Revolution in Hungary 1956. Soviet tanks in Budapest

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The Hungarian uprising of 1956 lasted several days - from October 23 to November 9. This short period in Soviet textbooks was designated as the Hungarian counter-revolutionary rebellion of 1956, which was successfully suppressed Soviet troops. This is exactly how it was defined in the Hungarian official chronicle. IN modern interpretation Hungarian events are called revolution.

The revolution began on October 23 with crowded rallies and marches in Budapest. In the city center, demonstrators toppled and destroyed a huge monument to Stalin.
In total, according to documents, about 50 thousand people took part in the uprising. There were many casualties. After the suppression of the uprising, mass arrests began.

These days went down in history as one of the most dramatic episodes of the period. cold war.

Hungary fought in World War II on the side of Nazi Germany until the very end of the war and fell into the Soviet zone of occupation after its end. In this regard, according to the Paris Peace Treaty of the countries of the anti-Hitler coalition with Hungary, the USSR received the right to keep its own troops on the territory of Hungary armed forces, however, was obliged to withdraw them after the withdrawal of the Allied occupation forces from Austria. Allied forces withdrew from Austria in 1955.
On May 14, 1955, the socialist countries concluded the Warsaw Pact of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance, which extended the stay of Soviet troops in Hungary.

On November 4, 1945, general elections were held in Hungary. The Independent Party of Smallholders received 57% of the votes and only 17% - the Communists. In 1947, the communist HTP (Hungarian Workers' Party), through terror, blackmail and election fraud, became the only legal political force. The occupying Soviet troops became the force on which the Hungarian communists relied in their fight against their opponents. Thus, on February 25, 1947, the Soviet command arrested the popular parliament member Bela Kovacs, after which he was taken to the USSR and convicted of espionage.

The leader of the VPT and the chairman of the government, Matthias Rakosi, nicknamed “Stalin’s best student,” established a personal dictatorship, copying the Stalinist model of governance in the USSR: he carried out forced industrialization and collectivization, suppressed any dissent, and fought the Catholic Church. State Security (AVH) had a staff of 28 thousand people. They were helped by 40 thousand informants. ABH has created a file for a million Hungarian residents - more than 10% of the entire population, including the elderly and children. Of these, 650 thousand were persecuted. About 400 thousand Hungarians received various terms of imprisonment or camps, serving them mainly in mines and quarries.

The government of Matthias Rakosi largely copied the policies of I.V. Stalin, which caused rejection and indignation among the indigenous population.

Head of a destroyed statue of Stalin. Budapest, Luisa Blaha Square

The internal political struggle in Hungary continued to escalate. Rakosi had no choice but to promise an investigation into the trials of Rajk and the other Communist Party leaders he executed. At all levels of government, even in the state security agencies, the most hated institution in Hungary by the people, Rakosi was demanded to resign. He was almost openly called a “murderer.” In mid-July 1956, Mikoyan flew to Budapest to force the resignation of Rakosi. Rakosi was forced to submit and leave for the USSR, where he eventually ended his days, cursed and forgotten by his people and despised by Soviet leaders. Rakosi's departure did not cause any real changes in government policy or composition.

In Hungary, arrests followed of former state security leaders responsible for trials and executions. The reburial of victims of the regime - Laszlo Rajk and others - on October 6, 1956 resulted in a powerful demonstration in which 300 thousand residents of the Hungarian capital participated.

The fundamental issue was the presence of Soviet troops on the territory of Eastern European countries, that is, their actual occupation.The new Soviet government preferred to avoid bloodshed, but was ready for it if it came to the question of the satellites secession from the USSR, even in the form of declaring neutrality and non-participation in blocs.

The inscription on the wall: “Russians - go home!”

On October 22, demonstrations began in Budapest demanding the formation of a new leadership led by Imre Nagy. On October 23, Imre Nagy became prime minister and made a call to lay down his arms. However, there were Soviet tanks in Budapest and this caused excitement among the people.

A grandiose demonstration arose, the participants of which were students, high school students, and young workers. The demonstrators walked towards the statue of the hero of the 1848 Revolution, General Bell. Up to 200 thousand gathered at the parliament building. Demonstrators toppled a statue of Stalin. Armed groups formed, calling themselves “Freedom Fighters.” They numbered up to 20 thousand people. Among them were former political prisoners released from prison by the people. The Freedom Fighters occupied various areas of the capital, established a high command led by Pal Maleter, and renamed themselves the National Guard.

At the enterprises of the Hungarian capital, cells of the new government were formed - workers' councils. They put forward their social and political demands, and among these demands there was one that aroused the ire of the Soviet leadership: to withdraw Soviet troops from Budapest, remove them from Hungarian territory.

The second circumstance that frightened the Soviet government was the restoration of the Social Democratic Party in Hungary, and then the formation of a multi-party government.

Although Nagy was made prime minister, the new Stalinist leadership led by Gere tried to isolate him and thereby worsened the situation even further.

On October 25, an armed clash with Soviet troops took place near the parliament building. The rebellious people demanded the departure of Soviet troops and the formation of a new government of national unity, in which various parties would be represented.

On October 26, after the appointment of Kadar as the first secretary of the Central Committee and the resignation of Gere, Mikoyan and Suslov returned to Moscow. They followed to the airfield in a tank.

On October 28, while fighting was still ongoing in Budapest, the Hungarian government issued an order for a ceasefire and the return of armed units to their quarters to await instructions. Imre Nagy, in a radio address, announced that the Hungarian government had come to an agreement with the Soviet government on the immediate withdrawal of Soviet troops from Budapest and the inclusion of armed detachments of Hungarian workers and youth in the regular Hungarian army. This was seen as the end of the Soviet occupation. Workers quit their jobs until the fighting in Budapest ceased and Soviet troops withdrew. A delegation from the workers' council of the industrial district of Miklós presented Imre Nagy with demands for the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Hungary by the end of the year.

Soviet troops were withdrawn from Budapest, but concentrated in the area of the Budapest airfield.

17 combat divisions were sent to “restore order.” Among them: mechanized - 8, tank - 1, rifle - 2, anti-aircraft artillery - 2, aviation - 2, airborne - 2. Three more airborne divisions were put on full combat readiness and concentrated near the Soviet-Hungarian border - We were waiting for an order.

On November 1, the massive invasion of Soviet troops into Hungary began. To Imre Nagy's protest, Soviet Ambassador Andropov replied that the Soviet divisions that entered Hungary arrived only to replace the troops already there.

3,000 Soviet tanks crossed the border from Transcarpathian Ukraine and Romania. The Soviet ambassador, again summoned to Nagy, was warned that Hungary, in protest against the violation of the Warsaw Pact (the entry of troops required the consent of the relevant government), would withdraw from the pact. The Hungarian government announced on the evening of the same day that it was withdrawing from the Warsaw Pact, declaring neutrality and appealing to the United Nations to protest against the Soviet invasion.

What happened on the streets of Budapest? Soviet troops faced fierce resistance from Hungarian army units, as well as from the civilian population.

The streets of Budapest witnessed a terrible drama, during which ordinary people attacked tanks with Molotov cocktails. Key points, including the Ministry of Defense and Parliament buildings, were taken within a few hours. Hungarian radio went silent before finishing its appeal for international help, but dramatic accounts of the street fighting came from a Hungarian reporter who alternated between his teletype and the rifle he was firing from his office window.

Soviet tank IS-3 with a torn turret

The Presidium of the CPSU Central Committee began preparing a new Hungarian government. The first secretary of the Hungarian Communist Party, János Kádár, agreed to the role of prime minister of the future government.On November 3, a new government was formed, but the fact that it was formed on the territory of the USSR became known only two years later. The new government was officially announced at dawn on November 4, when Soviet troops stormed the Hungarian capital, where a coalition government led by Imre Nagy had been formed the day before; The non-party general Pal Maleter also joined the government.

By the end of the day on November 3, the Hungarian military delegation led by Defense Minister Pal Maleter arrived at headquarters to continue negotiations on the withdrawal of Soviet troops, where they were arrested by KGB Chairman General Serov. It was only when Nagy was unable to connect with his military delegation that he realized that the Soviet leadership had deceived him.

On November 4 at 5 o'clock in the morning, Soviet artillery rained fire on the Hungarian capital, half an hour later Nagy notified the Hungarian people about this. For three days, Soviet tanks destroyed the Hungarian capital; armed resistance in the province continued until November 14. Approximately 25 thousand Hungarians and 7 thousand Russians were killed.

Imre Nagy and his staff took refuge in the Yugoslav embassy. After two weeks of negotiations, Kadar gave a written guarantee that Nagy and his employees would not be prosecuted for their activities, that they could leave the Yugoslav embassy and return home with their families. However, the bus in which Nagy was traveling was intercepted by Soviet officers, who arrested Nagy and took him to Romania. Later, Nagy, who did not want to repent, was tried in a closed court and shot. General Pal Maleter suffered the same fate.
Thus, the suppression of the Hungarian uprising was not the first example of the brutal defeat of political opposition in Eastern Europe - similar actions on a smaller scale were carried out in Poland just a few days earlier. But this was the most monstrous example, in connection with which the image of Khrushchev the liberal, which he seemed to promise to leave in history, faded forever.
These events were perhaps the first milestone on the path that would lead a generation later to the destruction of the communist system in Europe, as they caused a “crisis of consciousness” among the true supporters of Marxism-Leninism. Many party veterans Western Europe and the United States was disillusioned, because it was no longer possible to turn a blind eye to the determination of the Soviet leaders to maintain power in the satellite countries, completely ignoring the aspirations of their peoples.

