Hungarian Revolution of 1956

Hungarian Revolution of 1956
Part of the Cold War
The Hungarian flag (1949–1956) with the communist coat of arms cut out was a revolutionary symbol
Date 23 June – 11 November 1956 (1956-06-23 – 1956-11-11) 23 October – 4 November 1956 (1956-10-23 – 1956-11-04) (main phase) Location Hungarian People's Republic 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
Nikita Khrushchev Yuri Andropov Ivan Konev Ivan Serov Georgy Zhukov Kuzma Grebennik Gennady Obaturov Vasily Sokolovsky Ernő Gerő András Hegedüs László Piros István Bata János Kádár Ferenc Münnich Antal Apró	Imre Nagy   Pál Maléter   Miklós Gimes   Géza Losonczy Zoltán Tildy Béla Kovács József Dudás   Sándor Kopácsi (POW) Béla Király Gergely Pongrátz
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, policemen from the ÁVH (State Protection Authority) shot and killed several of them.^[6]

Consequently, Hungarians organized into revolutionary militias to fight against the ÁVH; local Hungarian communist leaders and ÁVH policemen were captured and summarily killed or lynched; 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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