Map of Europe       Map of Hungary       Map of Budapest

Hungary, facts and history in brief           Budapest, facts and history in brief

The 1956 Hungarian Revolution

Hungarian Revolution (1956), a revolt in Hungary (23 October-4 November). It was provoked by the presence in the country of Soviet troops, the repressive nature of the government led by Ernõ Gerõ, and the general atmosphere of de-Stalinisation created in February at the Twentieth Congress of the CPSU. Initial demonstrations in Budapest led to the arrival of Soviet tanks in the city, which served only to exacerbate discontent, Hungarian soldiers joining the uprising. Soviet forces were then withdrawn. Imre Nagy became Prime Minister, appointed non-communists to his coalition, announced Hungary's withdrawal from the Warsaw Pact, and sought a neutral status for the country. This was unacceptable to the Soviet Union. Powerful, mainly Soviet but some Hungarian, forces attacked Budapest. Resistance in the capital was soon overcome. Nagy was replaced by János Kádár, while 190,000 Hungarians fled into exile. The Soviet Union reneged on its pledge of safe conduct, handing Nagy and other prominent figures over to the new Hungarian regime, which executed them in secret.

Oxford Interactive Encyclopedia 1997

1956 Hungarian Revolution

by

Erwin Bernhardt

It was my Revolution too.

I was one of the thousands of young Hungarian students (reluctant at first) who peacefully demonstrated at the beginning, than took up arms after being fired on, killed, maimed or escaped the following retaliation.

v v v

Links to other pages on the Revolution I would like to recommend to you.

• The 1956 Hungarian Revolution, a well documented, researched, 'timelined' story of the events.
  
  
• Ten years after the fall of communism
  
  
• The Cold War Studies, The Iron Curtain, Hungarian Revolution, Fall of the Berlin Wall, etc.
  
  
• History of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution historical archive pages.

Back to Table of Contents (Index) page

Site Index            Back to Top            Photos Index

Thanks for coming, I hope you have enjoyed it, will recommend it to your friends, and will come back later to see my site developing and expanding.

I'm trying to make my pages enjoyable and trouble free for everyone, please let me know of any mistakes or trouble with links, so I can fix any problem as soon as possible.

These pages are best viewed with monitor resolution set at 640x480 and kept simple on purpose so everyone can enjoy them across all media and platforms.

Thank you.

Webmaster