In October-November, the most powerful and bloodiest anti-Soviet uprising in Eastern Europe took place. During the greatest rise, it is actually headed by a communist prime minister, and the Kremlin hesitates for a while - whether to make concessions? On the second attempt, the rebellion was suppressed, but the subsequent regime in Hungary will be the most liberal in the socialist camp

After Stalin's death, the fanatical Hungarian ruler Matthias Rakosi, remaining head of the Communist Party, was forced to give up the post of prime minister. The new chairman of the government, Imre Nagy, is pursuing the “Hungarian Malenkov” course: an amnesty has been declared, taxes have been reduced, complete collectivization in the countryside has been suspended, and light industry is being financed instead of industrial giants. Fearing the popularity of his competitor, Rakosi in the spring of 1955 sought Nagy’s resignation and expelled him from the party. After the 20th Congress of the CPSU, Rakosi was removed from power, but his associates continue to lead the country.

A year earlier, the troops of the entire anti-Hitler coalition were withdrawn from Austria, which during the war was no less an ally of Germany than Hungary, and the country became independent and neutral. Our neighbors (with whom we have lived together for several centuries) no longer have a Soviet army, but the Hungarians still have one, and they still have to pay reparations (up to 25% of GDP), which after the Berlin Uprising were reduced even for the GDR. The Poznan uprising in Poland shows again: we must act, the only way to get relief from Moscow.

The unrest begins with students of the Budapest Polytechnic, who left the Komsomol. On October 23, they march in protest from the monument to Boehm, the Polish general, hero of the Hungarian revolution of 1848, suppressed by Russia. Along the way, the students are joined by thousands of townspeople. Basic demands: return Nagy, call free elections, withdraw Soviet troops, restore the old coat of arms and national holiday. In the evening, the new first secretary of the Central Committee, Erne Gere, speaking on the radio, condemns the Protestants. The crowd is outraged that they are not allowed to speak. A large detachment goes to the Radio House, demanding: let our calls be broadcast. The broadcast complex is guarded by the Hungarian state security unit AVH. When confronted with him, the first dead and wounded appear. The rebels disarm several police stations, and fighting at the Radio House continues until dawn. That same night, the huge Budapest monument to Stalin is demolished. Wrapped around the neck steel rope, pulled by a bulldozer. The multi-ton sculpture falls, leaving only giant bronze boots on the pedestal. After dragging the idol around the city, it is thrown in front of the USSR Embassy.

The next morning, 290 Soviet tanks and about six thousand soldiers enter Budapest. Members of the Presidium of the CPSU Central Committee Mikoyan and Suslov and KGB Chairman Serov arrive secretly. On October 25, two more Soviet divisions were brought up to Budapest. By that time, the rebels also had armored vehicles, and during a rally in front of parliament, a Soviet tank was shot down from a Hungarian tank. 61 people die from return fire. Since that time, the fighting has been continuous. In agreement with Moscow, Imre Nagy, who was rehabilitated shortly before the uprising, was appointed prime minister, relying on him as a pacifier. October 28 Nagy recognizes the “current grandiose popular movement” as just and announces the withdrawal of Soviet troops. Most Kremlin leaders agree with the Hungarian prime minister: the participation of the “big brother” army in the conflict only embitters the rebels, turning their struggle into a national liberation struggle. On October 30, the government of the USSR promised in a special declaration to “consider with other socialist countries the issue of Soviet troops located on the territory of the above countries” - it seems that Moscow is ready to change the relationship between the lord and the vassals. The divisions introduced into Budapest leave for their permanent locations in the Hungarian province.

State Security AVH has been dissolved and multi-party system has been restored in the country. Having learned about the end of the communist dictatorship, the crowd seizes the capital city party committee. Over 20 apparatchiks are executed by lynching - they are tortured before being hanged from poles and trees. AVH employees are caught everywhere - security officers are recognized by the yellow boots they received at the departmental distribution center. Under the Jew Rakosi, many of his fellow tribesmen were recruited into the leadership of the party and state security, and now anti-Semitic sentiments are strong. Cardinal Jozef Mindszenty, the spiritual leader of the anti-communists demanding a “crusade,” has been released from prison.

The news of the massacres changes the mood in the Kremlin. At the same time, the Suez crisis begins, which is much more important for the West than Hungary. It was decided that while the world is busy with Egypt, the obstinate Magyars should be taught a lesson. Moreover, Nagy is already announcing his country’s withdrawal from the Warsaw Pact and asking the UN to protect Hungarian neutrality. Plan "Whirlwind" is developed: the Soviet army must re-enter Budapest and overthrow Nagy's government. Soviet Ambassador Yuri Andropov negotiates with Janos Kadar, First Secretary of the Communist Party Central Committee, who replaced Gere, that he will head the “workers’ and peasants’ government” loyal to Moscow. On November 1, Kadar flies to Moscow for instructions.

Operation Whirlwind begins on November 4th. When storming the fortified outskirts and center of Budapest, artillery is used, then the territory is “cleared” by machine gunners supported by tanks. Up to 50 thousand Hungarians are resisting. They will hold out for a week - from November 10, workers and student groups negotiate a ceasefire. On the Hungarian side, 2,652 people (“white” and “red”) were killed, almost 20 thousand were wounded, and Soviet losses amounted to over 700 military personnel. About 13 thousand active rebels will be imprisoned, several hundred of them will be sent to prison in the USSR. Over 300 people are executed. 200 thousand Hungarians will leave their homeland, Austria will set up refugee camps for them. Nagy and members of his cabinet took refuge in the Yugoslav embassy. They are lured out of there with the promise of an opportunity to emigrate, but are arrested while transiting through Romania. Nagy and Defense Minister Pal Maleter will be hanged. When socialism falls, they will be hailed as national heroes. Until this time, Kadar will rule the country, and thanks to his “goulash socialism” - relative abundance with small private enterprise allowed - Hungary will be known as “the most cheerful barracks of the socialist camp.”

Rakosi will be taken to the USSR and after fifteen years of exile in different cities, he will die in Gorky. Cardinal Mindszenty will live the same amount of time at the US Embassy in Budapest, continuing to remain Primate of Hungary. Then he will be allowed to move to Austria. After the suppression of the Hungarian uprising, Andropov will be made secretary of the CPSU Central Committee for all socialist countries. He later became the chairman of the KGB, and in the last year and a half of his life, he was the head of the Soviet Union.

Phenomena mentioned in the text

Withdrawal from Austria 1955

Austria is the only country liberated by the Red Army that did not become socialist - even partially, in the Soviet zone of occupation. The troops of the ex-allies leave at the same time, Austrian neutrality will be friendly to the USSR - almost like Finnish

XX Congress. Khrushchev's report 1956

At a closed meeting of the next congress of the CPSU, First Secretary of the Central Committee Nikita Khrushchev makes a report “On the cult of personality and its consequences.” They don’t dare publish the text, but they read it aloud all over the country. The semi-secret report determines the content of the entire 10-year Khrushchev rule - it will go down in history as anti-Stalin

Berlin uprising 1953

An attempt to build socialism in the GDR on the model of the USSR leads to the first anti-communist uprising in Eastern Europe. It is being suppressed by the Soviet army troops stationed in the country.

Uprising in Poland 1956

The first Polish crisis, which will be repeated more than once according to the same scenario. Mass anti-communist protests were suppressed by force, the country's leadership was replaced, and efforts were being made to quell discontent by weakening Soviet tutelage.

Suez crisis 1956

The war for the world's main channel makes the USSR and the USA curators of the Middle East: from now on, one respectively stands for the Arabs, the other for the Israelis. Conflict prompts UN to form international peacekeeping force

Warsaw Pact 1955

The bloc division of Europe has been formalized. The USSR, already controlling the countries of the socialist camp, forms a military-political organization from them. It is established in the capital of Poland, but the entire command is Soviet, and the headquarters is located in Moscow

UN 1946

A new main international organization begins to work, which for the first time recognizes the USSR as a superpower: it is one of the five UN members with veto power

Collapse of socialism in Europe 1989

Until now, it seemed that the socialist camp was trying to catch up with Soviet perestroika. In the second half of 1989, all the regimes collapsed one after another: old party leaders left, local Gorbachevs came - or even without this intermediate stage - immediately non-communist leaders. Eastern European countries are ahead of their big brother in terms of speed of change

Year of Andropov 1983

“I wanted to restore order, but I didn’t have time” - with this popular assessment the Secretary General from the KGB goes down in history. They expected him to rule with a strong hand, and therefore the “taking of measures” was met with understanding, self-critically reasoning: but with us it’s impossible otherwise, we’ve completely blabbed

Content:

Uprising in Hungary

Budapest, 1956

What was avoided in Poland happened in Hungary, where the intensity of passions was much greater. In Hungary, the internal struggle between communists turned out to be more acute. than anywhere else, and the Soviet Union found itself drawn into it more than in Poland or other countries. Of all the leaders still in power in Eastern Europe in 1956, Rakosi was the most involved in the export of Stalinism. Returning to Budapest from Moscow after the 20th Congress of the CPSU, Rakosi told his friends: “In a few months, Khrushchev will be declared a traitor and everything will return to normal.”

Under these conditions, the Soviet leadership decided to once again call Imre Nagy to power. A new USSR ambassador (future member of the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee and chairman of the State Security Committee) was sent to Budapest.

The people's hatred was directed against those who were known for their torment: state security officers. They represented everything that was disgusting about the Rákosi regime; they were caught and killed. Events in Hungary took on the character of a genuine popular revolution, and it was precisely this circumstance that frightened the Soviet leaders. The USSR had to take into account at that moment that an anti-Soviet and anti-socialist uprising was taking place. It was obvious that this was a far-reaching political plan, and not just a desire to destroy the existing regime.

Not only the intelligentsia, but also industrial workers were drawn into the orbit of events. The participation of a significant part of the youth in the movement left a certain imprint on its character. The political leadership found itself at the tail end of the movement, rather than leading it, as happened in Poland.

