The uprising in Hungary was suppressed by the ATS troops. It was in Budapest

Reason for repentance?

In the post-Soviet period, a peculiar trend of repentance for “the crimes of the Soviet regime in the countries of Eastern Europe” appeared in Russian politics. This means gross interference of the USSR in the internal affairs of friendly states. First of all, in this context they mention the “suppression of popular uprisings in Hungary and Czechoslovakia.”
See all photos in the gallery

The Hungarian uprising, or, according to another version, the “counter-revolutionary revolt,” turns 61 in 2017. Participants in the events of 1956 on the side of the rebels are considered national heroes in Hungary. The events themselves are interpreted as “a democratic revolution suppressed by Soviet tanks.”
In fact, this is very far from reality. What happened in Hungary is painfully reminiscent of the so-called “Gidnost Revolution” in Ukraine: behind the screen of “popular protests” were hidden the ambitions of politicians who were ready to plunge their own country into bloody civil strife in order to seize and retain power.

Problem area of socialism.

Of all the countries in Eastern Europe where regimes loyal to Moscow were established after World War II, Hungary was one of the most problematic.
After the fall of the Hungarian Soviet Republic in 1919, the authoritarian regime of Admiral Horthy was established in the country, who in the 1930s became a loyal and reliable ally of Hitler.
On the Soviet-German front, up to one and a half million Hungarians fought on the side of the Third Reich, of whom more than 400 thousand died. Hungary remained Hitler's ally until the end of the war.
Unlike other countries of Eastern Europe, in Hungary the positions of the communists and their allies after the war were quite weak, and the Hungarian Workers' Party, which united communists and social democrats, managed to gain a foothold in power only in 1949. The course of industrialization and collectivization pursued by the leader of the VPT, Mátyás Rákosi, encountered serious difficulties. The standard of living in the country has noticeably decreased.

In the summer of 1953, Rakosi, who combined the posts of party leader and head of government, resigned as chairman of the Council of Ministers. This was done with the approval of Moscow, where they considered that Rakosi was too zealously following the line of the late comrade Stalin.
Imre Nagy became the new head of government, who managed to stabilize the situation in the economy.

"Reformer" in the service of the NKVD.

Today it is believed that Nagy is a convinced democrat and anti-communist, who somehow incredibly ended up in the leadership of socialist Hungary. In fact, a former soldier of the Austro-Hungarian army, Imre Nagy, became a member of the Bolshevik Party back in 1917, while in Russian captivity. During the Civil War, Nagy fought in the Red Army, then worked underground in his native Hungary, after which he returned to the USSR.
In 1937-1938, Imre Nagy escaped the “purges” that took place among the leadership of the Hungarian communists who were in the USSR. This was explained by the fact that since 1933 Nagy had been a secret agent of the NKVD with the agent name “Volodya”. “Volodya” returned home at the end of the war and was a communist minister in the coalition governments of Hungary. In 1949, Nagy again nearly lost everything, being accused of opportunism during an internal party struggle. But active repentance helped him regain his post as Minister of Agriculture.
Of course, a person with such a biography in Moscow was considered completely loyal. In Hungary he managed to earn a reputation as a reformer. But in 1955, Nagy lost his post as head of government, losing in the next round of internal party struggle.

"Thaw". Hungarian version.

In 1956, the political situation in Hungary worsened sharply. Nikita Khrushchev’s report on the “cult of personality” generally complicated the situation in Eastern Europe, where the “Stalinist course” was pursued during the post-war years. In Hungary, the struggle between “Stalinists” and “reformers” was complicated by the presence of an anti-Soviet underground, the backbone of which was made up of figures from the Horthy regime and activists of fascist movements. These people did not go anywhere and were just waiting for the right moment to speak.

Imre Nagy was replaced as chairman of the Council of Ministers by 32-year-old András Hegedüs, Rakosi’s protege, who had neither political weight nor managerial experience. As a result, the political aggravation was accompanied by a deterioration in economic indicators.
In July 1956, the “reformers,” relying on the support of Khrushchev, achieved the resignation of the “Stalinist” Rakosi. The party was led by Ernő Gerő, an associate of Rakosi. In Hungary, many considered this to be just an imitation of real changes. Geryo could not rectify the situation. The struggle was no longer only internal to the party. Voices began to arise demanding the abandonment of the socialist course, a return to a multi-party system, and a severance of relations with the USSR.

The future head of the KGB of the USSR, Yuri Andropov, at that moment the ambassador to Hungary, reported on the aggravation of the situation in the country.
On October 16, 1956, university students in Szeged organized their exit from the pro-communist Democratic Youth League and revived the Union of Students of Hungarian Universities and Academies, which existed after the war and was dispersed by the government. Within a few days, branches of the Union appeared in Pec, Miskolc and other cities.

Start.

On October 22, students at the Budapest University of Technology put forward a list of 16 demands to the authorities, including the withdrawal of Soviet troops, the demolition of the monument to Stalin, the appointment of Imre Nagy as head of government, and so on. Students scheduled a protest march for October 23, which they called on all those dissatisfied with the authorities’ course to join.
Andropov reported to Moscow: “The opposition and the reaction... are actively preparing to ‘transfer the struggle to the streets’.” According to the Soviet ambassador, uncertainty and confusion reigned in the Hungarian leadership.

At three o'clock in the afternoon a march of oppositionists began in Budapest, in which up to 200 thousand people took part. In the evening, Ernő Gerö sharply condemned the protesters in a radio speech.
Geryo's speech, of course, was also heard by the participants in the demonstration. Some of them immediately moved to the Radio House to get airtime to present their position.

The peaceful protest ended quickly: the most determined oppositionists clashed with the Hungarian state security units guarding the building. Within an hour, there was a real battle at the Radio House with dead and wounded on both sides. The striking force of the opposition was not students, but the already mentioned underground groups of Hungarian fascists, veterans of the army that fought with the USSR.
In Budapest, raids began on the premises of law enforcement agencies and military units in order to seize weapons.

“We will find the right path to the prosperity of our homeland”

The Hungarian authorities were inactive. The military received orders not to open fire on the demonstrators, and even the police did not interfere in what was happening. Moreover, the head of the Budapest Police Headquarters, Lieutenant Colonel Sandor Kopacz, at the request of the rebels, ordered the release of prisoners and the removal of symbols of Soviet Hungary from the building.
Around midnight, the Special Corps of Soviet troops stationed in Hungary received the order to begin moving to Budapest. The order, however, was not aimed at quelling the unrest. Units of the Soviet Army were ordered to provide assistance to the Hungarian security forces in protecting strategic facilities. The order ordered not to give in to provocations and not to open fire first. This line ultimately led to serious losses among military personnel.

The battle at the Radio House lasted all night. At an emergency meeting of the Hungarian leadership, it was decided to return Imre Nagy to the post of head of the Council of Ministers. As already mentioned, Moscow viewed him as a completely loyal politician. At noon on October 24, Imre Nagy made a radio address saying: “People of Budapest! “I inform you that all those who, in order to avoid further bloodshed, stop fighting and lay down their arms before 2 p.m. today will not be brought to the emergency court.” Further, the politician promised serious changes, ending his speech with the words: “Rally your ranks around the party and the government! Believe: having gotten rid of the mistakes of the past, we will find the right path to the prosperity of our homeland.”

Anastas Mikoyan and Mikhail Suslov arrived from Moscow, who confirmed that Nagy has carte blanche to carry out reforms. It would seem that the situation has stabilized, most of the protesters’ demands have been fulfilled. The statue of Stalin, by the way, was smashed on the very first day of the unrest.

Comrade Nagy makes a choice.

But on October 25, a major incident occurs, which begins a new stage of escalation of the conflict. An opposition rally was taking place near the parliament building in Budapest, with Soviet units standing nearby. Both sides were friendly and there was no aggression.
Suddenly, fire was opened on the Soviet military from the roof of the building. One was burned and an officer died. The military returned fire on the roof, and from there began indiscriminate shooting into the crowd. As a result, about 60 people died and more than 280 were injured.
Isn’t it true that this picture is surprisingly similar to the beginning of armed clashes in Kyiv in February 2014?

The main question is who fired from the roof at the Soviet military and at the demonstrators. Hungarian historians are convinced: this is the work of the regime’s secret services. However, the radicals who were counting on a complete regime change in the country were primarily interested in the escalation.

Hungary was descending into chaos. The rebels executed captured intelligence officers, military personnel, communists and members of their families. This is not a myth or propaganda: the participants in the massacres left many photographs of their atrocities.
Imre Nagy had a choice: either take a course towards suppressing the radicals, or join them. The head of government chose the second. On October 28, when Hungarian units loyal to the government were ready to launch an operation against the militants, Nagy personally stopped it.

