At the end of World War I the Treaty of Trianon was signed breaking up the Austro-Hungarian Empire into smaller states. This resulted in Hungry losing two thirds of its land and left three million ethnic Hungarians outside of their homeland in several newly formed states. This produced resentment and tensions between Hungary and its new neighbors, sparking several border clashes.

During the German invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1938 Hungary also captured some of the territory it had lost to Czechoslovakia as part of the Treaty of Trianon. With the help of Germany it also negotiated the return of the Transylvania region from Romania in 1940.

Following the end of World War II several different communist and left wing parties came together and with the support of the Soviet Union form the Hungarian People's Republic.

In October 1956 a group of students went to the Hungarian Parliament Building to protested the government's unpopular policies and subordination to the Soviet Union. The leaders of the of the protest were arrested and several of the students were shot and killed. The severeness at which the protestors had been dealt with triggered a general civilian uprising that managed overthrew the communist government and replaced it with a new one that declared its intent to restore democracy to the country.

At first the Soviet Union was willing to negotiate their withdrawal from Hungary. Fearing that this might spark uprisings in other countries tho they decided to invade Hungary and restore the pro-Soviet government.