The fundamental issue was the presence of Soviet troops on the territory of Eastern European countries, that is, their actual occupation.

The new Soviet government preferred to avoid bloodshed, but was ready for it if it came to the question of the satellites secession from the USSR, even in the form of declaring neutrality and non-participation in blocs.

The second circumstance that frightened the Soviet government was the restoration of the Social Democratic Party in Hungary, and then the formation of a multi-party government.

Although Nagy was made prime minister, the new Stalinist leadership led by Gere tried to isolate him and thereby worsened the situation even further.

On October 24, Mikoyan and Suslov arrived in Budapest. They recommended that Gehre be immediately replaced as First Secretary by János Kádar. Meanwhile, on October 25, an armed clash with Soviet troops took place near the parliament building. The rebellious people demanded the departure of Soviet troops and the formation of a new government of national unity, in which various parties would be represented.

The report of Mikoyan and Suslov on the situation in Hungary, made by them immediately after returning from Budapest on October 26 to the Presidium of the CPSU Central Committee, reflected, as can be seen from the editorial of the Pravda newspaper of October 28, an alleged readiness to agree with the democratization program, provided that this program maintains the dominance of the Communist Party and keeps Hungary within the Warsaw Pact system. The article was just a disguise. The order for Soviet troops to leave Budapest served the same purpose. The Soviet government sought to gain time to prepare for reprisals, which were to follow not only on behalf of the remaining participants in the pact, but also Yugoslavia and China.

This way the responsibility would be shared among everyone.

Soviet troops were withdrawn from Budapest, but concentrated in the area of the Budapest airfield.

On October 30, when Mikoyan and Suslov were in Budapest, the Presidium of the CPSU Central Committee adopted, as Khrushchev testifies, a unanimous resolution on the armed suppression of the Hungarian revolution, which stated that it would be unforgivable for the USSR to remain neutral and “not provide assistance to the working class of Hungary in its struggle against counter-revolution."

At the request of the Presidium of the CPSU Central Committee, a Chinese delegation led by Liu Shaoqi arrived in Moscow for advice. Liu Shaoqi declared that Soviet troops should withdraw from Hungary and let the working class of “Hungary m” themselves suppress the counter-revolution. Since this was completely contrary to the decision to intervene, Khrushchev, informing the Presidium on October 31 about the Chinese response, insisted on the immediate use of troops. Marshal Konev, summoned to a meeting of the presidium, stated that his troops would need 3 days to suppress the “counter-revolution” (in fact, a revolution, and received an order to put the troops on combat readiness. The order was given behind the back of Liu Shaoqi, who at the same time day returned to Beijing in full confidence that there would be no Soviet intervention. It was decided to inform Liu Shaoqi about the intervention at the time of the farewell at the Vnukovo airfield. In order to make a greater impression on Liu Shaoqi, the Presidium of the CPSU Central Committee appeared in Vnukovo on in full force. Talk about the “good of the Hungarian people” began again. In the end, Liu Shaoqi surrendered. Thus, Chinese support was ensured.

Then Khrushchev, Malenkov and Molotov - representatives of the Presidium of the Central Committee - went successively to Warsaw and Bucharest, where they quite easily received consent to the intervention. The last leg of their trip was Yugoslavia. They came to Tito expecting serious objections from him. There were no objections on his part; as Khrushchev reports, “we were pleasantly surprised... Tito said that we were absolutely right, and we must move our soldiers into battle as soon as possible. We were ready for resistance, but instead we received his wholehearted support. I would even say that Tito went even further and convinced us to solve this problem as soon as possible,” Khrushchev concludes his story.

Thus the fate of the Hungarian revolution was decided.

But all this no longer bothered the Soviet government much. The Anglo-French-Israeli invasion (October 23 - December 22) in Egypt diverted the attention of the world community from the events in Hungary. The American government condemned the actions of England, France and Israel. Thus, a split in the camp of the Western allies was obvious. There was no sign that the Western powers would come to Hungary's aid. Thus, the conflict over the Suez Canal in 1956 and the subsequent war of England, France and Israel against Egypt distracted the Western powers from the events in Hungary. The international situation was extremely favorable for intervention Soviet Union.

What happened on the streets of Budapest? Soviet troops faced fierce resistance from Hungarian army units, as well as from the civilian population. The streets of Budapest witnessed a terrible drama, during which ordinary people attacked tanks with Molotov cocktails. Key points, including the Ministry of Defense and Parliament buildings, were taken within a few hours. Hungarian radio went silent before finishing its appeal for international help, but dramatic accounts of the street fighting came from a Hungarian reporter who alternated between his teletype and the rifle he was firing from his office window.

The Presidium of the CPSU Central Committee began preparing a new Hungarian government; The first secretary of the Hungarian Communist Party, János Kádár, agreed to the role of prime minister of the future government.

On November 3, a new government was formed, but the fact that it was formed on the territory of the USSR became known only two years later. The new government was officially announced at dawn on November 4, when Soviet troops stormed the Hungarian capital, where a coalition government led by Imre Nagy had been formed the day before; The non-party general Pal Maleter also joined the government.

After the suppression of the uprising-revolution, the Soviet military administration, together with state security agencies, carried out reprisals against Hungarian citizens: mass arrests and deportations to the Soviet Union began.

Imre Nagy and his staff took refuge in the Yugoslav embassy. After two weeks of negotiations, Kadar gave a written guarantee that Nagy and his employees would not be prosecuted for their activities, that they could leave the Yugoslav embassy and return home with their families. However, the bus in which Nagy was traveling was intercepted by Soviet officers, who arrested Nagy and took him to Romania. Later, Nagy, who did not want to repent, was tried in a closed court and shot. This message was published on June 16, 1958. General Pal Maleter suffered the same fate. Thus, the suppression of the Hungarian uprising was not the first example of the brutal defeat of political opposition in Eastern Europe - similar actions on a smaller scale were carried out in Poland just a few days earlier. But this was the most monstrous example, in connection with which the image of Khrushchev the liberal, which he seemed to promise to leave in history, faded forever. These events were perhaps the first milestone on the path that would lead a generation later to the destruction of the communist system in Europe, as they caused a “crisis of consciousness” among the true supporters of Marxism-Leninism. Many party veterans in Western Europe and the United States were disillusioned, because it was no longer possible to turn a blind eye to the determination of Soviet leaders to maintain power in the satellite countries, completely ignoring the aspirations of their peoples.

“Soviet troops drowned the Hungarian uprising in blood.” Option - “Soviet troops brutally suppressed the Hungarian uprising.”

To understand how “bloody” or “cruel” the suppression of the “uprising” was, let’s look at the numbers.

As a result of the fighting, Soviet troops lost 720 people killed. Hungarians - 2500. It would seem that the significant losses of the Hungarian side clearly indicate the cruelty of the Soviet troops.

However, as always, the devil is in the details.

The fact is that 2,500 people were Hungarians killed from October 23 to December 1957 throughout Hungary. Including as a result of clashes between units of the Hungarian army, police and state security forces with the rebels; as a result of the “White Terror” in Budapest and other cities in the period from October 30 (the day of the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Budapest) to November 4 (large-scale offensive by Soviet troops, the beginning of Operation Whirlwind to suppress the rebellion); as a result of fighting between various rebel groups and, finally, as a result of clashes between rebels and Soviet units. In popular literature and newspaper articles, they usually miss the fact that the Hungarian army, police and state security troops took an active part in the first phase of the rebellion (23-28 October). And the fact that battles also took place between various rebel groups is completely unknown.

Now let’s take a closer look at what the losses of the Hungarian side consist of. So. Army battles with rebels. It is difficult to say reliably how many Hungarians were killed by the Hungarian soldiers, police and state security themselves during the suppression of the rebellion. Although, for example, the only surviving leader of the rebellion, General Bela Kiraly, testifies that, on the orders of Colonel Pal Maleter, at least 12 “revolutionaries” from among the defenders of the Corvin cinema were killed. But the losses of the Hungarian army can be approximately calculated. The fact is that we can take as a basis the losses in Budapest of the 2nd Guards Mechanized Division of the Special Corps Soviet army during the period from October 24 to October 29. During 6 days of fighting, the division lost 350 people killed. That is, on average, the loss of life was more than 50 people per day. Such high losses are explained not so much by the ferocity of the fighting itself, but by the tactics chosen by the corps command: covering especially important objects and defense (do not open fire first). Moreover, Colonel Grigory Dobrunov, who at that time was the commander of the reconnaissance battalion of the 2nd Guards Mechanized Division, testifies that there were no clear instructions and instructions when sending troops into Budapest. But there was a clear order “Don’t shoot.” Dobrunov’s words are also confirmed by the cryptographer of the Special Department of the Special Corps, Dmitry Kapranov. Moreover, the participants in the rebellion - in particular, the current member of the Hungarian Parliament, Imre Mecs - confirm this thesis. As a result, the rebels had the opportunity to throw Molotov cocktails at tanks with impunity, then shoot the crew who jumped out, shoot from the windows of houses and throw grenades at open BTR-152 armored personnel carriers in which soldiers were moving around the city, and shoot them with rifles and machine guns. The defensive tactics of the Soviet troops led to unreasonably high losses. But the fact is that the leadership of the Hungarian People’s Army (HPA), the police, and state security chose exactly the same tactics. With rare exceptions, they did not conduct offensive actions, which naturally irritated the Soviet military, who believed that the Hungarians themselves should still play the first fiddle. Therefore, it is quite reasonable to assume that the losses of the less protected and less armed VNA soldiers were at least no lower than the losses of the Soviet troops. That is, at least 50 people on average per day.

