The Hungarian Revolution of 1956

Fülszöveg

lieie is^mething new and important: the first complete and unbiased history of the HuÉgarian Revolution of 1956 in its fol national and international contextsfAll previous accounts of these momentous events have been limited by JET J incoittptete and unreliable evidence, especially in Hungary itself. Today, following the disintegration of the Soviet Union and Hungary s own 'velvet revolution', a wealth of once inaccessible material is now available. This includes not only domestic and foreign archives, with much that is entirely new and much that was hitherto seen only in censored form, but alsó the priváté papers and firsthand reports of participants and eye-witnesses who can at last put their experiences on open record without fear. The résuít & the first authentic history of the uprising which sent shock-waves through the Cold War world, and, despite its bloody repression at the time, has ánie jpro^ded^fungary with a morál and political foundation for the postSoviet nation. The... Tovább

Fülszöveg

lieie is^mething new and important: the first complete and unbiased history of the HuÉgarian Revolution of 1956 in its fol national and international contextsfAll previous accounts of these momentous events have been limited by JET J incoittptete and unreliable evidence, especially in Hungary itself. Today, following the disintegration of the Soviet Union and Hungary s own 'velvet revolution', a wealth of once inaccessible material is now available. This includes not only domestic and foreign archives, with much that is entirely new and much that was hitherto seen only in censored form, but alsó the priváté papers and firsthand reports of participants and eye-witnesses who can at last put their experiences on open record without fear. The résuít & the first authentic history of the uprising which sent shock-waves through the Cold War world, and, despite its bloody repression at the time, has ánie jpro^ded^fungary with a morál and political foundation for the postSoviet nation. The authors analyse the years leading up to the revolt, the dynamics of the armed uprising, and the political developments during the heady days of fireedom. Ifhey trace the intermtional dimension of this, the most important of all the challenges to the postwar Soviet regimes in central and eastern Europe, and the reaction of western Europe and the wider world. They study the ensuing repression (October-November 1956) by the forces of the Warsaw Pact, and the immediate aftermath; but they alsó examine the longer-term significance of the events of 1956, both for the nature of the Kádár regime which succeeded them (and the relations of that regime with Moscow and the other Soviet-dominated countries of eastern Europe), and alsó for the new democratic Hungary of today. The originál text is the work of a team of historians - somé participants and eyewitnesses of these events, others írom a new generation of historical ifeséartíhers - from the Budapest-based Institute for the History of the 1956 Hungárián Revolution, uhder the editorship of György litván. This Longman edition has been translated and adapted for an English-language readership ^ by János M, Bak and Lyman t§# Legters, It begins with a valuable introductory chapter, especially contributed by George Schöpflin, which examines Hungary after the Second World War; and it ends with a thoughtful Afterword by Peter Kende. The book will be necessary reading for all seholars and students of the history of Hungary, postwar central and eastern Europe, and the Cold War; but it will alsó richly reward anyone interested in one of the great dramatic and defining episodes in the history of our own times. The Editor, GYÖRGY LITVÁN, is Director of the Institute for the History of the 1956 Hungárián Revolution, and Professor of Sociology at the ECTE University, Budapest. ^ ^mmmmmmmmtmmm^ Vissza