The 1956 Hungarian Revolution
From The National Security Archive, George Washington University.
Press release:
"There is no publication, in any language, that would even approach the thoroughness, reliability, and novelty of this monumental work …. [I]t will change forever our views of what happened in Hungary between 1953- 1963." - István Deák, Columbia University
Taken from the former Soviet Union, Hungary and the United States, as well as from other East European and Western archives, these materials - many of which were previously unavailable to an English-speaking audience - provide a comprehensive picture of the decision-making on all sides of the Hungarian events of October-November 1956. Highlights include:
- U.S. attitudes toward the use of violence in Eastern Europe. Newly declassified portions of top-level U.S. policy documents and National Security Council minutes show that senior officials were prepared to consider the resort to violence in Eastern Europe in furtherance of U.S. interests.
- The role of Radio Free Europe (RFE). Internal RFE documents confirm that the Radio overstepped its bounds in encouraging Hungarian hopes of imminent Western assistance.
- The Suez crisis. Notes of Kremlin and White House discussions indicate the possible impact of the late October 1956 attack on Suez on the Soviet decision to intervene with overwhelming force in Hungary in early November.
- The character and fate of Imre Nagy. Hungarian and Soviet documents provide a more complex portrait of reform Communist Prime Minister Imre Nagy, whom the U.S. saw as a Soviet disciple but who went further than any other leader in the socialist camp other than Tito in asserting independence from the USSR. Other records give previously unknown details on the discussions between various leaders over whether to try and execute Nagy.
- The two faces of János Kádár. Hungary's long-time Communist leader has always been something of an enigma. Notes of Kremlin and Warsaw Pact meetings as well as internal Hungarian records add important insights into his attempts both to assert freedom of action vis-à-vis Moscow and to crack down brutally on internal dissent, especially against Nagy and his circle.
- Kremlin vacillations. Taken together, the materials in this volume offer an extraordinary picture of the thinking of Soviet leaders, their indecisiveness in the face of the Hungarian crisis and the reasons underlying their eventual decision to crush the revolution."
Link to Electronic Briefing Book (outside THF network).
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