But this is Budapest. There were battles in other cities as well. In Miskolc, Gyord, Pécs, the army and police tried to fight. In Miskolc, rebel casualties on the first day alone amounted to at least 45 people. In some places bomb attacks were carried out on the rebels. Finally, in his speech on October 24, Prime Minister Imre Nagy stated that as a result of the actions of the fascists (this is exactly what the national hero of Hungary Imre Nagy said - this document is stored in the Russian State Archive of Socio-Political History, RGASPI) many military personnel and civil servants died and mine citizens. That's it - a lot! And this is only for a day of rebellion.

Following the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Budapest on October 30, fighting broke out in the city between various rebel groups. The deputy of Ivan Kovacs, the commander of one of the most significant rebel groups in the Korovin cinema, Gabor Dilinki, testifies that already on October 30, shootings began even within the Korovin residents themselves. In particular, Gabor's beloved girlfriend was killed. Western correspondents noted that incessant firefights began in Budapest after October 30, a period when Soviet troops simply were not there.

Particular attention is paid in Western correspondence from “free Budapest” to the actions of the troops of József Dudas, who first decided to expropriate the holdings of the National Bank. Naturally, this all happened with shooting.

Finally, in Budapest itself, after the departure of Soviet troops, the so-called “ white terror”, when Bela Kiraly’s guards and Dudash’s troops destroyed communists, state security officers and military personnel who refused to obey them. Photographs and newsreels of hanged people with signs of torture, with faces covered in acid, have spread all over the world and are well known to everyone.

On October 30, Kiraly’s guards shot state security soldiers guarding the building of the Central Committee of the Hungarian Communist Party. The assault on the building was carried out on a large scale, involving infantry and tanks. The soldiers and officers who surrendered were simply shot. A photo report by Life magazine correspondent John Sajova spread all over the world. Like his story about it:

« Six young officers came out, one very handsome. Their shoulder straps were torn off. Quick argument. We are not as bad as you think, give us a chance, they said. I was three feet away from this group. Suddenly one began to bend. They must have shot very close, right in their ribs. They all fell like cut corn. Very graceful. And when they were already on the ground, the rebels were still pouring lead on them. I've been to war three times, but I've never seen anything more terrible. ».

Finally, the actual cruelty of the Soviet troops in suppressing the uprising. Let's remember the total number of Hungarians killed: 2,500 people. It is interesting that at the time of the assault on Budapest on November 4, the city was defended, according to various estimates, from 30 to 50 thousand people. This is only Budapest. In the city of Pecs, a group of 2,000 people put up very stubborn resistance. Miskolc resisted very stubbornly. And with so many rebels resisting, 2,500 dead, including those who died in the intra-Hungarian civil conflict throughout Hungary??? Amazing. Still, even if we roughly estimate how many Hungarians died in clashes with the Soviet troops themselves, it would be barely a thousand people. And these are losses quite comparable to ours.

With all this, the Soviet army did not use aviation and artillery for combat purposes. Tank shelling was sporadic - in any case, the chronicle of rebel tanks firing at the building of the Central Committee of the Hungarian Communist Party is known to the whole world, but for some reason there are no newsreels or photographs of Soviet tanks firing.

The “cruelty” of the Soviet troops is also evidenced by the report on the military operations in Hungary of the 12th separate Rymniksky SME of the Order of Bohdan Khmelnitsky of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Ukrainian SSR. For the uninitiated, this is special forces. Before the events in Hungary, its fighters waged an active and truly tough fight against UPA units in Ukraine. They were sent to Hungary on November 6 and arrived 3 days later. I was on a business trip for 2 months. Their task included: covering the Hungarian-Austrian border, destroying the rebels, arresting the rebels, and guarding important facilities. So, according to the report for two months of the mission, the special forces soldiers, who were not particularly scrupulous in their activities, killed... one Hungarian. In two months! And this is not a press release. This is a top secret document for internal use. The secrecy label was lifted just recently, and the document is stored in the Russian State Military Archive (RGVA).

Thus, it is clear that during the battles with Soviet troops a quite comparable number of Hungarians died - within a thousand people. The rest are victims of the intra-Hungarian conflict itself.

Myth 2

"Imre Nagy and Pal Maleter - fighters for the freedom of Hungary."

To understand this myth, it is worth familiarizing yourself with the biographies of these heroes. Pal Maleter. At the time of the mutiny - Colonel of the VNA. During World War II he fought in the army of fascist Hungary against the USSR. It is worth recalling here the obvious fact that the Hungarian soldiers Eastern Front second only to the SS men in cruelty. And that's not always the case. In the Voronezh villages, the Magyars are remembered very well and are not remembered with kind words.

Maleter was captured and immediately began to re-educate. After some time, he was already conducting propaganda work among Hungarian prisoners. Then he collaborates with Soviet intelligence. Confidence in him is so great that in 1944 he took part in partisan actions against the Hungarians and Germans. Actually, this point is worth dwelling on in more detail. The fact is that during the war there were many defectors and surrenderers, but literally only a few were given such trust. It had to be earned. Unfortunately, the GRU archives, which could shed light on the secret of such trust in Maleter and his merits, are, alas, classified. But it would be naive to believe that a person who has once linked his fate with the intelligence of some country can easily resign from his service.

For his actions, Maleter was awarded the Order of the Red Star. He then studied at the Military Academy under Bela Kiraly. Kiraly remembers Maleter as an extremely fanatical cadet who even fainted from overwork. It even took an order to go to the hospital, as the doctors feared for his health. Bela Kiraly characterizes Maleter as follows:

“He changed his mind very often.”

Knowing his military biography and his behavior during the rebellion, it is difficult to disagree with Kiraly. On October 23-24, Maleter resolutely opposed the rebels, declaring his loyalty to the government and dedication to the cause of communism. Maleter decisively fights the rebels, which General Bela Kiraly still cannot forgive him for. On October 25, he and five tanks, according to Kiraly, headed to the Kilian barracks to quell the rebellion in one of the military units. And he went over to the side of the rebels.

Imre Nagy. Also a hero. He fought in the Austro-Hungarian army during the First World War. He was captured by the Russians. Participant in the Russian Civil War. Became a communist. Until 1945, he lived in the USSR with short-term trips abroad on assignments from the Comintern (Soviet intelligence, to put it simply). NKVD informer. It should be noted that when deciding on granting Nagy Soviet citizenship and admitting him to the leadership of the Comintern, his candidacy met with sharp rejection from the leaders of the Hungarian Communist Party led by Bela Kun. All of them were shot in 1937-1938. Except Nadya. In 1990, KGB Chairman Vladimir Kryuchkov, at the request of the Hungarian side, sent copies of Nagy’s case to Hungary. With his denunciations, slander against his fellow workers... For political purposes, these documents were hidden and have not been made public to this day. Some part, however, leaked to the Italian press in the early 90s.

Nagy then served for some time as Minister of the Interior. In this post, he achieved the return of most of the Hungarian prisoners from the USSR to Hungary, and also carried out repressions against fascists and nationalists. At the same time, Nagy was a creature of Beria himself. The same Beria in 1953 forced Rakosi to appoint Nagy as prime minister. True, the irony of fate is that three days later Nagy was appointed prime minister, and Beria was arrested in Moscow. By 1955, Nagy was relieved of his post and expelled from the Communist Party “for his right-wing views.” Simply put, Nagy, earlier than all the Hungarian communists, grasped the general trend towards a “thaw” in the countries of the socialist camp. As a man resented by the Rákosi regime, in this capacity he was popular among the masses. It is characteristic that he was popular for a reason, but at the suggestion of Radio Free Europe, which presented the communist Nagy as a kind of lamb. Why did the West rely on Nagy? Yes, it’s simple: political spinelessness and personal lack of will made his figure very convenient for the emerging transition period. And finally, Nagy probably hated his Soviet curators, who, as he knew, had powerful incriminating evidence on him. But one way or another, Nagy gradually became the leader of the Hungarian opposition. And in this capacity he speaks on October 23 in front of demonstrators on Parliament Square. As a witness, US Marine Sergeant James Bolek from the Embassy Security Corps, shows, Nagy begged people... to disperse, but in response to his appeal, “comrades,” the crowd roared:

“No more comrades, no more communism.”

And on October 24, having already been appointed prime minister on orders from the USSR, Nagy, in a radio speech, called on, as he put it, fascist provocateurs to lay down their arms. He calls the participants in the uprising nothing less than “fascists” and “reactionaries.” At the same time, Nagy assures that Soviet troops are in Budapest solely at the request of the government.

Nagy probably realized that power on the streets no longer belonged to those who demanded to appoint him prime minister just a day ago.

As events unfold, Nagy gradually begins to do more and more strange things. For example, it prohibits the VNA from conducting active offensive operations. That is, it imposes on the army the same disastrous tactics that the Soviet Army had - to defend itself. On October 28, Soviet and Hungarian troops almost completely blocked the main groups of rebels in Budapest, prepared for the assault and their destruction, but... Nagy managed to convince Mikoyan, and Khrushchev, to withdraw troops from Budapest.

