Twelve Days Revolution 1956: How the Hungarians tried to topple their Soviet Masters
Victor Sebestyen
Orion Publishing
Hard cover $39.95
The surprising Hungarian Revolution of 1956 was an unplanned, spontaneous nationwide revolt against the Communist government of Hungary and its Soviet-imposed policies by a people desperate for change. Lasting just 12 days from October 23 until November 10, 1956, it began as a student demonstration, which attracted thousands as it marched through central Budapest to the Parliament building. A student delegation entered the radio building in an attempt to broadcast their demands and were detained. When the delegation’s release was demanded by the demonstrators outside, they were fired at by the State Security Police from within the building, which sowed the seeds for the coming violence. The news of the detention and gun fire spread quickly, and disorder and violence erupted throughout the capital and then engulfed the entire country.
Victor Sebestyen, a journalist (whose own family was forced to flee from Hungary after the fighting) takes us back to Hungary during that time and places us with the rebels as the revolt spread quickly, and surprisingly, felled the government. Sebestyen discusses how thousands of peasants yearning to get out from under Soviet-style oppression organized into militias, battled the State Security Police and Soviet troops, and reacted as a large Soviet force thundered back into Budapest on November 4, killing thousands of civilians and essentially stopping the revolt in its tracks. Organized resistance ceased by November 10, and the mass arrests began in earnest.
An estimated 200,000 Hungarians fled as refugees knowing it meant life in prison or death if captured. By January 1957, the new Soviet-installed government had suppressed all public opposition and the communist hold was absolute. These Soviet actions alienated many Western Marxists, yet strengthened the overall control the Soviet Union had over Central Europe, cultivating the perception that Communism was irreversible, monolithic and unstoppable.
Public discussion about the revolution has been suppressed in Hungary for over 30 years, but as the Cold War thawed in the 1980s and the collapse of Communism occurred in the early ‘90s, it has been a subject of both intense study and fierce debate. It is in this atmosphere and released to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the Revolution, Sebestyen gives us a totally fresh account of that uprising, incorporating a vast array of newly released official Hungarian and Soviet documents from their archives, his family’s diaries, and eyewitness testimony.
Sebestyen expertly traces one of the defining, yet grossly unstudied moments of the Cold War, that led to the rebellion, while telling the story of these brutal 12 days with page-turning intimacy and veracity. Sebestyen’s sequence of events moves from the tumultuous streets of Budapest to the inner sanctums of the Russian Kremlin and the White House, where the reader is part of the conversations between the men and women who planned and took part in the uprising and of those who helped crush it, some actively, others through blatant inaction. Sebestyen’s political leanings are not hard to decipher but for the most part he keeps his narrative even.
Sebestyen shows how Western anti-Communist rhetoric fired up and encouraged the ill-prepared and grossly outmatched rebels, misleadingly convincing them they had a chance at defeating the Soviets and would receive help in some form. Sebestyen takes the reader to the streets of Budapest during those thrilling first days when, armed with a few rifles, small bombs, plenty of courage and dumb luck, the people of Budapest rose up against their Soviet oppressors and nearly succeeded in routing the Russian forces. For a few exciting days, as the Western world watched in stunned amazement, it looked as though the Hungarians would defeat, oust and humble the mighty Soviet Union as the Russian troops quickly withdrew. But not for long.
The Soviets returned with a thunderous vengeance and, as Sebestyen vividly recounts, showed they would resort to fast-acting and brutal lengths to maintain a stranglehold on their vast Communist empire and the West was prepared to let them. Sebestyen explains how the West did nothing to aid the Hungarians as the Soviets rumbled into Budapest and the free world looked on in sympathy and horror as the Hungarians suffered a crushing defeat, remaining under Soviet occupation for another three decades. The front of the book has several maps; Eastern Europe, Hungary and Budapest and a glossary of the major players in the book giving each person a mini-biography. Sebestyen also includes two series of pictures showing many of the political leaders involved, scenes of the uprising, jubilant protestors, angry Soviet troops and the bloody aftermath as bodies lay on the ground and hung from trees.
Fast-paced, vivid, and authoritative, Twelve Days adds immeasurably to our understanding of one of the most important battles of the Cold War and its overall effects on Hungary. Sebestyen reminds us of the extraordinary courage and sacrifice the Hungarian people demonstrated in the unquenchable human desire for freedom against one of the most powerful militaries the world has ever seen.
