Notes
- First major uprising by a satellite state to remove Soviet influence
- Hungarian leader Imre Nagy announced he was pulling out of the Warsaw Pact
- Soviets entered the capital, Budapest with tanks and armed forces
- 30,000 Hungarians killed, 200,000 fled the country for the west
- Soviets installed a new leader Janos Kadar who agreed to follow the Soviet line (stayed for 20 years)
- People questioned why US did not help
Summary
New Hungarian leader Imre Nagy ran on platform to leave Warsaw Pact and hopefully shed communism. Soviet Union saw the possible domino effect and stepped in with tanks and armed forces. 30 000 Hungarians were killed and 200 000 fled to the west.
Quote
„Our slogan is ’national unity’ – we started our work in Debrecen with this slogan. National unity has done an enormous service to the Hungarian people. [...] It is going to give us the force to further build our road to prosperity. [...] Our strength is in our unity. This is an old truth and eventually we have understood it. Hungarians don’t fight and hate each other. [...] Our joining forces now will end the curse and will create the Hungarian national unity, bringing together the strength of every Hungarian to achieve a single goal, the restoration of the country. This unity will be forged in the spirit of Kossuth, Petőfi, Táncsics. Our program will be drafted on the basis of our legacy from 1848. [...] This wonderful, huge national unity will give our cause, the freedom of Hungary, victory!”
Imre Nagy
Imre Nagy
subjunctive question
If the US had stepped in to help Hungary would the US have been a big enough threat to avoid war? or was war inevitable?