After this, Nagy began calling yesterday’s fascists revolutionaries. But it was difficult for Nadya. A military revolutionary council headed by Maleter was already operating in the country. A National Guard was created in the country, led by Bela Kiraj and former Horthy officers. József Dudas demanded a place in the government and refused to disband his troops. Nagy tried to disband all the armed forces and begin their construction anew, on the basis of the National Guard, but Maleter and part of the Budapest garrison sharply opposed, Bela Kiraly spoke out against Maleter, for which Maleter gave the order to arrest him, Dudas generally refused to obey anyone . In addition, the United States generally relied on Cardinal Mindszenty, an active anti-communist who called on all Hungarian Catholics to fight for freedom of faith. Mindszenty also called for denationalization, the renunciation of all social gains, and the return of property to the former owners. Most of the army refused to obey both Maleter and Kirai, and especially Mindszenty. Nagy was, after all, a communist after all. But on October 30, an anti-communist coup took place in Budapest. The building of the Central Committee of the Party was stormed, the guards were shot, some of the communists were killed, and some were arrested. Nagy understood that the same awaited him. And he made an almost unmistakable move. He announced Hungary's withdrawal from the Warsaw Pact and the establishment of “new relations” with the West. Maybe all this would have worked, since the West began to exert powerful pressure on the USSR, so powerful that even Zhukov and Khrushchev were inclined to reconsider relations with Hungary. But... the Suez crisis broke out and the West had no time for Hungary. As a result, on November 4, SA units entered Hungary from three countries, and Nagy, calling for resistance... fled to the Yugoslav embassy. It is very important that it was in Yugoslavia: since 1948, Tito was active in creating a split in the camp of socialism, and Hungary was one of the priorities. It was with her that Stalin planned to start the war against Yugoslavia. In fact, history knows examples of how state leaders fought for their beliefs, either proving they were right, or paying for mistakes. An example similar to Nadia is Salvador Allende. Having called for resistance, he did not flee, but died with weapons in his hands, defending his views and paying for his mistakes. Nagy acted differently. Well, every country has its own heroes. For example, the Hungarians also have General Bela Kiraly as their hero. Yes, the same one, the commander of the National Guard. He also gave his guards (most of whom, according to Kiraly himself, were “teenagers”) the order to hold out until the end and fled to Austria, and from there to the USA. This is such a general, such a hero. In our country, other generals are considered heroes.

What’s also interesting is that Imre Nagy formally remained... a Soviet citizen until the end of his days. In the RGASPI, in the files of the Hungarian communist leaders Rakosi and Gere, there are documents confirming that they were deprived of Soviet citizenship when leaving for Hungary in 1945. But in Nadya’s case there are no such documents. As far as I know, researchers also did not find such documents regarding Nagy in other archives.

Myth 3

the work of Soviet soldiers and Hungarian state security.”

The situation looks like this. On the morning of October 25, a crowd gathered in the square near the parliament. Mostly women and students. Opposite were Soviet tanks and armored personnel carriers with soldiers. Everyone was in a completely peaceful mood. The Hungarians did not bully the Soviets, did not throw stones at them, but tried to communicate. Then the generally accepted outline of events is as follows: shots rang out from somewhere from the rooftops, Soviet soldiers opened hurricane fire from all types of weapons, bullets hit the fleeing people, in total about 200 died (according to different options, and more) people.

Well, actually, a different number of deaths is more common - 20 people. But let it be 200, if corpses are not enough for someone. Let's try to look at the problem from a different angle.

First, witness testimony is required. But whose? Hungarians, like Russians, are interested and biased people. But we do have one important third-party testimony: US Marine Sergeant James Bolek. He saw everything that happened and later described it:

“At 10 o'clock in the morning, two sailors and I were standing on the balcony of our second-floor apartment, looking at the Soviet soldiers, when someone dropped explosives from the roof of our building - on Soviet tanks and their crews on the street in front of our building. When the explosives detonated, Soviet soldiers began firing their machine guns at our building, from the ground floor to the roof." .

So, it all started with someone throwing explosives from the roof of a house or the top floor onto a Soviet tank. Pay attention to one more detail: Soviet soldiers opened fire on the house from where the explosives were dropped. This is also important.

Simultaneously with the shots of the Soviet soldiers, automatic and machine-gun bursts struck from the rooftops - at the tankers and at the crowd, at people scattering in panic. There are photos of these moments. The crowd is very scattered and does not run densely. That is, there could not be a crush and there could not be a dense defeat. Who were the Soviet tankers shooting at? Hardly according to the crowd. Since soldiers usually very clearly determine where the shooting is coming from, and respond with fire to fire, and not in all directions. Moreover, from the very beginning they reacted correctly, opening fire on a very specific building. If our people fired at the crowd (for which there is no evidence even from the Hungarians), it was only because they were shot at from the crowd.

But who started throwing explosives and shooting from rooftops? The Hungarians are sure that this is a provocation of state security. But there are objections to this version.

Firstly, by October 25, the Hungarian state security was completely demoralized. Having its own troops and a huge operational apparatus, it, in fact, did nothing either to prevent the rebellion or to eliminate it in its infancy. State security units fought only in the provinces - and then only in defense. In Budapest itself, the Hungarian KGB officers did not show themselves in any way. In addition, by October 25, almost all district AVH (KGB) departments were destroyed. And why did the KGB people arrange this? At the very least, Soviet troops conducted operations against the rebels, as did the VNA. The task of the KGB agents is to seize and destroy. But they did not do this even under the cover of Soviet tanks. This provocation was beneficial precisely to the organizers of the rebellion: by the evening, all of Hungary knew that in front of the parliament in Budapest, Soviet soldiers and the GB had killed more than 200 Hungarians. The rebellion, which had almost died down by October 25, broke out with new strength, and the ranks of the rebels were replenished with sincere volunteers. Part of the Hungarian garrison hesitated. All agreements that had been reached by this time were buried. Typically, supporters of the version that the execution in front of parliament was organized by state security cannot imagine a single corpse of a Hungarian intelligence officer at the battle site or on the roofs of houses around. Although the Soviet soldiers simply fired hurricanes from all types of weapons.

Myth 4

"There was a popular uprising in Hungary."

This myth does not stand up to criticism if you look at the documents, and documents that are declassified and in open use.

The fact remains: there was no uprising. There were several phases of a well-organized armed rebellion.

It is well known that the events began on October 23 at 15:00 with a peaceful demonstration of students, which was joined by significant sections of the population of Budapest. Within three hours the demonstration ended and an armed rebellion began.

But traces of a conspiracy, if there was one, must be looked for a little earlier. They are. And not so hidden. In an archive such as RGANI, one can find documents such as reports from the USSR Ambassador to Hungary Andropov or KGB Chairman Serov, in which they indicate that an armed rebellion is being prepared in the country. It is characteristic that these reports were sent in the summer of 1956. The testimony of Alexander Goryunov, an investigator of the special department under the Soviet military candidacy in Budapest, also dates back to the summer of 1956. It was during this period that our Hungarian colleagues informed our counterintelligence officers about the existence of a conspiracy and the preparation of a putsch.

There are other documents. US Army Intelligence Report, January 6, 1956. It, in particular, points to information from a Hungarian officer, recruited back in 1954, about the existence of a conspiracy in the army. This officer reports that although the underground movement consists of a relatively small number of officers, there are cells in almost every Hungarian unit. Meanwhile, according to the British correspondent Sherman (Observer), a certain VNA colonel played a significant role in the radicalization of the events of October 23. The night before the events he met at Polytechnic University with students and persuaded them to go to the demonstration. Moreover, under his influence, an appeal was drawn up to the government with radical and clearly impossible conditions, such as a ban on the export of uranium to the USSR, which no one, in fact, exported. Sherman writes that under the influence of the colonel the demands became as radical as possible. A little later, the captured rebels pointed out the identity of the colonel. His last name is Nodar. During the rebellion he became Bel Kiraly's assistant. It is characteristic that during interrogation Nodar named Kiraly one of the organizers of the rebellion. Considering that the head of the National Guard was not Nodar, who led an underground struggle at the risk of his life, but Kiraly, who seemed to have remained out of work until October 30, his testimony deserves attention. By the way, it was Nodar who was approached by the American military attache with a request to help him acquire and send to the United States a new Soviet MIG-17 fighter. Documents about this have again been declassified and are located in the Russian State Historical Institute and the Central Archive of the FSB of the Russian Federation.

There is also other evidence of the existence of a conspiracy and the preparation of a rebellion. The same Alexander Goryunov shows that shortly before the mutiny they received information that waybills for vehicles had already been prepared, that it was already known who would transport what - people, weapons..., their routes had been planned.

Literally shortly before the start of the uprising, members of the Hungarian youth-sports-military organization (analogous to our DOSAAF) were gathered in the city from all over Hungary. At first they became the striking force of the rebellion.

Another interesting point. The situation was rocking long before the events. In particular, dissatisfaction with the presence of Soviet troops in Hungary was spreading throughout the country. True, not because the troops are in the country at all, but because the Soviet army in Hungary lives off the Hungarian budget, thereby eating up the not so well-fed Hungarians. It’s clear that this is nonsense. Soviet troops were on the USSR budget; they paid for purchases in Hungary with real money. But someone introduced these ideas to the masses, who immediately thought the same thing. How could it be otherwise: Hungary was always in a state of economic crisis, it was necessary to find extreme ones. Rumors were spread and picked up that it was cold in the houses in winter, since there was nothing to heat with: all the coal was sent to the USSR. Typically, during this period, coal was exported from the USSR to Hungary due to its acute shortage in Hungary itself. We helped them, in general.

The uranium issue stands out separately. After Hiroshima and Nagasaki, a literal uranium fever began. The United States has managed to lay its paw on uranium deposits almost all over the world, except Eastern Europe. On “our” territory there were deposits in East Germany (Gera), Czechoslovakia (Jachimov), Hungary (Pecs) and Bulgaria. We made the first atomic bombs from German and Bulgarian materials. It is clear that uranium mining was under strict control of the USSR and guarded by Soviet units. Serious counterintelligence work was carried out, including disinformation work. By 1956, in the strictest secrecy, development began on Soviet territory - in Kazakhstan. But in the USA they did not know this. But they knew about deposits in Eastern European countries from the Soviet high-ranking KGB officer Iskanderov, who defected to the West and stopped in the USA in 1950 (by the way, Iskanderov’s escape became one of additional factors the fall of the once all-powerful Abakumov). Uranium was not exported from Hungary (as well as from Czechoslovakia) to the USSR. However, for some reason the “masses” thought differently. And the “uranium” point in the historical document “14 demands” was number 6. Who inspired this stupidity in people? The answer is obvious. Those with whom the USSR was in a state of nuclear confrontation in those years. Although this moment is not hidden. All the demands of the “masses” to the government were first voiced on Radio Free Europe, or more precisely, as part of the CIA’s Operation Focus, which began in 1954.