On the same day, Imre Nagy spoke on the radio. During his speech, he called the events in Hungary a “revolution” and said that “the government condemns the views that view the current popular movement as a counter-revolution.”

Revolutionary terror.

The Revolutionary Military Council was created in Budapest. The intention was announced to disband the army and create a new one on the basis of rebel groups, to demand the withdrawal of Soviet troops from the country. The intention was also expressed to dissolve the ruling party and the intelligence services.
On October 29, 1956, Soviet troops, at the request of Nagy, were withdrawn from Budapest. By that time, the losses of the Soviet Army reached 350 people killed. The Soviet leadership was close to making a decision to withdraw troops from Hungary. But such a display of weakness was fraught with similar events in other countries.

In Hungary itself, not everyone shared Imre Nagy’s course. Scattered groups of communists, deprived of a common leadership, resisted the actions of the militants.
In today's Hungary, few people remember the name of the head of the Budapest City Party Committee, Imre Mezö. On October 30, he and his comrades held the defense in the city committee building. After the building was captured, Mezo and 26 other communists and state security officers were brutally killed, their mutilated bodies hanging upside down from trees.

The killings were only gaining momentum and were supposed to go into full swing after the withdrawal of Soviet troops from the country. Imre Nagy knew very well what was happening, but preferred not to notice it. The brutal massacres caused many to recoil from the “revolutionaries.” Most of the Hungarian military remained in the barracks. Yesterday’s like-minded people from among Nagy’s “reformers” moved away from him, turning to Moscow with an appeal to stop the bloody bacchanalia.

One of these was Janos Kadar, who was appointed by Nagy to the government, but after the terror unleashed by the rebels, he left the country and entered into negotiations with representatives of the USSR.

Operation Whirlwind.

At this time, Imre Nagy turned to the UN asking for help from Hungary in protecting its sovereignty. On November 1, the USSR government received a note on Hungary's withdrawal from the Warsaw Pact.
Finally, in Moscow, at a meeting of the Presidium of the CPSU Central Committee, Nikita Khrushchev says: “If we leave Hungary, it will encourage the Americans, the British and the French, the imperialists. They will understand this as our weakness and will attack.”
After consultations with other socialist states, the military is given an order: to restore order in Hungary by force. The general plan for the operation, codenamed “Whirlwind,” was developed under the leadership of USSR Defense Minister Georgy Zhukov.

On November 3, the new Minister of Defense of Hungary, Pal Maleter, a former commander of a Hungarian construction battalion who had gone over to the side of the rebels, arrived at the Soviet military base at Tekel to negotiate the withdrawal of Soviet troops from the country. Right there, Maleter and his entourage were arrested.
At dawn on November 4, units of the Special Corps re-entered Budapest. At the same time, in accordance with the plan of Operation Whirlwind, additional units of the Soviet Army entered the country.

Formally, they fulfilled the request for help received from the Revolutionary Workers' and Peasants' Government of Hungary, headed by Janos Kadar. The Kadar government's appeal was broadcast on Hungarian radio. Nagy responded: “Early this morning, Soviet troops attacked our country with the goal of overthrowing the legitimate democratic government of Hungary. Our army is fighting. All members of the government remain in their places. I declare this to the people of our country and world public opinion.”

Liquidation.

On November 4, heavy fighting took place in the center of Budapest. In other cities, everything went much more calmly: units of the 8th mechanized and 38th combined arms armies disarmed five Hungarian divisions and took control of all aviation. The Hungarian military emphasized that they did not take part in the rebellion.

Of the 30,000-strong garrison of Budapest, 12,000 went over to the side of the rebels, but most of them did not take part in the battles. As a result, only the construction battalions, commanded by Pal Maleter, fought to the end.
The suppression of the rebellion took 4 days. On the morning of November 8, Janos Kadar, while in Budapest, announced the transfer of all power in the country to the Revolutionary Workers' and Peasants' Government headed by him.

The total losses of Soviet troops during the entire event amounted to 720 people killed, 1540 wounded, 51 missing. About 3,000 people died on the Hungarian side, and this number includes both the rebels and several hundred communists killed by them, soldiers of the Hungarian People's Army and special services.
Imre Nagy took refuge on the territory of the Yugoslav Embassy. On November 22, 1956, he was detained while trying to leave.

Who is the hero and who is the criminal?

On November 16, 1958, Nagy and Pal Maleter were hanged for treason by court verdict.
In total, 22,000 criminal cases were opened in connection with the rebellion in Hungary, resulting in 400 death sentences. About 300 of them were carried out. About 200,000 people fled to the West.
The Hungarian Workers' Party was replaced by the Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party, led by János Kádár.

Kadar managed to avoid the continuation of civil confrontation. They declared a broad amnesty for participants in the events of 1956. Focusing on the economy, János Kádár, who ruled the country for more than 30 years, made Hungary one of the most successful countries in Europe, or, as evil tongues said, “the most fun barracks in the socialist camp.”
Hungary has become a popular tourist destination, not only among residents of socialist countries, but also among tourists from Western countries. The first Formula 1 track in socialist countries appeared here, and Queen gave one of the most famous concerts here in 1986.

Janos Kadar left his leadership positions in 1988 and passed away in the summer of 1989. The new Hungarian revolutionaries at this time solemnly reburied the remains of Imre Nagy, declared a national hero.

And today the man who saved Hungary is revered in this country much less than the one who, for the sake of his own power, actually plunged it into civil war. Each era has its heroes.

Anti-Soviet protests and demonstrations in post-war countries building socialism began to appear under Stalin, but after his death in 1953 they took on a wider scale. Mass protests took place in Poland, Hungary, and the German Democratic Republic.

The decisive role in the initiation of the Hungarian events was played, of course, by the death of I. Stalin, and the subsequent actions of Nikita Khrushchev to “expose the cult of personality.”

As you know, in World War II, Hungary took part on the side of the fascist bloc, its troops participated in the occupation of the territory of the USSR, and three SS divisions were formed from Hungarians. In 1944-1945, Hungarian troops were defeated, its territory was occupied by Soviet troops. Hungary (as a former ally of Nazi Germany) had to pay significant indemnities (reparations) in favor of the USSR, Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia, amounting to up to a quarter of Hungary’s GDP.

After the war, free elections were held in the country, provided for by the Yalta agreements, in which the Party of Small Farmers received a majority. However, the control commission, which was headed by the Soviet Marshal Voroshilov, gave the winning majority only half of the seats in the Cabinet of Ministers, and the key posts remained with the Hungarian Communist Party.

The communists, with the support of Soviet troops, arrested most of the leaders of the opposition parties, and in 1947 they held new elections. By 1949, power in the country was mainly represented by communists. The Matthias Rakosi regime was established in Hungary. Collectivization was carried out, mass repressions began against the opposition, the church, officers and politicians of the former regime and many other opponents of the new government.

WHO IS RAKOSI?

Matthias Rakosi, born Matthias Rosenfeld (March 14, 1892, Serbia - February 5, 1971, Gorky, USSR) - Hungarian politician, revolutionary.

Rakosi was the sixth child in a poor Jewish family. During the First World War he fought on the Eastern Front, where he was captured and joined the Hungarian Communist Party.
Returned to Hungary, participated in the government of Bela Kun. After his fall, he fled to the USSR. Participated in the governing bodies of the Comintern. In 1945 he returned to Hungary and headed the Hungarian Communist Party. In 1948, he forced the Social Democratic Party to unite with the CPV into a single Hungarian Labor Party (HLP), of which he was elected general secretary.

RAKOSI DICTATORSHIP

His regime was characterized by political terror carried out by the state security service AVH against the forces of internal counter-revolution and the persecution of the opposition (for example, former Minister of the Interior Laszlo Rajk was accused of “Titoism” and orientation towards Yugoslavia, and then executed). Under him, the nationalization of the economy and accelerated cooperation in agriculture took place.

Rákosi called himself “Stalin’s best Hungarian student,” copying the Stalinist regime in the smallest detail, to the point that in the last years of his reign, the Hungarian military uniform was copied from the Soviet one, and stores in Hungary began selling rye bread, which had not previously been eaten in Hungary .
Since the late 1940s. launched a campaign against the Zionists, while eliminating his political rival, Minister of Internal Affairs Laszlo Rajk.

