Although the 1956 Hungarian revolution had been initiated by students and intellectuals, once a serious struggle developed, the mass of the working class joined in. For 12 days Hungarians felt that the country was heading towards neutrality from soviet occupation and its citizens were hopeful about the return of democracy. But, this was not acceptable for the Soviet Government.
Although most historians believe that the revolution would have been defeated anyway, several international developments that occurred at the time offered convenient “justification” for the Soviets to crush the revolution.
First, it appears that the Prime Minister Imre Nagy was moving too fast with the establishment of Hungary as a neutral country. On October 30 he announced the end of the one-party system. On November 2 he announced Hungarian withdrawal from the Warsaw Pact, and appealed to the United Nations to defend "Hungarian neutrality".
Second, French-British-Israeli invasion of Egypt over the nationalization of the Suez canal weakened the UN’s position to come to the aid of Hungary as was requested by Nagy.
So the crushing of the revolution moved fast with a series of political betrayals and the military might of the Soviet Union. On November 3rd the Hungarian delegation headed by General Pál Maléter was meeting with the Soviet delegation led by General of the Army Mikhail Malinin. At 1730 an agreement was reached on all points. Soviet troops would depart on January 15, 1957, but until then the Soviet forces would be treated as the friends of Hungary and would be fed and transported by Hungarians means. These agreements, though concurred by all parties, were to be signed by the delegations at another meeting to take place at Soviet military headquarters at Tököl at 2200 that evening. At Tököl, isolated on an island in the Danube just south of Budapest, the Hungarian delegation was cut off from the government. Further negotiations proceeded until around midnight when General Serov, Chief of the KGB, entered the meeting with his henchmen and arrested the Hungarian delegation. This occurred despite their status under international law as accredited negotiators for their government.
On November 4th Russian tanks, motorized troops and armoured trains have streamed into Hungary at the border town of Záhony while bombers and jet fighters scrambled into Hungarian airspace. They were moving towards Budapest. Within days the Soviet military crushed all resistance and Hungary returned to the control of the Soviet Union. Nagy and some of his colleagues who took refuge in the Yugoslav embassy were promised free passage to go into exile but as they left the Embassy, were arrested by KGB agents.
János Kádár, who previously expressed support for the Revolution and the Nagy government, switched sides after Nagy announced withdrawal from the Warsaw Pact. He left Budapest on the evening of November 1 via the Soviet Embassy and went to Uzhgarod, the capitol of the Carpatho-Ukraine. There he met with others who joined him and the Soviets in creating a government for Hungary friendly to Moscow's interests.
The 1956 Student Revolution was defeated by the Soviets and Hungarians who remained loyal to Moscow. The struggle for freedom cost the lives of thousands and as aftermath, 26,000 freedom fighters were put on trial of which 13,000 were imprisoned and over 300 executed. Over 200,000 left Hungary as refugees. I crossed the border to Austria on November 19th around midnight when it was already heavily guarded. With mixed emotions I looked back to my homeland, glad that I was alive but sad that I had to say goodbye.
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