Hungarian Revolution of 1956

Hungarian Revolution of 1956
Part of the Cold War
Date23 June – 11 November 1956 (1956-06-23 – 1956-11-11)
23 October – 4 November 1956 (1956-10-23 – 1956-11-04) (main phase)
Location
Hungary
Result

Soviet invasion and victory

  • Revolution repressed
Belligerents
 Soviet Union
Until 28 October:
 Hungary
From 4 November:
Kádár government		 Hungarian revolutionaries
From 28 October:
 Hungary (Nagy government)
Commanders and leaders
Units involved
Soviet Armed Forces
KGB
ÁVH
Loyalist elements of the MN		 Armed citizens
Demonstrators
Pro-Revolution elements of the MN
Strength
  • 31,550 troops
  • 1,130 tanks[nb 1]
 Unknown
Political support
Working People's Party (loyalists, to 28 October)
Socialist Workers' Party (from 4 November)		 Working People's Party (dissidents, to 31 October)
Socialist Workers' Party
(to 4 November)
Smallholders' Party
Social Democratic Party
Petőfi Party
Democratic People's Party
Independence Party
Other reformed parties
Casualties and losses
  • 722 killed
  • 1,540 wounded[1]
  • 2,500–3,000 killed
  • 13,000 wounded
  • 200,000 exiled[2]
3,000 civilians killed[3]

The Hungarian Revolution of 1956 (23 October – 4 November 1956; Hungarian: 1956-os forradalom), also known as the Hungarian Uprising, was an attempted countrywide revolution against the government of the Hungarian People's Republic (1949–1989) and the policies caused by the government's subordination to the Soviet Union (USSR).[nb 2] The uprising lasted 12 days before being crushed by Soviet tanks and troops on 4 November 1956. Thousands were killed and wounded and nearly a quarter of a million Hungarians fled the country.[4][5]

The Hungarian Revolution began on 23 October 1956 in Budapest when university students appealed to the civil populace to join them at the Hungarian Parliament Building to protest against the USSR's geopolitical domination of Hungary through the Stalinist government of Mátyás Rákosi. A delegation of students entered the building of Magyar Rádió to broadcast their sixteen demands for political and economic reforms to civil society, but were detained by security guards. When the student protestors outside the radio building demanded the release of their delegation, a group of police from the ÁVH (State Protection Authority) fatally shot several of the students.[6]

Consequently, Hungarians organized into revolutionary militias to fight against the ÁVH; local Hungarian communist leaders and ÁVH policemen were captured and summarily executed; and political prisoners were released and armed. To realize their political, economic, and social demands, local soviets (councils of workers) assumed control of municipal government from the Hungarian Working People's Party (Magyar Dolgozók Pártja). The new government of Imre Nagy disbanded the ÁVH, declared Hungary's withdrawal from the Warsaw Pact, and pledged to re-establish free elections. By the end of October the intense fighting had subsided.

Although initially willing to negotiate the withdrawal of the Soviet Army from Hungary, the USSR repressed the Hungarian Revolution on 4 November 1956, and fought the Hungarian revolutionaries until Soviet victory on 10 November; repression of the Hungarian Uprising killed 2,500 Hungarians and 700 Soviet Army soldiers, and compelled 200,000 Hungarians to seek political refuge abroad, mostly to Austria.[7][8]


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  1. ^ Györkei, J.; Kirov, A.; Horvath, M. (1999). Soviet Military Intervention in Hungary, 1956. New York: Central European University Press. p. 370. ISBN 963-9116-35-1.
  2. ^ UN General Assembly Special Committee on the Problem of Hungary (1957) "Chapter V, footnote 8" (PDF).
  3. ^ "B&J": Jacob Bercovitch and Richard Jackson, International Conflict : A Chronological Encyclopedia of Conflicts and Their Management 1945–1995 (1997) p. 85
  4. ^ "This Day in History: November 4, 1956". History.com. Retrieved 16 March 2023.
  5. ^ "The 1956 Hungarian Revolution: A History in Documents". National Security Archive. 4 November 2002. Retrieved 16 March 2023.
  6. ^ "Hungarian Revolt of 1956", The Dictionary of Wars(2007) Third Edition, George Childs Kohn, Ed. pp. 237–238.
  7. ^ "Hungarian Refugee Cards, 1956-1957, Now Available in JDC Names Index | JDC Archives". Retrieved 5 January 2024.
  8. ^ Niessen, James P. (11 October 2016). "Hungarian Refugees of 1956: From the Border to Austria, Camp Kilmer, and Elsewhere". Hungarian Cultural Studies. 9: 122–136. doi:10.5195/AHEA.2016.261. ISSN 2471-965X.