After Khrushchev’s report at the 20th Congress of the CPSU, Rakosi was removed from the post of General Secretary of the Central Committee of the WPT (instead, Erno Geryo took this position). Soon after the uprising in Hungary in 1956, he was taken to the USSR, where he lived in the city of Gorky. In 1970, he was asked to give up active participation in Hungarian politics in exchange for returning to Hungary, but Rákosi refused.

He was married to Feodora Kornilova.

WHAT DIRECTLY CAUSED THE UPRISING?

When it comes to the reasons for the demonstrations of many thousands that began in Budapest in October 1956, which then grew into mass riots, as a rule, they talk about the Stalinist policy of the Hungarian leadership led by Matthias Rakosi, repressions and other “excesses” of socialist construction. But it's not only that.

Let's start with the fact that the overwhelming majority of the Magyars did not consider their country to be to blame for the outbreak of World War II and believed that Moscow dealt with Hungary extremely unfairly. And although the former Western allies of the USSR in the anti-Hitler coalition supported all the points of the 1947 peace treaty, they were far away, and the Russians were nearby. Naturally, the landowners and bourgeoisie, who lost their property, were unhappy. Western radio stations Voice of America, BBC and others actively influenced the population, calling on them to fight for freedom and promising immediate assistance in the event of an uprising, including an invasion of Hungarian territory by NATO troops.

The death of Stalin and Khrushchev's speech at the 20th Congress of the CPSU gave rise to attempts at liberation from communists in all Eastern European states, one of the most striking manifestations of which was the rehabilitation and return to power of the Polish reformer Wladyslaw Gomulka in October 1956.

After the monument to Stalin was toppled from its pedestal, the rebels tried to cause maximum destruction to it. The hatred of Stalin on the part of the rebels was explained by the fact that Matthias Rakosi, who carried out the repressions in the late 40s, called himself Stalin’s faithful disciple.

An important role was also played by the fact that in May 1955, neighboring Austria became a single neutral independent state, from which, after the signing of a peace treaty, allied occupation forces were withdrawn (Soviet troops had been stationed in Hungary since 1944).

After the resignation of the General Secretary of the Hungarian Labor Party, Matthias Rakosi, on July 18, 1956, his closest ally Erno Geryo became the new leader of the Hungarian Labor Party, but such small concessions could not satisfy the people.
The Poznan uprising in July 1956 in Poland, which caused great resonance, also led to an increase in critical sentiment among the people, especially among students and the writing intelligentsia. From the middle of the year, the Petőfi Circle began to actively operate, in which the most pressing problems facing Hungary were discussed.

STUDENTS STARTED AN UPRISING

On October 16, 1956, university students in Szeged organized an organized exit from the pro-communist “Democratic Youth Union” (the Hungarian equivalent of the Komsomol) and revived the “Union of Students of Hungarian Universities and Academies,” which existed after the war and was dispersed by the government. Within a few days, branches of the Union appeared in Pec, Miskolc and other cities.
On October 22, students from the Budapest University of Technology joined this movement, formulating a list of 16 demands to the authorities and planning a protest march from the monument to Bem (Polish general, hero of the Hungarian Revolution of 1848) to the monument to Petőfi on October 23.

At 3 o'clock in the afternoon a demonstration began, in which, in addition to students, tens of thousands of people took part. The demonstrators carried red flags, banners with slogans about Soviet-Hungarian friendship, the inclusion of Imre Nagy in the government, etc. On the squares of Jasai Mari, on the Fifteenth of March, on the streets of Kossuth and Rakoczi, radical groups joined the demonstrators, shouting slogans of a different kind. They demanded the restoration of the old Hungarian national emblem, the old Hungarian national holiday instead of the Day of Liberation from Fascism, the abolition of military training and Russian language lessons. In addition, demands were put forward for free elections, the creation of a government led by Nagy and the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Hungary.

At 20 o'clock on the radio, the first secretary of the Central Committee of the WPT, Erne Gere, made a speech sharply condemning the demonstrators. In response to this, a large group of demonstrators tried to enter the broadcasting studio of the Radio House with a demand to broadcast the program demands of the demonstrators. This attempt led to a clash with the Hungarian state security units AVH defending the Radio House, during which the first dead and wounded appeared after 21:00. the rebels received or took from reinforcements sent to help guard the radio, as well as from civil defense depots and captured police stations.

A group of rebels entered the Kilian Barracks, where three construction battalions were located, and seized their weapons. Many construction battalion members joined the rebels. Fierce fighting in and around the Radio House continued throughout the night.

At 11 p.m., based on the decision of the Presidium of the CPSU Central Committee, the Chief of the General Staff of the USSR Armed Forces, Marshal V.D. Sokolovsky, ordered the commander of the Special Corps to begin moving to Budapest to assist the Hungarian troops “in restoring order and creating conditions for peaceful creative labor.” Units of the Special Corps arrived in Budapest at 6 a.m. and began fighting the rebels.

On the night of October 24, about 6,000 Soviet army troops, 290 tanks, 120 armored personnel carriers, and 156 guns were brought into Budapest. In the evening they were joined by units of the 3rd Rifle Corps of the Hungarian People's Army (VNA).

Members of the Presidium of the CPSU Central Committee A. I. Mikoyan and M. A. Suslov, KGB Chairman I. A. Serov, Deputy Chief of the General Staff Army General M. S. Malinin arrived in Budapest.
On the morning of October 25, the 33rd Guards Mechanized Division approached Budapest, and in the evening - the 128th Guards Rifle Division, which joined the Special Corps.

At this time, during a rally near the parliament building, an incident occurred: fire was opened from the upper floors, as a result of which a Soviet officer was killed and a tank was burned. In response, Soviet troops opened fire on the demonstrators, resulting in 61 people killed and 284 wounded on both sides.

A FAILED ATTEMPT TO FIND A COMPROMISE

The day before, on the night of October 23, 1956, the leadership of the Hungarian Communist Party decided to appoint Imre Nagy as Prime Minister, who had already held this post in 1953-1955, distinguished by his reformist views, for which he was repressed, but shortly before the uprising he was rehabilitated. Imre Nagy was often accused of sending a formal request to Soviet troops to help suppress the uprising without his participation. His supporters claim that this decision was made behind his back by the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party Ernő Gerő and former Prime Minister András Hegedüs, and Nagy himself was opposed to the involvement of Soviet troops.

In such a situation, on October 24, Nagy was appointed to the post of Chairman of the Council of Ministers. He immediately sought not to fight the uprising, but to lead it.

On October 28, Imre Nagy recognized the popular outrage as justified, speaking on the radio and declaring that “the government condemns the views that view the current grandiose popular movement as a counter-revolution.”

The government announced a ceasefire and the start of negotiations with the USSR on the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Hungary.
By October 30, all Soviet troops were withdrawn from the capital to their places of deployment. State security agencies were dissolved. The streets of Hungarian cities were left virtually without power.

On October 30, the government of Imre Nagy decided to restore the multi-party system in Hungary and create a coalition government of representatives of the VPT, the Independent Party of Smallholders, the National Peasant Party and the reconstituted Social Democratic Party. It was announced that free elections would be held.
And the uprising, already uncontrollable, continued.

The rebels captured the Budapest town committee of the VPT, and over 20 communists were hanged by the crowd. Photos of hanged communists with signs of torture, with faces disfigured by acid, went around the whole world. This massacre was, however, condemned by representatives of the political forces of Hungary.

There was little Nagy could do. The uprising spread to other cities and spread... The country quickly fell into chaos. Railway communications were interrupted, airports stopped operating, shops, shops and banks were closed. The rebels scoured the streets, catching state security officers. They were recognized by their famous yellow boots, torn into pieces or hanged by their feet, and sometimes castrated. The captured party leaders were nailed to the floors with huge nails, with portraits of Lenin placed in their hands.

The development of events in Hungary coincided with the Suez crisis. On October 29, Israel and then NATO members Great Britain and France attacked Soviet-backed Egypt with the aim of seizing the Suez Canal, near which they landed their troops.

On October 31, Khrushchev at a meeting of the Presidium of the CPSU Central Committee said: “If we leave Hungary, this will encourage the American, British and French imperialists. They will understand our weakness and will attack.” It was decided to create a “revolutionary workers’ and peasants’ government” led by Janos Kadar and conduct a military operation to overthrow the government of Imre Nagy. The plan for the operation, called “Whirlwind,” was developed under the leadership of the USSR Minister of Defense Georgy Konstantinovich Zhukov.

On November 1, the Hungarian government, when Soviet troops were ordered not to leave the units’ locations, decided to terminate the Warsaw Pact by Hungary and handed a corresponding note to the USSR Embassy. At the same time, Hungary turned to the UN asking for help in protecting its neutrality. Measures were also taken to protect Budapest in case of "possible external attack."