But let's return to the popular uprising. As you know, the events began on October 23 at 15:00. Soviet tanks entered Budapest at 5-6 am on October 24th. And well-organized mobile groups of militants with commanders, communications, intelligence, weapons and clear coordination of actions were already waiting for them. Soviet troops began to suffer losses from the very first hours of participation in the Hungarian events. Known about good military training Hungarian reservists and pre-conscripts. However, any military man will tell you that the distance from preparation to the creation of full-fledged combat units is very long. Soviet troops faced not teenagers, but rather well-trained troops. In addition, in addition to Budapest, the rebellion began almost throughout the country at the same time. And everywhere according to the same pattern: the seizure of government agencies, radio stations, armories, police departments and AVH. It is characteristic that the second largest and most intense rebellion was the events in the city of Miskolc. The already mentioned US Army intelligence report indicated that it was around Miskolc that there were at least 10 partisan camps, each of which had from 40 to 50 partisans with radio stations, weapons and food depots. By the way, the area around Miskolc is the only one in Hungary where partisans can be found - forests and difficult terrain terrain.

In Budapest itself, the production and transportation of nitroglycerin was even established. For information: for sabotage, you can only use so-called pure nitroglycerin, which cannot be made at home. Homemade, dirty nitroglycerin will explode either during manufacture, or, in the process best case scenario, during transportation. At the latest, as soon as you raise your hand with a bottle filled with dirty nitroglycerin to throw. However, in Budapest these issues were resolved as quickly as possible, which only speaks of the work done in advance.

How could the omnipresent Hungarian state security have missed the plot? It's simple. By 1956, state security was paralyzed by internal purges. Something similar happened here a little earlier - after the arrest and execution of Beria, when the most professional intelligence and counterintelligence personnel were dispersed in subsequent purges. In addition, in his memoirs, Alexander Goryunov shows that he and his colleagues had the impression that in the AVH leadership itself there were supporters of changing the country’s course.

The directives of the US National Security Council also do not support the version of the uprising. For example, in the directive NSC-158.

« Aims and Actions of the United States to Take Advantage of Unrest in the Satellite States,” June 29, 1953, states: “To fuel resistance to Communist oppression in such a way that the spontaneous character is not questioned.

Organize, train and equip underground organizations capable of conducting sustained military operations ».

By satellite countries we mean countries of the socialist camp.

Another directive, NSC-68, states: “ to intensify operations by covert means to cause and support unrest and uprisings in selected strategically important satellite countries."

Oleg Filimonov

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Modern bourgeois Hungary, which drove out the communists, became a member of the EU, and finally gained the “freedom” long-awaited by some » live in a capitalist "paradise" » . What kind of freedom? To become unemployed, homeless, hungry and sick, to work for someone else’s capitalist uncle until exhaustion instead of contributing your labor to social production, to be useful to the whole society - i.e. to be a respected person in society, and not a “loser” » , not a marginalized person, powerlessly watching the death of loved ones for whose treatment there is no money?

In Hungary, a population of 10 million, 40% of the population is on the verge of poverty, 15% is beyond the poverty line. Many political parties and religious denominations took part in the charitable food distribution taking place in Hungary - from ultranationalists to socialists, from Hare Krishnas to Baptists. But everyone knows that a person needs to eat every day...

Photo from the publication “Népszava” ___________________________________________________________________________________

Having assessed the difficult situation in the country, Khrushchev did not dare to use armed force and even made concessions: the Polish leadership was updated, workers' councils were created at enterprises, agricultural cooperatives were dissolved, the former Minister of Defense of Poland, Marshal of the Soviet Union K. K. Rokossovsky and numerous Soviet advisers. Bloodshed was avoided this time. Blood would be shed later, on December 17, 1970, when the same Gomulka gave the order to shoot demonstrators in Gdansk. True, on December 20 he himself will resign and Edward Gierek will become the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the PUWP.

Events unfolded in Hungary according to a different scenario.

In Hungary, the influence of the opposition grew rapidly, making itself known more and more loudly. Events in Poland spurred on the Hungarians: if the Poles managed to return Gomulka to power, despite Russian resistance, then why couldn’t they do the same with Imre Nagy?

Soviet armored personnel carrier BTR-40

All this caused a sharp negative assessment by Soviet Ambassador Yu. V. Andropov. The Hungarian leadership’s consent to the return of “old party cadres” to the Politburo was regarded by them as “a serious concession to right-wing and demagogic elements.” M. Suslov and A. Mikoyan were sent to Budapest to analyze the events and evaluate them. Ultimately, Mikoyan persuaded “the best student of Comrade Stalin” M. Rakosi to resign. The Hungarian Workers' Party (HWP) was headed by Erne Gere, who was almost no different from his predecessor in ideological and political views.

In September, opposition protests noticeably intensified under the slogans of “more humane socialism” and the restoration of former Prime Minister I. Nagy to the party. Under strong pressure from below, the Hungarian party leadership was forced to announce on October 14 the restoration of Nagy to the VPT. But protest demonstrations continued.

On October 23, tens of thousands of residents of the capital took to the streets, demanding the withdrawal of Soviet troops, freedom of the press, a multi-party system, etc. By the evening, the number of demonstrators reached 200 thousand people. The crowd chanted: “Death to Hera!”, “Imre Nagy to the government, Rakosi to the Danube!”

At approximately 8 pm E. Gere spoke on the radio. His speech was replete with attacks against the demonstrators - they say that this demonstration is “nationalist” and “counter-revolutionary”. He demanded that the riots stop and everyone go home. But with this speech, Gere only added fuel to the fire: at night, groups of radical youth looted a number of weapons warehouses. A small army unit with two tanks went over to the side of the already armed demonstrators. With their support, demonstrators seized the building of the national radio center, where the secret police were forced to open fire with their service pistols. The rebels already had machine guns and machine guns (two tanks have already been mentioned). The rebels smashed the giant statue of Stalin into small pieces. The first dead and wounded appeared, the demonstration quickly grew into an uprising!

Distinctive features The radicalism and intransigence of their participants became part of the Hungarian events. A real armed uprising took place in Hungary against the Soviet Union and its supporters. The streets were filled with blood, sometimes of completely innocent victims, as, for example, during the mass lynching of Hungarian party activists and secret police recruits on Republic Square by an angry crowd - 28 people became victims of “people's” lynching, of which 26 were Hungarian state security officers. The Hungarian Prime Minister Imre Nagy, who returned to power, managed in the few days allotted to him by fate, history and the Kremlin to hand over to the Soviet Ambassador Yuri Vladimirovich Andropov a statement on Hungary’s withdrawal from the Warsaw Pact and its neutrality and to radio the whole world about the war between the Hungarians and the Russians.

On the territory of the country during this period there were units of the Special Corps of Soviet Forces (the corps headquarters was located in Szekesfehérvár, it was commanded by Lieutenant General P. N. Lashchenko) - the 2nd and 17th Guards Mechanized Divisions, which were delayed on the way home from Austria after the liquidation of the Central Group of Forces in 1955, as well as the 195th Fighter and 172nd Bomber Air Divisions.

The uprising did not come as a surprise to the military - given the difficult political situation in the country, the corps command already in July 1956, by order of Moscow, developed the “Action Plan for Soviet Troops to Maintain and Restore Public Order on the Territory of Hungary.” After the plan was approved by the commander of the Special Corps, it received the name “Compass”.

Armored car BA-64, created during the Great Patriotic War. It remained in service with the Soviet Army for a long time.

The restoration of order in Budapest according to this plan was entrusted to the 2nd Guards Mechanized Division, Lieutenant General S. Lebedev. The 17th Guards Mechanized Division, Major General A. Krivosheev, was supposed to cover the border with Austria with its main forces. Particularly discussed were the cases when it was allowed to use lethal weapons. No other activities or special training were carried out for Soviet units.

Western countries actively helped the Hungarians in preparing the rebellion: on July 18, the United States allocated more than $100 million for the preparation of the putsch, Radio Free Europe intensively inspired: NATO countries would come to the rescue, in Upper Bavaria, near Traunstein, Hungarian saboteurs (who fled in 1945) were preparing . to the west are Hortis and Salashists). In October 1956, a group of Hungarian Germans arrived there, many of whom had previously served in the SS. From them, cohesive core groups of rebel detachments were formed, which were then transported by plane to Austria, and from there, by ambulance planes and vehicles, to Hungary.

In Munich, on Lockerstrasse, there was a recruiting center headed by an American army captain. From here, former Nazi supporters headed to the scene of events. On October 27, one of the groups (about 30 people) was transferred to Hungary with the help of border guards from neutral Austria. More than 500 “freedom fighters” were transferred from England. Several dozen groups were sent from Fontainebleau, France, where NATO headquarters was then located.

T-34 on the street of Budapest

So, as already mentioned, on October 23, tens of thousands of people took to the streets of Budapest, demanding free elections and the withdrawal of Soviet troops from the country. In the evening, a telephone rang in the office of Lieutenant General P. N. Lashchenko. The Soviet Ambassador Yu. V. Andropov called:

Can you send troops to eliminate unrest in the capital?

In my opinion, the Hungarian police, state security agencies and the Hungarian army should restore order in Budapest. It is not within my competence, and it is undesirable to involve Soviet troops in carrying out such tasks. In addition, such actions require a corresponding order from the Minister of Defense.