Orion Publishing
Hard cover $39.95
The surprising Hungarian Revolution of 1956 was an unplanned, spontaneous nationwide revolt against the Communist government of Hungary and its Soviet-imposed policies by a people desperate for change. Lasting just 12 days from October 23 until November 10, 1956, it began as a student demonstration, which attracted thousands as it marched through central Budapest to the Parliament building. A student delegation entered the radio building in an attempt to broadcast their demands and were detained. When the delegation’s release was demanded by the demonstrators outside, they were fired at by the State Security Police from within the building, which sowed the seeds for the coming violence. The news of the detention and gun fire spread quickly, and disorder and violence erupted throughout the capital and then engulfed the entire country.
Victor Sebestyen, a journalist (whose own family was forced to flee from Hungary after the fighting) takes us back to Hungary during that time and places us with the rebels as the revolt spread quickly, and surprisingly, felled the government. Sebestyen discusses how thousands of peasants yearning to get out from under Soviet-style oppression organized into militias, battled the State Security Police and Soviet troops, and reacted as a large Soviet force thundered back into Budapest on November 4, killing thousands of civilians and essentially stopping the revolt in its tracks. Organized resistance ceased by November 10, and the mass arrests began in earnest.
An estimated 200,000 Hungarians fled as refugees knowing it meant life in prison or death if captured. By January 1957, the new Soviet-installed government had suppressed all public opposition and the communist hold was absolute. These Soviet actions alienated many Western Marxists, yet strengthened the overall control the Soviet Union had over Central Europe, cultivating the perception that Communism was irreversible, monolithic and unstoppable.
Public discussion about the revolution has been suppressed in Hungary for over 30 years, but as the Cold War thawed in the 1980s and the collapse of Communism occurred in the early ‘90s, it has been a subject of both intense study and fierce debate. It is in this atmosphere and released to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the Revolution, Sebestyen gives us a totally fresh account of that uprising, incorporating a vast array of newly released official Hungarian and Soviet documents from their archives, his family’s diaries, and eyewitness testimony.
Sebestyen expertly traces one of the defining, yet grossly unstudied moments of the Cold War, that led to the rebellion, while telling the story of these brutal 12 days with page-turning intimacy and veracity. Sebestyen’s sequence of events moves from the tumultuous streets of Budapest to the inner sanctums of the Russian Kremlin and the White House, where the reader is part of the conversations between the men and women who planned and took part in the uprising and of those who helped crush it, some actively, others through blatant inaction. Sebestyen’s political leanings are not hard to decipher but for the most part he keeps his narrative even.
Sebestyen shows how Western anti-Communist rhetoric fired up and encouraged the ill-prepared and grossly outmatched rebels, misleadingly convincing them they had a chance at defeating the Soviets and would receive help in some form. Sebestyen takes the reader to the streets of Budapest during those thrilling first days when, armed with a few rifles, small bombs, plenty of courage and dumb luck, the people of Budapest rose up against their Soviet oppressors and nearly succeeded in routing the Russian forces. For a few exciting days, as the Western world watched in stunned amazement, it looked as though the Hungarians would defeat, oust and humble the mighty Soviet Union as the Russian troops quickly withdrew. But not for long.
The Soviets returned with a thunderous vengeance and, as Sebestyen vividly recounts, showed they would resort to fast-acting and brutal lengths to maintain a stranglehold on their vast Communist empire and the West was prepared to let them. Sebestyen explains how the West did nothing to aid the Hungarians as the Soviets rumbled into Budapest and the free world looked on in sympathy and horror as the Hungarians suffered a crushing defeat, remaining under Soviet occupation for another three decades. The front of the book has several maps; Eastern Europe, Hungary and Budapest and a glossary of the major players in the book giving each person a mini-biography. Sebestyen also includes two series of pictures showing many of the political leaders involved, scenes of the uprising, jubilant protestors, angry Soviet troops and the bloody aftermath as bodies lay on the ground and hung from trees.
Fast-paced, vivid, and authoritative, Twelve Days adds immeasurably to our understanding of one of the most important battles of the Cold War and its overall effects on Hungary. Sebestyen reminds us of the extraordinary courage and sacrifice the Hungarian people demonstrated in the unquenchable human desire for freedom against one of the most powerful militaries the world has ever seen.
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