Early in the morning of November 4, new Soviet military units began entering Hungary under the overall command of Marshal of the Soviet Union Georgy Konstantinovich Zhukov.

On November 4, the Soviet Operation Whirlwind began and on the same day the main objects in Budapest were captured. Members of Imre Nagy's government took refuge in the Yugoslav embassy. However, detachments of the Hungarian National Guard and individual army units continued to resist Soviet troops.
Soviet troops carried out artillery strikes on pockets of resistance and carried out subsequent mopping-up operations with infantry forces supported by tanks. The main centers of resistance were the working-class suburbs of Budapest, where local councils managed to lead more or less organized resistance. These areas of the city were subjected to the most massive shelling.

Soviet troops (totaling 31,550 soldiers and officers) were thrown against the rebels (more than 50 thousand Hungarians took part in the uprising) with the support of Hungarian workers' squads (25 thousand) and Hungarian state security agencies (1.5 thousand).

Soviet units and formations that took part in the Hungarian events:
Special case:
- 2nd Guards Mechanized Division (Nikolayevsko-Budapest)
- 11th Guards Mechanized Division (after 1957 - 30th Guards Tank Division)
- 17th Guards Mechanized Division (Yenakievsko-Danube)
- 33rd Guards Mechanized Division (Kherson)
- 128th Guards Rifle Division (after 1957 - 128th Guards Motorized Rifle Division)
7th Guards Airborne Division
- 80th Parachute Regiment
- 108th Parachute Regiment
31st Guards Airborne Division
- 114th Parachute Regiment
- 381st Parachute Regiment
8th Mechanized Army of the Carpathian Military District (after 1957 - 8th Tank Army)
38th Army of the Carpathian Military District
- 13th Guards Mechanized Division (Poltava) (after 1957 - 21st Guards Tank Division)
- 27th mechanized division (Cherkasy) (after 1957 - 27th motorized rifle division).

In total, the following took part in the operation:
personnel - 31550 people
tanks and self-propelled guns - 1130
guns and mortars - 615
anti-aircraft guns - 185
BTR - 380
cars - 3830

END OF THE UPRISING

After November 10, until mid-December, the workers' councils continued their work, often entering into direct negotiations with the command of Soviet units. However, by December 19, 1956, the workers' councils were dispersed by state security agencies and their leaders were arrested.

Hungarians emigrated en masse - almost 200,000 people (5% of the total population) left the country, for whom refugee camps had to be created in Austria in Traiskirchen and Graz.
Immediately after the suppression of the uprising, mass arrests began: in total, the Hungarian special services and their Soviet colleagues managed to arrest about 5,000 Hungarians (846 of them were sent to Soviet prisons), of which “a significant number were members of the VPT, military personnel and students.”

Prime Minister Imre Nagy and members of his government were deceived on November 22, 1956, lured out of the Yugoslav Embassy, where they had taken refuge, and taken into custody on Romanian territory. They were then returned to Hungary and put on trial. Imre Nagy and former Defense Minister Pal Maleter were sentenced to death on charges of treason. Imre Nagy was hanged on June 16, 1958. In total, according to some estimates, about 350 people were executed. About 26,000 people were prosecuted, of whom 13,000 were sentenced to various prison terms. By 1963, all participants in the uprising were amnestied and released by the government of János Kádar.
After the fall of the socialist regime, Imre Nagy and Pal Maleter were ceremonially reburied in July 1989.

Since 1989, Imre Nagy has been considered a national hero of Hungary.

The initiators of the protests were students and workers of large factories. The Hungarians demanded free elections and the withdrawal of Soviet military bases. In fact, workers' committees took over power throughout the country. The USSR sent troops into Hungary and restored the pro-Soviet regime, brutally suppressing resistance. Nagy and several of his government colleagues were executed. Several thousand people died in the battles (according to some sources, up to 10,000).

In the early 50s, there were other demonstrations on the streets of Budapest and other cities.

In November 1956, the director of the Hungarian News Agency, shortly before artillery fire leveled his office, sent a desperate message to the world - a telex announcing the beginning of the Russian invasion of Budapest. The text ended with the words: “We will die for Hungary and for Europe”!

Hungary, 1956. Self-defense units on the Hungarian border await the appearance of Soviet military units.

Soviet tanks were brought into Budapest on the orders of the communist leadership of the USSR, which took advantage of a formal request from the Hungarian government.

The first Soviet armored vehicles on the streets of Budapest.

Hungarian uprising of 1956- anti-government protests that took place between October 23 and November 4. The uprising was suppressed with the participation of the Hungarian state security authorities. About 2,500 rebels died during the suppression of the uprising. The losses of the Soviet army amounted to 720 military personnel, 1,540 wounded, 51 people were missing.

The uprising was one of the most striking events, demonstrating that it was ready to maintain the inviolability of (OVD) with military force.

Prerequisites

The reasons for the uprising, often called a revolution, were, on the one hand, the economic situation of Hungary (as a former ally, Hungary was forced to pay significant indemnities in favor of, and, amounting to up to a quarter; the implementation carried out in the country also did not contribute to improving the standard of living of the population; with In this case, Hungary was deprived of the opportunity to participate in) was extremely difficult, on the other hand, the death and speech at the 20th Congress of the CPSU gave rise to ferment throughout the Eastern bloc, one of the most striking manifestations of which was the rehabilitation and return to power in October of the Polish reformer. An important role was also played by the fact that in May the neighboring one became a single neutral independent state, which was abandoned by foreign occupation forces (Soviet troops had been in Hungary since the year).

Start

Ferment in Hungary began from the very beginning of 1956 and by 1956 led to the resignation of the General Secretary of the Hungarian Communist Party, who was replaced by (former Minister of State Security). The removal of Rakosi, as well as the Poznań uprising of 1956, which caused great resonance, led to an increase in critical sentiment among students and the writing intelligentsia. From the middle of the year, the Petőfi Circle began to actively operate, in which the most pressing problems facing Hungary were discussed. In 1956, university students in an organized manner left the pro-communist “Democratic Youth Union” (the Hungarian equivalent) and revived the “Union of Students of Hungarian Universities and Academies,” which existed after the war and was dispersed by the government. Within a few days, branches of the Union appeared in and other cities. Finally, this movement was joined by students of the Budapest University of Technology (at that time - the Budapest University of the Construction Industry), who formulated a list of 16 demands for the authorities (immediate convening of an extraordinary party congress, appointment of Imre Nagy as prime minister, withdrawal of Soviet troops from the country, destruction monument to Stalin, etc.) and planned a protest march from the monument (Polish general, hero) to the monument for October 23.

October 23

October 24

Members of the Presidium of the CPSU Central Committee and M. Suslov, Chairman of the KGB, Deputy Chief of the General Staff, Army General M. Malinin arrived in Budapest.

the 25th of October

In the morning, the 33rd Guards Mechanized Division approached the city, in the evening - the 128th Guards Rifle Division, joining the Special Corps. At this time, during a peaceful rally near the parliament building, an incident occurred: fire was opened from the upper floors, as a result of which a Soviet officer was killed and a tank was burned. As a result, active actions began to clear the city of rebels.

October 30

After the start of the uprising, political prisoners were released from prison. Locally, trade unions began to create workers' and local councils that were not subordinate to the authorities and not controlled by the Communist Party. As with any uprising that succeeds for a time, the participants in this uprising quickly became radicalized. The peak of this process was the announcement by Imre Nagy in 1956 of the decision to withdraw Hungary from the OVD. Since Soviet troops were in Hungary precisely on the basis of the Warsaw War, this meant the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Hungary and unpredictable consequences for the strategic balance of forces in Europe.

the 3rd of November

November 4

New Soviet troops were brought into Hungary, who had not previously been stationed in Hungary and could not have any sympathy or antipathy towards the Hungarians. More important than the absence of these sympathies was the fact that units trained for street fighting and equipped with plans for such battles were introduced into Hungary. In contrast to the actions of the Soviet troops on October 23, in early November a detailed and effective military operation was carried out, which combined air and artillery strikes on pockets of resistance and subsequent mopping-up operations by infantry forces with the support of tanks. The main centers of resistance were the working-class suburbs of Budapest, where local councils managed to lead more or less organized resistance. It is not surprising that these areas of the city were subject to the most massive air raids and artillery shelling. The forces were clearly unequal and

Events in Hungary in 1956 led to a large-scale revolt, which the Soviet army was brought in to suppress. The Hungarian Autumn became one of the largest regional conflicts of the Cold War, in which the intelligence services of both the USSR and the USA took part. Today we will try to understand the events of those days, and also try to understand the reasons.