Despite the obvious reluctance of the army authorities to interfere in the internal Hungarian conflict, Andropov and Gere that same evening, by telephone through the Moscow party leaders who had gathered for an emergency meeting of the Presidium of the CPSU Central Committee, achieved a decision to put units of the Special Corps on combat readiness.

After the start of shooting and fighting on the streets of Budapest, the Chief of the General Staff, Marshal V.D. Sokolovsky, at 11 pm on October 23, gave the order to move Soviet troops to Budapest. Imre Nagy himself did not object to this decision. A similar action was supported by Mao Zedong, Joseph Broz Tito and Palmiro Togliatti. The corps commander, General Lashchenko, went to the capital to lead the troops, accompanied by security. On one of the streets of Buda, the rebels burned down a radio station in a car and killed the radio operator. Approaching Soviet tanks saved the other crew members.

On the city streets, Soviet soldiers were met by barricades hastily erected by the rebels. The troops were fired from the windows of houses and from the roofs. The rebels skillfully used close combat anti-tank weapons and the peculiarities of urban planning. Strong pockets of resistance were created in the city center, which were defended by rebel detachments numbering up to 300 people. every.

The first to enter the battle on the streets of Budapest in the early morning of October 24 was the 2nd Guards Mechanized Nikolaev-Budapest Division of Major General S.V. Lebedev, having lost four tanks and four armored personnel carriers during the day of fierce fighting.

The BTR-152 armored personnel carriers, which did not have an armored roof, burned like candles: any grenade or Molotov cocktail thrown from the upper floors of the buildings turned them into a flaming steel grave for the entire crew and troops.

The current situation required clarification of the Compass plan, since there was no need to count on the help of the Hungarian army and police. As it became known later, out of 26 thousand people. 12 thousand personnel of the Hungarian People's Army (HPA) supported the rebels. In Budapest itself alone there were about 7 thousand Hungarian military personnel and up to 50 tanks. In addition, there were several dozen self-propelled artillery units (self-propelled guns), anti-tank guns, mounted and hand grenade launchers. The passages between the houses were mined and blocked with barricades.

The rebellion turned out to be well prepared; a lot of weapons fell into the hands of its participants. It was the saboteurs mentioned above who seized radio stations and the Danuvia and Lampadyar weapons factories on the night of October 24. The International Red Cross Hospital in Budapest was headed by former SS man Otto Frank.

The Hungarian Revolution began with a carnival, but too quickly turned into a bloodbath. The intervention of Soviet tanks politically turned its course: the civil war turned into a war with the Soviet Army, its main slogan now became “Soviets, go home!”

There were already up to three thousand armed rebels operating on the streets of the Hungarian capital. About 8 thousand people were released from prison, most of whom were ordinary criminals.

The approaching units - the 37th Guards Tank Nikopol Red Banner Order of Suvorov Regiment of Colonel Bichan, the 5th Guards Mechanized Regiment of Colonel Pilipenko, the 6th Guards Mechanized Regiment of Colonel Mayakov and the 87th Guards Heavy Tank-Self-Propelled Brest Regiment of Nikovsky - immediately entered the battle.

The number of Soviet troops that entered Budapest did not exceed one division: about 6 thousand people, 290 tanks,

Some units of the Hungarian People's Army went over to the side of the rebels

120 armored personnel carriers and 156 guns. These forces were clearly not enough to restore order in a huge city of two million.

Units of the Hungarian People's Army that remained loyal to the previous government also entered the battle - until October 28, in 40 cities of the country, Hungarian units used weapons against their compatriots. According to Hungarian data, about a thousand people died, Hungary was on the verge of civil war.

We arrived in the capital and began fighting against the rebels were four divisions of the 3rd Rifle Corps of the VNA. The grouping of Soviet troops in the Hungarian capital was also constantly increasing. On the same day, October 24, armored vehicles of the 83rd Tank and 57th Guards Mechanized Regiments of the 17th Guards Yenakievo-Danube Mechanized Division entered the city.

At noon on October 24, Hungarian radio announced the introduction of a state of emergency in Budapest and the establishment of a curfew. The cases of participants in the uprising were to be considered by specially created military courts. Imre Nagy declared martial law in the country, trying to bring the anarchy of the revolution into the mainstream of law and order. Alas, it was already too late - events that had been held back for too long, as if catching up for lost time, developed spontaneously and uncontrollably.

During the day of fierce fighting, about 300 rebels were captured. Soviet tanks took control of strategic targets in Budapest and bridges over the Danube.

On October 25, M. Suslov and A. Mikoyan met with I. Nady. By October 28, an agreement was reached to overcome the crisis by peaceful means, but the entire course of subsequent events in the capital and the country changed the agreements reached.

In the following days the fighting continued. The tankers had a hard time on narrow streets among a hostile population. Schoolchildren, who at first did not pay attention to them, approached the tanks parked at intersections, took bottles of gasoline from their briefcases and set fire to the combat vehicles. There was constant shooting from the windows at soldiers who had abandoned their tanks and shelters. There was danger everywhere. Every day, transport planes took the wounded and the bodies of the dead to the Union.

PTRS-41 is another fairly effective anti-tank weapon. Simonov's anti-tank rifle had a 5-round magazine and automatic reloading

By October 28, virtually all power in Hungary was in the hands of the Revolutionary Military Council, led by generals Kanna, Kovacs and Colonel Maletera. They proclaimed Imre Nagy the official leader of the uprising. On the same day, Hungarian troops receive an order from their government not to participate in hostilities. The assault on the center of the capital planned for that day by the joint efforts of Soviet and Hungarian units never took place.

At the request of Imre Nagy's government, Soviet troops were withdrawn from Budapest at the end of October. On October 30, Suslov and Mikoyan brought from Moscow the Declaration of the Soviet government on equality and non-interference in relations between socialist countries. The next day, Soviet units began to leave Budapest, and Imre Nagy announced on the radio the beginning of the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Hungary.

On November 1, the Hungarian government, in connection with the transfer of additional eight divisions to Hungarian territory by the Soviet command, announced its withdrawal from the Warsaw Pact, the country’s neutrality and the need to withdraw Soviet units and units outside the country. Such a development of events was not expected either in Moscow or in the capitals of other socialist states.

At the same time, 87-year-old Admiral Horthy, who was in Portugal, offered himself as the ruler of Hungary, and in Montreal, Canada, there was a demonstration of Hungarian emigrants shouting: “Hitler is coming back!” We are freedom fighters!”

In October 1956, the “fighters for democracy and freedom,” brutalized by blood and impunity, hanged them, trampled their victims underfoot, gouged out their eyes and cut off their ears with scissors. On Moscow Square in Budapest, they hung 30 people by their feet, doused them with gasoline and burned them alive.

Nevertheless, the withdrawal of Soviet troops began, but it was only a smokescreen. The grouping of troops in Hungary and neighboring territories continued to increase - the danger of the Hungarian example for other socialist countries of Eastern Europe was too great. The Soviet leadership decided to put out the flaring fire as quickly as possible.

Soviet units withdrawn 15–20 km from the capital were putting equipment and weapons in order, replenishing fuel and food supplies. The Minister of Defense, Marshal of the Soviet Union G.K. Zhukov, received instructions from the Party Central Committee to develop “an appropriate action plan related to the events in Hungary.” This was the last combat operation that Zhukov had to carry out.

The Degtyarev light machine gun (RPD), created back in 1944, was actively used by both sides

N. S. Khrushchev and G. K. Zhukov: one of the last “peaceful” conversations

To N. S. Khrushchev’s question about how long it would take the Soviet troops to restore order in the People’s Republic of China, Zhukov replied: “Three days.” It took, of course, more, but the operation had already received the code name “Whirlwind.” The leadership of Soviet troops in Hungary was entrusted to the Commander-in-Chief of the United Armed Forces of the Warsaw Pact member states, Marshal I. S. Konev.

Troops were raised on alarm in the border military districts. Units of the 38th Army of General X. Mamsurov and the 8th Mechanized Army of General A. Babajanyan from the Carpathian Military District were urgently sent to help the Special Corps, including the 31st Tank, 11, 13 (39), 32nd Guards , 27th mechanized division.

Li-2 - began its service in the United States before World War II. For a long time was the best Soviet military transport aircraft

Units sent to Hungary received new T-54 tanks and other military equipment. A white vertical stripe was applied to the tank turrets to identify “friend or foe.” The 33rd Guards Mechanized Division, Major General E. I. Obaturov, arrived from the Separate Mechanized Army stationed in Romania. The 35th Guards Mechanized Division was transferred from the Odessa Military District.

Thousands of tanks, self-propelled guns, and armored personnel carriers walked along the roads of Hungary. Not since World War II have Hungarians seen so much military equipment and soldiers. The ring of Soviet troops tightened around the center of the armed uprising - Budapest. USSR Defense Minister Marshal Zhukov reported daily to the party leadership on the progress of the fighting on Hungarian soil.

T-34–85 with identification stripe, slightly damaged

By this time, the new government of Hungary, headed by Imre Nagy, announced the neutral status of the country, and even appealed to the UN with a request to protect its sovereignty. These actions of the Hungarian authorities finally decided their fate. The Soviet leadership gave the order for the armed suppression of the “rebellion.” To hide preparations for a military action, Soviet representatives entered into negotiations on the withdrawal of troops. Naturally, no one was going to do this, they just needed to gain time.

On November 2, Janos Kadar was brought to Moscow, who agreed to head the new government after the suppression of the rebellion, although recently, in a conversation with the Soviet ambassador Yu. V. Andropov, he stated: “I am a Hungarian, and if necessary, I will fight our tanks with my bare hands "

T-54 - the newest tank of that time

But the rebels did not waste time. A defensive belt was created around the capital, reinforced with hundreds of anti-aircraft guns. Outposts with tanks and artillery appeared in settlements adjacent to the city. The most important objects of the cities were occupied by armed detachments, the total number of which reached 50 thousand people. There were already about 100 tanks in the hands of the rebels.

