October 24: Soviet tanks entered Budapest
Soviet tanks entered Budapest To suppress the demonstrations, which escalated into an uprising, the Kremlin demonstrated its readiness to harshly suppress any protest. Thus began the Hungarian "revolution."
I am deceived in bright hope,
I am deprived of destiny and soul,
Only once did I rebel in Budapest
Against impudence, oppression and lies.
(Naum Korzhavin)
Hungarian uprising of 1956
The day before, a 200-strong demonstration took place in Budapest. People demanded the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Hungary, the end of censorship, free elections, and the prosecution of the country's former leader. Mátyás Rákosi, considered "Stalin's best student."
Demonstrators toppled a monument to Stalin and surrounded the state radio building, demanding live broadcasts. In response, state security officers opened fire, resulting in the first fatalities.
At the same time, Hungarian soldiers and police began to defect to the protesters. The printing house of the central party newspaper, the train station, an arms depot, and an ammunition factory were seized.
An armed uprising began.
Introduction of Soviet tanks
Hungarian authorities asked Moscow for assistance. At a late-night meeting in the Kremlin, they decided to use force to disperse the protesters. Around 6 troops and 290 tanks were deployed to Budapest.
Khrushchev he hoped that one act of intimidation would be enough, and the uprising would end - as it had three years earlier in Berlin.
However, Soviet troops were met with Molotov cocktails and gunfire. The rebels employed guerrilla tactics, operating in small groups—they fired on tank and mechanized columns and then disappeared.
Deserters appeared among the Soviet soldiers and officers, who were later executed without trial or investigation for “treason.”
Although Moscow sent 14 troops and 250 tanks to reinforce the troops the following day, the expectation of a quick victory and the lack of coordination proved unsuccessful. Protesters burned tank columns and hunted down Soviet soldiers and state security officers.
On October 30, Soviet tanks left Budapest. Prime Minister Imre Nagy, Supported by the Hungarians, he called for an end to resistance. It seemed the "revolution" had won. However, on October 31, Khrushchev ordered the tanks to return to the city.
If we leave Hungary, it will encourage the Americans, the British, and the French imperialists. They will see [this] as our weakness and will attack.
The new operation, codenamed "Whirlwind," was personally led by Zhukov. On the night of November 3-4, 16 Soviet divisions crossed the Hungarian border—more than 60 men and 3 tanks—crushing pockets of resistance within days. To "suppress fascism and reaction," a new Hungarian Revolutionary Workers' and Peasants' Government was formed, headed by Janos Kadar.
The UN General Assembly called for an immediate end to armed intervention in Hungary's internal affairs, and the philosopher Albert Camus — the future Nobel Prize laureate in literature — said:
The international community allowed Hungary to be shot down. The weakness and disunity of the UN are gradually leading us toward World War III, which is knocking at our door.
The results of the uprising and its rethinking
During the uprising, approximately 2500 Hungarians and more than 600 Soviet soldiers were killed. 4 homes were destroyed, and approximately 40 buildings were damaged.
200 thousand Hungarians fled the country to the West.
Over the next four years, courts handed down approximately 300 death sentences to participants in the uprising, and more than 20,000 people received prison sentences.
Prime Minister Imre Nagy was arrested and executed in 1958.
Zhukov received the 4th star of the Hero of the Soviet Union “for suppressing the Hungarian counter-revolutionary uprising.”
The rethinking of the Hungarian events took place during perestroika: Gorbachev apologized to the Hungarian delegation in 1991, Yeltsin called the events of 1956 "an indelible stain of shame."
In 2006, the Federation Council declared that “the Russian Federation bears no responsibility for the actions of the Soviet leadership.”