➤ ➤ ➤ ➤ ➤ ➤ ➤ ➤ ➤ ➤ ➤ ➤ ➤ ➤ ➤

Role of Yugoslavia

The beginning of events should be dated back to 1948, when relations between Stalin and Tito (leader of Yugoslavia) finally deteriorated. The reason is that Tito demanded complete political independence. As a result, countries began to prepare for a possible war, and the Soviet command was developing a plan to enter the war from the territory of Hungary.

In May 1956, Yuri Andropov received information (he immediately forwarded it to Moscow) that Yugoslav agents and intelligence were actively working against the USSR in Hungary.

The Yugoslav Embassy played a significant role against the Soviet Union and the current Hungarian government.
Dmitry Kapranov, cryptographer of the Special Corps of the USSR Army in Hungary

If back in 1948 there was a confrontation between Tito and Stalin, then in 1953 Stalin passed away and Tito began to aim for the role of leader of the Soviet bloc. Behind him was a very strong army of Yugoslavia, military assistance agreements with NATO and economic assistance agreements with the United States. Realizing this, in the summer of 1956, Khrushchev traveled to Belgrade, where Marshal Tito set the following conditions for normalizing relations between the countries:

Yugoslavia pursues an independent policy.
Yugoslavia continues its partnership with the US and NATO.
The USSR stops criticizing the Tito regime.

Formally, this is where the disagreement ended.

The role of the Hungarian communists

The peculiarity of the development of post-war Hungary is the complete copying of the USSR, starting in 1948. This copying was so stupid and widespread that it applied to literally everything: from the economic model to the uniform of soldiers in the army. Moreover, the Hungarian communists began to carry out absolutely extreme measures (this is generally a characteristic feature of communists at the beginning of their rule) - mass Russification: flag, coat of arms, language, and so on. This is what, for example, the coat of arms of the Hungarian People's Republic (Hungarian People's Republic) looked like in 1956.

Of course, the coat of arms, flag, language, and clothing in themselves did not cause discontent, but all together they significantly damaged the pride of the Hungarians. Moreover, the problem was worsened by economic reasons. Rakosi's party simply copied the USSR model of economic development, completely ignoring the peculiarities of Hungary. As a result, the post-war economic crisis is becoming stronger every year. Only constant financial assistance from the USSR saves us from economic chaos and collapse.

In fact, in the period 1950-1956 in Hungary there was a struggle between the communists: Rakosi against Nagy. Moreover, Imre Nagy was much more popular.

Nuclear horse-drawn horse and its role

In June 1950, the United States knew for certain that the USSR had an atomic bomb, but very little uranium. Based on this information, US President Truman issues directive NSC-68, demanding to cause and support unrest in the satellite countries of the USSR. Countries identified:

German Democratic Republic.
Hungarian People's Republic.
Czechoslovakia.

What do these countries have in common? There are two such features: firstly, they were geographically located on the border of the western zone of influence; secondly, all three countries had fairly large uranium mines. Therefore, destabilization and separation of these countries from Soviet patronage is the US plan to curb the nuclear development of the USSR.

US role

The active stage of work on creating a rebellion began after March 5, 1953 (the date of Stalin’s death). Already in June, the CIA approved the “Day X” plan, according to which uprisings began in a number of large cities of the GDR and in the city of Ger (uranium mines). The plan failed, and the uprising was very quickly suppressed, but this was only a preparation for more “grand” events.

The National Security Council (NSC) of the United States adopts Directive No. 158 on June 29, 1953. This document was declassified quite recently and its main meaning is the following - to support resistance to communism by all means so that no one doubts the spontaneity of these actions. The second important order under this directive is to organize, supply with everything necessary and train underground organizations capable of conducting long-term military operations. These are 2 directions that were reflected in the events in Hungary in 1956, and which are still in effect today. Suffice it to recall the recent events in Kyiv.

An important detail: in the summer of 1956, Eisenhower made a statement that the post-war division of the world was no longer relevant, and it needed to be divided in a new way.

Operations Focus and Prospero

"Focus" and "Prospero" are secret operations of the American intelligence agencies during the Cold War. In many ways, it was these operations that gave birth to Hungary 1956. These operations were aimed at Poland and Hungary with the goal of turning the local population against the USSR and providing the local population with everything they needed to fight for “independence.”

In May 1956, a new radio station (Radio Free Europe) began operating near Munich, aimed exclusively at Hungary. The radio station was financed by the CIA and continuously broadcast to Hungary, conveying the following things:

America is the most powerful country in the world in all components.
Communism is the worst form of government, which is the source of all troubles. Therefore, it is the source of the USSR’s problems.
America always supports peoples fighting for independence.

This was the preparation of the population. With the beginning of the revolution in Hungary (October - November 1956), the radio station began broadcasting the program “Special Armed Forces,” which told the Hungarians exactly how to fight against the Soviet army.

Along with the beginning of radio broadcasting, propaganda leaflets and radios were transported from the territory of Germany and Austria in balloons to Hungary. The flow of balloons was great, which confirms the following fact. On February 8 and July 28, Endre Sak sent notes of protest to the US Embassy. The last note states that since February 1956, 293 balloons have been seized, and because of their flights, 1 plane crashed and its crew died. In this regard, the Hungarians even warned international companies about the dangers of flying over the country. The response from the US Embassy is indicative - “private companies” are to blame for everything, and the US authorities have nothing to do with it. The logic is wild and today, by the way, it is also often used (private organizations do dirty work, including military work), but why is no one investigating the financing of these organizations? Mystery. After all, not a single private company will buy balloons with its own money, print leaflets, purchase radios, open a radio station and send all this to Hungary. For a private company, profit is important, that is, someone must finance all this. This funding leads to Operation Prospero.

The goal of Operation Focus was to overthrow socialism in Eastern Europe. The final stage of the operation begins on October 1, 1956, at the Radio Free Europe base. Propaganda in broadcasts is intensifying and the main motive of all speeches is to start a movement against the USSR. Several times a day the phrase is heard: “The regime is not as dangerous as you think. The people have hope!

Internal political struggle in the USSR

After Stalin's death, a struggle for power began, which Khrushchev won. This man’s further steps, not directly, but provoked anti-Soviet sentiments. This was due to the following:

Criticism of Stalin's personality cult. This immediately weakened the international position of the USSR, which was recognized, including in the United States, which, on the one hand, announced a respite in the Cold War, and on the other hand, further intensified secret operations.
Execution of Beria. This is not the most obvious reason for the Hungarian events of 1956, but it is a very important one. Along with the execution of Beria, thousands of state security agents were fired (arrested, shot). These were people who had been stabilizing the situation for years and had their own agents. After they were removed, the state security positions became noticeably weaker, including in terms of counter-revolutionary and counter-terrorism activities. Returning to the personality of Beria - it was he who was the patron of “Volodya” Imre Nagy. After the execution of Beria, Nagy was expelled from the party and removed from all posts. This is important to remember to understand future events. In fact, because of this, starting in 1955, Nagy ceased to be controlled by the USSR and began to look towards the West.

Chronology of events

Above we examined in some detail what preceded the events in Hungary in 1956. Now let's focus on the events of October-November 1956, since this is the most important thing, and it was during this time that the armed uprising happened.

In October, numerous rallies began, the main driving force of which were students. This is generally a characteristic feature of many riots and revolutions of recent decades, when everything begins with peaceful demonstrations of students and ends with bloodshed. There are 3 main demands at the rallies:

Appoint Imre Nagy as head of government.
Introduce political freedoms in the country.
Withdraw Soviet troops from Hungary.
Stop the supply of uranium to the USSR.

Even before the start of active rallies, numerous journalists from different countries come to Hungary. This is a big problem, since it is often impossible to draw the line between who is a real journalist and who is a professional revolutionary. There are many indirect facts indicating that at the end of the summer of 1956, a large number of revolutionaries entered Hungary along with journalists and took an active part in subsequent events. Hungarian state security allowed everyone into the country.

On October 23, 1956, at 15:00, a demonstration began in Budapest, the main driving force of which were students. Almost immediately the idea appears to go to the radio station so that the demands of the protesters are announced on the radio. As soon as the crowd approached the radio station building, the situation moved from the stage of a rally to the stage of revolution - armed people appeared in the crowd. A key role in this was played by Sandor Kopacz, the chief of police of Budapest, who goes over to the side of the rebels and opens military warehouses for them. Then the Hungarians begin to attack and seize radio stations, printing houses, and telephone exchanges in an organized manner. That is, they began to take control of all means of communication and media.