Particularly brutal battles broke out in Hungary in November 1956. After strengthening the group and careful preparation, on November 4 at 6 a.m., at the signal “Thunder,” Operation Whirlwind began. The Soviet command, completing preparations for the operation, sought to misinform and, if possible, behead the Hungarian leadership. When the troops were already completing the final preparations for the assault on Budapest, Army General M. S. Malinin negotiated with the Hungarian delegation on the withdrawal of Soviet troops from the country. The delegation was led by Pal Maleter, who had already received the rank of lieutenant general. And on November 3, the chairman of the KGB of the USSR and his group, during negotiations, arrested a delegation of the Hungarian government, which included the “new” Minister of Defense Pal Maleter, Chief of the General Staff Such and other officers. A military tribunal awaited them ahead, which did not promise anything good.

The main task of “neutralizing” the enemy was still carried out by units of the Special Corps. The 2nd Guards Mechanized Division was to take control of the northeastern and central parts of Budapest, the 33rd Guards Mechanized Division was to enter the city from the southeast, and the 128th Guards Rifle Division was to establish control over the western part of the city.

Main role In the street battles in Budapest, the 33rd Kherson Red Banner, twice Order of Suvorov, Guards Mechanized Division, reinforced by the 100th Tank Regiment of the 31st Tank Division and the 128th Self-Propelled Tank Regiment of the 66th Guards Rifle Division, played. It was commanded by General Obaturov.

Soviet tank and mechanized units had to go into battle on the move, without thorough reconnaissance and organization of interaction with the infantry. To capture the most important objects, commanders created one or two special forward detachments in the division as part of an infantry battalion with attached paratroopers and 10–12 tanks. In a number of cases, assault groups were created. To suppress pockets of resistance, troops were forced to use artillery and use tanks as mobile fire weapons. The assault groups used flamethrowers, smoke grenades and sabers. In cases where the massive use of artillery did not give positive results, surprise night attacks were carried out.

It can be said that the tactics of the combined arms units of the Soviet Army were based on the virtually universal experience of the Great Patriotic War.

The German MP-40 submachine gun again proved to be an excellent weapon in urban battles

By 7 o'clock in the morning on November 4, the main forces of the 2nd, 33rd Guards Mechanized and 128th Guards Rifle Divisions (about 30,000 people) rushed into Budapest, capturing the bridges over the Danube, the Budaers airfield, and capturing about 100 tanks, 15 guns, 22 aircraft. Paratroopers from the 7th and 31st Guards Airborne Divisions also fought in the city.

Tanks, using cannon fire and ramming, made passages in the barricades built on city streets, opening the way for infantry and paratroopers. The scale of the fighting is indicated by the following fact: on November 5, units of the 33rd Guards Mechanized Division, after an artillery raid, began an assault on the resistance center in the Corvin cinema, in which about 170 guns and mortars from 11 artillery divisions took part. From three sides, several dozen tanks shot at the surviving firing points, suppressing the last pockets of rebel resistance. By evening, the 71st Guards Tank Regiment of Colonel Litovtsev and the 104th Guards Mechanized Regiment of Colonel Yanbakhtin captured the city quarter.

At the same time, our units attacked rebel positions near Moscow Square. It was not possible to immediately capture the positions near the square, the Royal Fortress and the quarters adjacent to Mount Gellert from the south, but here one of the rebel leaders, General Istvan Kovacs, was captured. Fighting continued in this area in the following days. The assault groups used flamethrowers, smoke and incendiary charges.

Stubborn battles took place for the Royal Fortress and for the former palace of the dictator Horthy. More than a thousand rebels skillfully used engineering Communication and underground walls of the fortress. We had to use heavy tanks and concrete-piercing shells. On November 7, Soviet units took another node of resistance - Mount Gellert.

The suppression of the rebellion also took place outside Budapest. From November 4 to 6, units of the 8th Mechanized Army disarmed 32 Hungarian garrisons, suppressing armed resistance in Derbrecen, Miskolc, Szolnok, Kecskemét, etc. The troops of generals Babajanyan and Mamsurov took control of airfields and main roads, and the Austro-Hungarian border was blocked.

"Faustpatron" (Panzerfaust) - the most formidable anti-tank melee weapon of the period of the end of World War II was again used by the rebels

On November 8, over the island of Csepel, where several military factories were located and the production of anti-tank “faustpatrons” was established, the Hungarians manage to shoot down an Il-28R from the 880th Guards Regiment of the 177th Guards Bomber Air Division. The entire crew of the reconnaissance aircraft was killed: squadron commander Captain A. Bobrovsky, squadron navigator Captain D. Karmishin, squadron communications chief Lieutenant V. Yartsev. Each crew member was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. The fact that during the assault on the island, Soviet troops lost only three tanks is the undoubted merit of the heroic crew - the losses could have been much greater.

Small armed groups that remained after the defeat of the main detachments no longer sought to hold individual buildings and positions, but, acting from ambushes, first retreated to the outskirts settlements and further into forest areas.

By November 11, the armed resistance of the rebels was broken throughout Hungary. Having stopped the open struggle, the remnants of the rebel groups went into the forests with the aim of creating partisan detachments, but a few days later, after a continuous combing of the area, in which the Hungarian officer regiments took part, they were finally liquidated.

Coaxial MG-42 anti-aircraft machine gun on an anti-aircraft mount. With the help of such a “spark”, an Il-28R was shot down

The Il-28R reconnaissance plane descended too low and was shot down. The crew died

During the fighting, Soviet troops lost 669 people killed. (according to other sources - 720 people), 1540 were wounded, 51 people went missing. Units of the 7th and 31st Guards Airborne Divisions lost 85 people killed. and 12 people - missing.

A large amount of equipment was shot down and damaged, so the 33rd Guards Mechanized Division alone lost 14 tanks and self-propelled guns, 9 armored personnel carriers, 13 guns, 4 BM-13 installations, 31 cars and 5 motorcycles.

The 9-mm Makarov pistol (PM) has been in service with the Soviet Army and a number of Warsaw Pact allies since 1951.

During the period of fighting and after its end, it was confiscated from Hungarian armed forces and the population a large number of weapons: about 30 thousand rifles and carbines, 11.5 thousand machine guns, about 2 thousand machine guns, 1,350 pistols, 62 guns (47 of which are anti-aircraft). According to official Budapest, from October 23 to January 1957, that is, until the clashes between the rebels and Hungarian and Soviet troops stopped, 2,502 people died. and 19,226 were injured. About 2 thousand people died in Budapest alone. and over 12 thousand were wounded. About 200 thousand people. left Hungary.

When the fighting ended, investigative actions began to be carried out against those individuals who were suspected of participating in the uprising. The Chairman of the Council of Ministers of Hungary, Imre Nagy, asked for political asylum from Yugoslavia. Tito refused to hand over the rebellious prime minister for almost a month, but eventually gave in, and on November 22, 1956, I. Nagy, accompanied by two employees of the Yugoslav embassy, boarded a bus and headed to his home.

When the car drove past the headquarters of the Soviet command, a tank blocked its way, the Yugoslavs were thrown out of the bus, and Imre Nagy was arrested. Two years later he was convicted and executed “for treason.” Although it should be noted that N. Khrushchev advised J. Kadar to handle the case of the former Hungarian leader with “soft mittens” - put him in prison for 5-6 years, and then get him a job as a teacher at some institute in the province. But Janos Kadar did not listen to the “patron”: Imre Nagy and his six main associates were executed by hanging. There were 22 thousand trials, another 400 people. were sentenced to death and 20 thousand were expelled from the country.

The attempt to “democratize” Hungarian society from below ended in failure. After the suppression of the rebellion on the territory of Hungary, a formation was formed Southern group troops, which included the 21st Poltava and 19th Nikolaev-Budapest Guards Tank Divisions.

J. Kadar ruled Hungary for more than 30 years. But he did not build the socialism that developed on the territory of the Soviet Union. Kadar constantly emphasized that socialism is a distant prospect and there is no need to rush. In Hungary, he introduced alternative elections (several candidates for one seat), partial liberalization of prices, and economic levers for managing enterprises. A program for the development of commercial banks was implemented, joint stock companies and exchanges, the Hungarian economy remained multi-structured - state, cooperative and private enterprises competed with each other in the market. As a remark, it can be noted that the “father” of Hungarian economic reforms, R. Njersz, at one time passed on the experience of Hungarian reforms to China, which to this day gives the PRC stability of development and a positive effect.

After the liquidation of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (read socialist camp) and, accordingly, its military component (Warsaw Pact Organization), Hungary quickly chose a pro-Western orientation, and by 1999 it became a full member of the military organization of the West during the implementation of the NATO Eastward Expansion program "

However, at present there is a certain revival of contacts between Hungary and Russia in the military-technical sphere. It is proposed to replace outdated Hungarian armored vehicles with Russian armored personnel carriers, and supplies of Russian tanks are expected. The supply of spare parts for various types of military equipment and weapons has increased noticeably Russian production, which is mainly equipped with the Hungarian army.

Notes:

15 developing countries have ballistic missiles in service, and another 10 are developing their own. Research in the field of chemical and bacteriological weapons continues in 20 countries.

Quote from: Russia (USSR) in local wars and military conflicts of the second half of the 20th century. - M., 2000. P.58.

Self engineering structure, which bore this name and included a high wall of reinforced concrete slabs, was installed in August 1961 and lasted until 1990.

50 Jahre das Beste vom Stern. 1998, no. 9. S. 12.

The secrecy has been removed... - M.: VI, 1989. P. 397.

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