Editing Hungarian Defence Forces (section)

=== Warsaw Pact ===
{{Main|Hungarian People's Army}}
{{See also|Second Hungarian Republic|Hungarian People's Republic}}

During the Socialist and the [[Warsaw Pact]] era (1947–1989), the Soviet [[Southern Group of Forces]], 200,000 strong,  was garrisoned in Hungary, complete with artillery, tank regiments, air force and missile troops (with nuclear weapons). It was, by all means, a very capable force but which had little contact with the local population. Between 1949 and 1955 there was also a huge effort to build a big Hungarian army. All procedures, disciplines, and equipment were exact copies of the [[Soviet Armed Forces]] in methods and material, but the huge costs collapsed the economy by 1956.

During the autumn [[1956 Hungarian Revolution|1956 revolution]], the army was divided. When the opening demonstrations on 23 October 1956 were fired upon by [[ÁVH]] secret policemen, Hungarian troops sent to crush the demonstrators instead provided their arms to the latter or joined them outright.  While most major military units in the capital were neutral during the fighting, thousands of rank-and-file soldiers went over to the Revolution or at least provided the revolutionaries with arms.<ref name="Lendvai 2008">{{cite book|last=Lendvai|first=Paul|author-link=Paul Lendvai|title=One Day That Shook the Communist World: The 1956 Hungarian Uprising and Its Legacy|year=2008|publisher=Princeton UP|location=Princeton, NJ}}</ref> Many significant military units went over to the uprising in full, such as the armored unit commanded by Colonel [[Pál Maléter]] which joined forces with the insurgents at the [[Battle of the Corvin Passage]]. However, there were 71 recorded clashes between the people and the army between 24 and 29 October in fifty localities;  these were typically either defending certain military targets from rebel attack or fighting the insurgents outright, depending on the commander.<ref name="Lendvai 2008"/>  When the Soviets crushed the Revolution on 4 November, the Army put up sporadic and disorganized resistance; lacking orders, many of their divisions were simply overpowered by the invading Soviets.

After the Revolution was crushed in [[Budapest]], the Soviets took away most of the Hungarian People's Army's equipment, including dismantling the entire Hungarian Air Force, because a sizable percentage of the Army fought alongside the Hungarian revolutionaries. Three years later in 1959, the Soviets began helping rebuild the Hungarian People's Army and resupplying them with new arms and equipment as well as rebuilding the Hungarian Air Force. Satisfied that Hungary was stable and firmly committed once again to the Warsaw Pact, the Soviets offered the Hungarians a choice of withdrawal for all Soviet troops in the country. The new Hungarian leader, [[János Kádár]], asked for all the 200,000 Soviet troops to stay, because it allowed the [[socialist]] [[Hungarian People's Republic]] to neglect its own draft-based armed forces, quickly leading to deterioration of the military. Large sums of money were saved that way and spent on feel-good socialist measures for the population, thus Hungary could become "[[the happiest barrack]]" in the [[Soviet Bloc]]. Limited modernization though, would happen from the mid-1970s onward to replace older stocks of military equipment with newer ones. Thus enabling the HPA, in a small way, to honor its Warsaw Pact commitments coupled with a mid-1980s organization which abolished divisions and replaced them with ground force brigades and a singular air force command.

The HPA was divided into the Ground and Air Forces. Until 1985, the Ground Forces were organized into:

* [[Land Command (Hungary)|5th Hungarian Army]] at [[Székesfehérvár]]
** 7th Motor Rifle Division at [[Kiskunfélegyháza]]
** 8th Motor Rifle Division at [[Zalaegerszeg]]
** 9th Motor Rifle Division at [[Kaposvár]]
** 11th Tank Division at [[Tata, Hungary|Tata]]
* 3rd Army Corps at [[Cegléd]]
** 4th Motor Rifle Division at [[Gyöngyös]]
** 15th Motor Rifle Division at [[Nyíregyháza]]

Air Forces Headquarters at [[Veszprém]]
* 11th Air-defense Artillery Brigade at [[Budapest]], after 1977 [[Érd]]
* 1st Air Defense Division at [[Veszprém]]
** 47th Fighter Regiment at [[Pápa]]
** 31st Fighter Regiment at [[Taszár]]
** 104th Air-defense Artillery Regiment [[Nagytarcsa]] after [[Szabadszállás]]
* 2nd Air Defense Division at [[Miskolc]]
** 59th Fighter Regiment at [[Szolnok]]
** 105th Air-defense Artillery Regiment at [[Miskolc]]

Training for conscripts was poor and most of those drafted were actually used as a free labour force (esp. railway track construction and agricultural work) after just a few weeks of basic rifle training. Popular opinion grew very negative towards the Hungarian People's Army and most young men tried to avoid the draft with bogus medical excuses.