Late in the evening of October 23, an emergency meeting of the Party Central Committee takes place in Moscow. Zhukov continues that a 100,000-strong demonstration is taking place in Budapest, the radio station building is on fire, and shots are heard. Khrushchev proposes sending troops to Hungary. The plan was as follows:

Imre Nagy will be returned to the government. This was important because the protesters demanded it, and this way it was possible to calm them down (as Khrushchev mistakenly thought).
1 tank division needs to be brought into Hungary. This division will not even need to enter the events, since the Hungarians will get scared and run away.
Control was entrusted to Mikoyan.

Colonel Grigory Dobrunov's reconnaissance unit is given the order to send tanks to Budapest. It was already said above that Moscow expected rapid advance of the army and the absence of resistance. Therefore, the order to the tank company was given “Don’t shoot.” But events in Hungary in October 1956 developed rapidly. Already at the entrance to the city, the Soviet army encountered active resistance. The rebellion, which they say arose spontaneously and from students, lasted less than a day, but fortifications were already organized in the area, and well-organized groups of armed people were created. This is a clear sign indicating that events in Hungary were being prepared. Actually, this is why the article contains analytical reports and CIA programs.

This is what Colonel Dobrunov himself says about the entrance to the city.

When we entered the city, our first tank was soon shot down. The wounded driver jumped out of the tank, but they caught him and wanted to burn him alive. Then he took out the F-1, pulled the pin and blew himself and them up.
Colonel Dobrunov

It became clear that the “don’t shoot” order was impossible to carry out. Tank troops are moving forward with difficulty. By the way, the use of tanks in the city is a huge mistake of the Soviet military command. This mistake occurred in Hungary, Czechoslovakia, and much later in Grozny. Tanks in the city are an ideal target. As a result, the Soviet army loses approximately 50 people killed every day.

Aggravation of the situation

October 24 Imre Nagy speaks on the radio and calls on fascist provocateurs to lay down their arms. This is in particular reported in declassified documents.

On October 24, 1956, Nagy was already head of the Hungarian government. And this man calls the armed people in Budapest and other regions of the country fascist provocateurs. In the same speech, Nagy stated that Soviet troops were sent into Hungary at the request of the government. That is, by the end of the day the position of the Hungarian leadership was clear: the army was brought in at the request - civilians with weapons are fascists.

At the same time, another strong figure appeared in Hungary - Colonel Pal Maleter. During World War II, he fought against the USSR, was captured and collaborated with Soviet intelligence, for which he was later awarded the Order of the Red Star. On October 25, this man with 5 tanks arrived at the “Kilian Barracks” to suppress the uprising near the Corwin cinema (one of the main strongholds of the rebels), but instead joined the rebels. At the same time, agents of Western intelligence agencies are intensifying their work in Hungary. Here is one example, based on declassified documents.

On October 26, Colonel Dobrunov’s group approaches the Hungarian Korvin cinema, where they capture the “tongue”. According to testimony, it is in the cinema that the headquarters of the rebels is located. Dobrunov requests permission from the command to storm the building in order to destroy the main center of resistance and suppress the rebellion. The command is silent. The real chance to end the Hungarian events of the autumn of 1956 was missed.

By the end of October it becomes clear that the current troops are unable to cope with the rebellion. Moreover, Imre Nagy's position is becoming more and more revolutionary. He no longer speaks of the rebels as fascists. He prohibits Hungarian security forces from shooting at the rebels. It facilitates the transfer of weapons to civilians. Against this background, the Soviet leadership decides to withdraw troops from Budapest. On October 30, the Hungarian special corps of the Soviet army returned to its positions. During this time, only 350 people were killed.

On the same day, Nagy speaks to the Hungarians, declaring that the withdrawal of USSR troops from Budapest is his merit and the victory of the Hungarian revolution. The tone has already completely changed - Imre Nagy is on the side of the rebels. Pal Maleter is appointed Minister of Defense of Hungary, but there is no order in the country. It would seem that the revolution, albeit temporarily, was victorious, Soviet troops were withdrawn, Nagy is leading the country. All the demands of the “people” have been met. But even after the withdrawal of troops from Budapest, the revolution continues, and people continue to kill each other. Moreover, Hungary is splitting apart. Almost all army units refuse to carry out the orders of Nagy and Maleter. A confrontation arises between the leaders of the revolution in the struggle for power. Labor movements are being formed throughout the country against fascism in the country. Hungary is falling into chaos.

An important nuance - on October 29, Nagy dissolves the Hungarian State Security Service by his order.

Religious question

The issue of religion in the events of the Hungarian autumn of 1956 is little discussed, but it is very indicative. In particular, the position of the Vatican, voiced by Pope Pius 12, is indicative. He stated that the events in Hungary were a religious issue and called on the revolutionaries to fight for religion to the last drop of blood.

The United States takes a similar position. Eisenhower expresses full support for the rebels as they fight for “freedom” and calls for the appointment of Cardinal Mincenty as Prime Minister of the country.

Events of November 1956

On November 1, 1956, there was actually a civil war in Hungary. Bela Kiraly and his troops destroy all those who disagree with the regime, people kill each other. Imre Nagy understands that maintaining power in such conditions is unrealistic and the bloodshed must be stopped. Then he makes a statement, guaranteeing:

Withdrawal of Soviet troops from Hungarian territory.
Reorientation of the economy towards Western countries.
Withdrawal from the Warsaw Pact agreements.

Nagy's statement changed everything. The first point did not cause Khrushchev any concern, but Hungary’s exit from the Department of Internal Affairs changed everything. During the Cold War, the loss of a zone of influence, also through rebellion, undermined the prestige of the USSR and the international position of the country. It became clear that the introduction of Soviet troops into Hungary was now a matter of a few days.

Operation Whirlwind

Operation Whirlwind to introduce the Soviet army into Hungary begins on November 4, 1956 at 6:00 am on the signal “Thunder”. The troops are commanded by the hero of the Second World War, Marshal Konev. The USSR army is advancing from three directions: from Romania in the south, from the USSR in the east and Czechoslovakia in the north. At dawn on November 4, units began to enter Budapest. Then something happened that actually revealed the cards of the rebellion and the interests of its leaders. Here, for example, is how the Hungarian leaders behaved after the entry of Soviet troops:

Imre Nagy - took refuge in the Yugoslav embassy. Let us remember the role of Yugoslavia. It should also be added that Khrushchev consulted with Tito about the November 4 attack on Budapest.
Cardinal Mincenty - took refuge in the US Embassy.
Belai Kiraly gives the order to the rebels to hold out until the bitter end, and he himself goes to Austria.

On November 5, the USSR and the USA find common ground on the issue of the conflict on the Suez Canal, and Eisenhower assures Khrushchev that he does not consider the Hungarians as an ally and NATO troops will not be brought into the region. In fact, this was the end of the Hungarian rebellion in the fall of 1956 and Soviet troops cleared the country of armed fascists.

Why was the second troop entry more successful than the first?

The basis of the Hungarian resistance was the belief that NATO troops were about to come in and protect them. On November 4, when it became known that England and France were sending troops to Egypt, Hungary realized that they could not expect any help. Therefore, as soon as the Soviet troops entered, the leaders began to scatter. The rebels began to run out of ammunition, which the army depots no longer supplied them with, and the counter-revolution in Hungary began to fade away.

Mh2>Results

On November 22, 1956, Soviet troops carried out special operations and captured Nagy at the Yugoslav embassy. Imre Nagy and Pal Maleter were later convicted and sentenced to death by hanging. The leader of Hungary was Janas Kadar, one of Tito's closest associates. Kadar led Hungary for 30 years, making it one of the most developed countries of the socialist camp. In 1968, Hungarians took part in suppressing the rebellion in Czechoslovakia.

On November 6, the fighting in Budapest ended. There were only a few pockets of resistance left in the city, which were destroyed on November 8th. By November 11, the capital and most of the country were liberated. Events in Hungary developed until January 1957, when the last rebel groups were destroyed.

Losses of the parties

Official data on losses among soldiers of the Soviet army and the civilian population of Hungary for 1956 are presented in the table below.

It is very important to make reservations here. When we talk about losses in the USSR army, these are people who suffered specifically from the Hungarian population. When we talk about the losses of the civilian population of Hungary, only a minority of them suffered from USSR soldiers. Why? The fact is that in fact there was a civil war in the country, where fascists and communists destroyed each other. Proving this is quite simple. During the period between the withdrawal and re-entry of Soviet troops (this is 5 days, and the rebellion itself lasted 15 days), casualties continued. Another example is the seizure of a radio tower by rebels. Then it’s not that there were no Soviet troops in Budapest, even the Hungarian corps were not alerted. Nevertheless, there are human casualties. Therefore, there is no need to blame Soviet soldiers for all sins. This, by the way, is a big greeting to Mr. Mironov, who in 2006 apologized to the Hungarians for the events of 1956. The person apparently has no idea what really happened in those days.

