950s and 1960s his reputation was restored in the USSR.
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"Béla Kun." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2008. Encyclopedia.com. 8 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "Béla Kun." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2008. Encyclopedia.com. (February 8, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-Kun-Bela.html "Béla Kun." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2008. Retrieved February 08, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-Kun-Bela.html |
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Kun, Béla
Kun, Béla (1886–1937) Hungarian communist leader. In World War I he was captured on the Russian front and joined the BOLSHEVIKS. He was sent back to Hungary to form a communist party and in March 1919 persuaded the Hungarian communists and Social Democrats to form a coalition government and to set up a communist state under his dictatorship. His Red Army overran Slovakia, but promised Soviet help was not forthcoming. In May 1919 he was defeated by a Romanian army of intervention. Kun fled the country and is assumed to have been liquidated in one of Stalin's purges.
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Cite this article
"Kun, Béla." A Dictionary of World History. 2000. Encyclopedia.com. 8 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "Kun, Béla." A Dictionary of World History. 2000. Encyclopedia.com. (February 8, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O48-KunBla.html "Kun, Béla." A Dictionary of World History. 2000. Retrieved February 08, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O48-KunBla.html |
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Kun, Béla
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Cite this article
"Kun, Béla." World Encyclopedia. 2005. Encyclopedia.com. 8 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "Kun, Béla." World Encyclopedia. 2005. Encyclopedia.com. (February 8, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O142-KunBla.html "Kun, Béla." World Encyclopedia. 2005. Retrieved February 08, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O142-KunBla.html |
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Béla Kun
Béla Kun see Kun, Béla . |
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Cite this article
"Béla Kun." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2008. Encyclopedia.com. 8 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "Béla Kun." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2008. Encyclopedia.com. (February 8, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-X-BelaKun.html "Béla Kun." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2008. Retrieved February 08, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-X-BelaKun.html |
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