Once again I want to remind you of the numbers:

At the time of the rebellion, 500 thousand Hungarians had almost 4 years of experience in the war against the USSR on the side of Germany.
5 thousand Hungarians returned from a USSR prison. These are the people who were convicted of real atrocities against Soviet citizens.
13 thousand people were freed by the rebels from Hungarian prisons.

The victims of the Hungarian events of 1956 also include those who were killed and wounded by the rebels themselves! And the last argument is that the police and Hungarian communists took part in the storming of Bucharest on November 4, 1956, along with the Soviet army.

Who were the Hungarian “students”?

We increasingly hear that the events in Hungary in 1956 were an expression of the will of the people against communism, and that the main driving force were students. The problem is that in our country history is generally quite poorly known, and the Hungarian events remain a complete mystery for the vast majority of citizens. Therefore, let's understand the details and the position of Hungary in relation to the USSR. To do this we will need to go back to 1941.

On June 27, 1941, Hungary declares war on the USSR and enters World War II as an ally of Germany. The Hungarian army was little remembered on the battlefields, but it forever went down in history in connection with its atrocities against the Soviet people. Basically, the Hungarians “worked” in three regions: Chernigov, Voronezh and Bryansk. There are hundreds of historical documents testifying to the cruelty of the Hungarians against the local, Russian population. Therefore, we must clearly understand - Hungary from 1941 to 1945 was a fascist country even more than Germany! During the war, 1.5 million Hungarians took part in it. Approximately 700 thousand returned home after the end of the war. This was the foundation of the rebellion - well-trained fascists who were waiting for any opportunity to act against their enemy - the USSR.

In the summer of 1956, Khrushchev made a huge mistake - he released Hungarian prisoners from secular prisons. The problem was that he released people who had been convicted of real crimes against Soviet citizens. Thus, about 5 thousand people returned to Hungary, convinced Nazis who went through the war, are ideologically opposed to communism and know how to fight well.

Much can be said about the atrocities of the Hungarian Nazis. They killed a lot of people, but their favorite “fun” was hanging people by their legs from lampposts and trees. I don’t want to go into these details, I’ll just give you a couple of historical photographs.

Main characters

Imre Nagy has been the head of the Hungarian government since October 23, 1956. Soviet agent under the pseudonym "Volodya". On June 15, 1958 he was sentenced to death.

Mathias Rakosi is the head of the Hungarian Communist Party.

Endre Sik is the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Hungary.

Bela Kiraly is a Hungarian major general who fought against the USSR. One of the leaders of the rebels in 1956. Sentenced to death in absentia. Since 1991 he has lived in Budapest.

Pal Maleter - Minister of Defense of Hungary, Colonel. He went over to the side of the rebels. On June 15, 1958 he was sentenced to death.

Vladimir Kryuchkov - press attache of the Soviet embassy in Hungary in 1956. Formerly Chairman of the KGB.

Yuri Andropov is the USSR Ambassador to Hungary.

Hungary took part on the side of the fascist bloc, its troops took part in the occupation of the territory of the USSR, three SS divisions were formed from Hungarians. In 1944-1945, Hungarian troops were defeated, its territory was occupied by Soviet troops. But it was on the territory of Hungary, in the area of Lake Balaton, in the spring of 1945 that Nazi troops launched the last counteroffensive in their history.
After the war, free elections were held in the country, provided for by the Yalta agreements, in which the Party of Small Farmers received a majority. However, the coalition government imposed by the Allied Control Commission, which was headed by the Soviet Marshal Voroshilov, gave half the seats in the cabinet to the winning majority, while key posts remained with the Hungarian Communist Party.
The communists, with the support of Soviet troops, arrested most of the leaders of the opposition parties, and in 1947 they held new elections. By 1949, power in the country was mainly represented by communists. The Matthias Rakosi regime was established in Hungary. Collectivization was carried out, a policy of forced industrialization was launched, for which there were no natural, financial and human resources; Mass repressions carried out by AVH began against the opposition, the church, officers and politicians of the former regime, as well as many other opponents of the new government.
Hungary (as a former ally of Nazi Germany) had to pay significant indemnities to the USSR, Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia, amounting to up to a quarter of GDP.
On the other hand, the death of Stalin and Khrushchev’s speech at the 20th Congress of the CPSU gave rise to attempts at liberation from communists in all Eastern European states, one of the most striking manifestations of which was the rehabilitation and return to power of the Polish reformer Wladyslaw Gomulka in October 1956.
An important role was also played by the fact that in May 1955, neighboring Austria became a single neutral independent state, from which, after the signing of a peace treaty, allied occupation forces were withdrawn (Soviet troops had been stationed in Hungary since 1944).
A certain role was played by the subversive activities of Western intelligence services, in particular the British MI6, which trained numerous cadres of “people's rebels” at its secret bases in Austria and then transferred them to Hungary.
The internal party struggle in the Hungarian Labor Party between Stalinists and supporters of reforms began from the very beginning of 1956 and by July 18, 1956 led to the resignation of the General Secretary of the Hungarian Labor Party, Matthias Rakosi, who was replaced by Erno Geryo (former Minister of State Security).
The removal of Rakosi, as well as the Poznan uprising of 1956 in Poland, which caused great resonance, led to an increase in critical sentiment among students and the writing intelligentsia. From the middle of the year, the Petőfi Circle began to actively operate, in which the most pressing problems facing Hungary were discussed.
On October 16, 1956, some university students in Szeged organized an organized exit from the pro-communist “Democratic Youth Union” (the Hungarian equivalent of the Komsomol) and revived the “Union of Students of Hungarian Universities and Academies,” which existed after the war and was dispersed by the government. Within a few days, branches of the Union appeared in Pec, Miskolc and other cities.
Finally, on October 22, students from the Budapest University of Technology (at that time the Budapest University of Construction Industry) joined this movement and formulated a list of 16 demands to the authorities (the immediate convening of an extraordinary party congress, the appointment of Imre Nagy as prime minister, the withdrawal of Soviet troops from the country , destruction of the monument to Stalin, etc.) and planned for October 23 a protest march from the monument to Bem (Polish general, hero of the Hungarian Revolution of 1848) to the monument to Petőfi.
At 3 o'clock in the afternoon a demonstration began, in which about a thousand people took part - including students and members of the intelligentsia. The demonstrators carried red flags, banners with slogans about Soviet-Hungarian friendship, the inclusion of Imre Nagy in the government, etc. On the squares of Jasai Mari, on the Fifteenth of March, on the streets of Kossuth and Rakoczi, radical groups joined the demonstrators, shouting slogans of a different kind. They demanded the restoration of the old Hungarian national emblem, the old Hungarian national holiday instead of the Day of Liberation from Fascism, the abolition of military training and Russian language lessons. In addition, demands were put forward for free elections, the creation of a government led by Nagy and the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Hungary.
At 20 o'clock on the radio, the first secretary of the Central Committee of the WPT, Erne Gere, made a speech sharply condemning the demonstrators.
In response to this, a large group of demonstrators stormed the broadcasting studio of the Radio House, demanding that the program demands of the demonstrators be broadcast. This attempt led to a clash with the Hungarian state security units AVH defending the Radio House, during which the first dead and wounded appeared after 21:00. The rebels received weapons or took them from reinforcements sent to help guard the radio, as well as from civil defense warehouses and captured police stations. A group of rebels entered the Kilian Barracks, where three construction battalions were located, and seized their weapons. Many construction battalion members joined the rebels.
Fierce fighting in and around the Radio House continued throughout the night. The head of the Budapest Police Headquarters, Lieutenant Colonel Sandor Kopachi, ordered not to shoot at the rebels and not to interfere with their actions. He unconditionally complied with the demands of the crowd gathered in front of the headquarters for the release of prisoners and the removal of red stars from the facade of the building.
At 11 p.m., based on the decision of the Presidium of the CPSU Central Committee, the Chief of the General Staff of the USSR Armed Forces, Marshal V.D. Sokolovsky, ordered the commander of the Special Corps to begin moving to Budapest to assist the Hungarian troops “in restoring order and creating conditions for peaceful creative labor.” Formations and units of the Special Corps arrived in Budapest at 6 a.m. and began fighting with the rebels.
On the night of October 23, 1956, the leadership of the Hungarian Communist Party decided to appoint Imre Nagy as Prime Minister, who had already held this post in 1953-1955, distinguished by his reformist views, for which he was repressed, but shortly before the uprising he was rehabilitated. Imre Nagy was often accused of sending a formal request to Soviet troops to help suppress the uprising without his participation. His supporters claim that this decision was made behind his back by the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party Ernő Gerő and former Prime Minister András Hegedüs, and Nagy himself was opposed to the involvement of Soviet troops.
On the night of October 24, about 6,000 Soviet army troops, 290 tanks, 120 armored personnel carriers, and 156 guns were brought into Budapest. In the evening they were joined by units of the 3rd Rifle Corps of the Hungarian People's Army (VNA). Some of the Hungarian military personnel and police went over to the side of the rebels.
Members of the Presidium of the CPSU Central Committee A. I. Mikoyan and M. A. Suslov, KGB Chairman I. A. Serov, Deputy Chief of the General Staff Army General M. S. Malinin arrived in Budapest.
In the morning, the 33rd Guards Mechanized Division approached the city, in the evening - the 128th Guards Rifle Division, joining the Special Corps. During the rally near the parliament building, an incident occurred: fire was opened from the upper floors, as a result of which a Soviet officer was killed and a tank was burned. In response, Soviet troops opened fire on the demonstrators, resulting in 61 people killed and 284 wounded on both sides.
Ernő Gerő was replaced as First Secretary of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party by Janos Kadar and went to the headquarters of the Soviet Southern Group of Forces in Szolnok. Imre Nagy spoke on the radio, addressing the warring parties with a proposal to cease fire.
Imre Nagy spoke on the radio and stated that “the government condemns the views that view the current anti-popular movement as a counter-revolution.” The government announced a ceasefire and the start of negotiations with the USSR on the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Hungary.
Imre Nagy abolished the AVH. The fighting in the streets stopped, and for the first time in the past five days, silence reigned on the streets of Budapest. Soviet troops began to leave Budapest. It seemed that the revolution had won.
József Dudas and his militants seized the editorial office of the newspaper Szabad nep, where Dudas began publishing his own newspaper. Dudas announced the non-recognition of the government of Imre Nagy and the formation of his own administration.
In the morning, all Soviet troops were withdrawn to their places of deployment. The streets of Hungarian cities were left virtually without power. Some prisons associated with the repressive AVH were captured by the rebels. The security offered virtually no resistance and partially fled.
Political prisoners and criminals who were there were released from prisons. Locally, trade unions began to create workers' and local councils that were not subordinate to the authorities and not controlled by the Communist Party.
Béla Kiray's guards and Dudas' troops executed communists, AVH employees and Hungarian military personnel who refused to submit to them. In total, 37 people died as a result of lynchings.
The uprising, having achieved certain temporary successes, quickly radicalized - there were murders of communists, employees of the AVH and the Hungarian Ministry of Internal Affairs, and shelling of Soviet military camps.
By order of October 30, Soviet military personnel were prohibited from returning fire, “succumbing to provocations,” and leaving the unit’s location.
There were recorded cases of murders of Soviet military personnel on leave and sentries in various cities of Hungary.
The Budapest City Committee of the VPT was captured by the rebels, and over 20 communists were hanged by the crowd. Photos of hanged communists with signs of torture, with faces disfigured by acid, went around the whole world. This massacre was, however, condemned by representatives of the political forces of Hungary.
There was little Nagy could do. The uprising spread to other cities and spread... The country quickly fell into chaos. Railway communications were interrupted, airports stopped operating, shops, shops and banks were closed. The rebels scoured the streets, catching state security officers. They were recognized by their famous yellow boots, torn into pieces or hanged by their feet, and sometimes castrated. The captured party leaders were nailed to the floors with huge nails, with portraits of Lenin placed in their hands.
On October 30, the government of Imre Nagy decided to restore the multi-party system in Hungary and create a coalition government consisting of representatives of the VPT, the Independent Party of Smallholders, the National Peasant Party and the reconstituted Social Democratic Party. It was announced that free elections would be held.
The development of events in Hungary coincided with the Suez crisis. On October 29, Israel and then NATO members Great Britain and France attacked Soviet-backed Egypt with the aim of seizing the Suez Canal, near which they landed their troops.
On October 31, Khrushchev at a meeting of the Presidium of the CPSU Central Committee said: “If we leave Hungary, this will encourage the American, British and French imperialists. They will understand our weakness and will attack.” It was decided to create a “revolutionary workers’ and peasants’ government” headed by J. Kadar and conduct a military operation to overthrow the government of Imre Nagy. The plan for the operation, called "Whirlwind", was developed under the leadership of the USSR Minister of Defense G.K. Zhukov.
On November 1, the Hungarian government, when Soviet troops were ordered not to leave the units’ locations, decided to terminate the Warsaw Pact by Hungary and handed a corresponding note to the USSR Embassy. At the same time, Hungary turned to the UN asking for help in protecting its neutrality. Measures were also taken to protect Budapest in the event of a “possible external attack.”
In Tekel near Budapest, right during the negotiations, the new Minister of Defense of Hungary, Lieutenant General Pal Maleter, was arrested by the USSR KGB.
Early in the morning of November 4, new Soviet military units began entering Hungary under the overall command of Marshal G.K. Zhukov and the Soviet Operation Whirlwind began. Officially, Soviet troops invaded Hungary at the invitation of the government hastily created by János Kádar. The main objects in Budapest were captured. Imre Nagy spoke on the radio: “This is the Chairman of the Supreme Council of the Hungarian People's Republic, Imre Nagy. Early this morning, Soviet troops attacked our country with the aim of overthrowing the legitimate democratic government of Hungary. Our army is fighting. All members of the government remain in their places.”
Detachments of the “Hungarian National Guard” and individual army units tried to resist the Soviet troops to no avail.
Soviet troops carried out artillery strikes on pockets of resistance and carried out subsequent mopping-up operations with infantry forces supported by tanks. The main centers of resistance were the suburbs of Budapest, where local councils managed to lead more or less organized resistance. These areas of the city were subjected to the most massive shelling.
By November 8, after fierce fighting, the last centers of resistance of the rebels were destroyed. Members of Imre Nagy's government took refuge in the Yugoslav embassy. On November 10, workers' councils and student groups approached the Soviet command with a ceasefire proposal. Armed resistance ceased.
Marshal G.K. Zhukov “for the suppression of the Hungarian counter-revolutionary rebellion” received the 4th star of the Hero of the Soviet Union, Chairman of the KGB of the USSR Ivan Serov in December 1956 - the Order of Kutuzov, 1st degree.
After November 10, until mid-December, the workers' councils continued their work, often entering into direct negotiations with the command of Soviet units. However, by December 19, 1956, the workers' councils were dispersed by state security agencies and their leaders were arrested.
Hungarians emigrated en masse - almost 200,000 people (5% of the total population) left the country, for whom refugee camps had to be created in Austria in Traiskirchen and Graz.
Immediately after the suppression of the uprising, mass arrests began: in total, the Hungarian special services and their Soviet colleagues arrested about 5,000 Hungarians (846 of them were sent to Soviet prisons), of which “a significant number were members of the VPT, military personnel and students.”
Prime Minister Imre Nagy and members of his government were lured out of the Yugoslav Embassy, where they were hiding, on November 22, 1956, and taken into custody on Romanian territory. They were then returned to Hungary and put on trial. Imre Nagy and former Defense Minister Pal Maleter were sentenced to death on charges of treason. Imre Nagy was hanged on June 16, 1958. In total, according to some estimates, about 350 people were executed. About 26,000 people were prosecuted, of whom 13,000 were sentenced to various terms of imprisonment, but by 1963 all participants in the uprising were amnestied and released by the government of János Kádár.
According to statistics, in connection with the uprising and hostilities on both sides, during the period from October 23 to December 31, 1956, 2,652 Hungarian citizens were killed and 19,226 were injured.
The losses of the Soviet Army, according to official data, amounted to 669 people killed, 51 missing, 1540 wounded.
The Hungarian events had a significant impact on the internal life of the USSR. The party leadership was frightened by the fact that the liberalization of the regime in Hungary led to open anti-communist protests and, accordingly, the liberalization of the regime in the USSR could lead to the same consequences. On December 19, 1956, the Presidium of the CPSU Central Committee approved the text of the Letter of the CPSU Central Committee “On strengthening the political work of party organizations among the masses and suppressing the attacks of anti-Soviet, hostile elements.”