One Day That Shook the Communist World: The 1956 Hungarian Uprising and Its Legacy / Edition 1

by Paul Lendvai, Ann Major

Overview

On October 23, 1956, a popular uprising against Soviet rule swept through Hungary like a force of nature, only to be mercilessly crushed by Soviet tanks twelve days later. Only now, fifty years after those harrowing events, can the full story be told. This book is a powerful eyewitness account and a gripping history of the uprising in Hungary that heralded the future liberation of Eastern Europe.


Paul Lendvai was a young journalist covering politics in Hungary when the uprising broke out. He knew the government officials and revolutionaries involved. He was on the front lines of the student protests and the bloody street fights and he saw the revolutionary government smashed by the Red Army. In this riveting, deeply personal, and often irreverent book, Lendvai weaves his own experiences with in-depth reportage to unravel the complex chain of events leading up to and including the uprising, its brutal suppression, and its far-reaching political repercussions in Hungary and neighboring Eastern Bloc countries. He draws upon exclusive interviews with Russian and former KGB officials, survivors of the Soviet backlash, and relatives of those executed. He reveals new evidence from closed tribunals and documents kept secret in Soviet and Hungarian archives. Lendvai's breathtaking narrative shows how the uprising, while tragic, delivered a stunning blow to Communism that helped to ultimately bring about its demise.



One Day That Shook the Communist World is the best account of these unprecedented events.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780691132822
Publisher:	Princeton University Press
Publication date:	03/23/2008
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	312
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.25(h) x (d)

About the Author

Paul Lendvai is a leading European journalist and senior commentator on Austrian television. He is editor in chief of the Vienna-based international quarterly Europäische Rundschau. He is the author of thirteen books, including The Hungarians: A Thousand Years of Victory in Defeat (Princeton).

Table of Contents

Introduction 1
Chapter 1: A Day That Shook the Communist World 5
Chapter 2: The Road to Revolution 25
Chapter 3: A Night of Cataclysmic Decisions 45
Chapter 4: The Legend of the Corvinists 55
Chapter 5: Wrestling for the Soul of Imre Nagy 67
Chapter 6: Deadlocked 75
Chapter 7: A Turnaround with a Question Mark 83
Chapter 8: The General, the Colonel, and the Adjutant 89
Chapter 9: The Dams Are Breaking 101
Chapter 10: The Condottiere, the "Uncle," and the Romantics 109
Chapter 11: Decision in the Kremlin: The End of Patience 119
Chapter 12: Double Dive into Darkness 127
Chapter 13: The Puppeteers and the Kádár Enigma 139
Chapter 14: Operation Whirlwind and Kádár's Phantom Government 149
Chapter 15: The Yugoslav-Soviet Conspiracy 163
Chapter 16: The Second Revolution 173
Chapter 17: The Moral Bankruptcy of the U.S. Liberation Theory 185
Chapter 18: Worldwide Reactions 195
Chapter 19: The Barbarous Vendetta of the Victors 211
Chapter 20: 1956-1989: Victory in Defeat? 225
Epilogue: Whose 1956? 241
Acknowledgments 247
Chronology 249
Notes 255
Bibliography 279
Index 285

What People are Saying About This

Istvan Deak

A brilliant synthesis of the events of 1956 and their background written in Lendvai's smooth, intelligent, and witty style, with the same elegant translation known to readers from his highly successful book, The Hungarians. Lendvai has a remarkable facility for unmasking the many lies told during the past half century by the Soviet and Hungarian Communists, as well as legends perpetrated by Hungarian nationalists.
— Istvan Deak, coeditor of "The Politics of Retribution in Europe"

From the Publisher

"A brilliant synthesis of the events of 1956 and their background written in Lendvai's smooth, intelligent, and witty style, with the same elegant translation known to readers from his highly successful book, The Hungarians. Lendvai has a remarkable facility for unmasking the many lies told during the past half century by the Soviet and Hungarian Communists, as well as legends perpetrated by Hungarian nationalists."—István Deák, coeditor of The Politics of Retribution in Europe

Editorial Reviews

"Based on his own experiences, Lendvai adds a sharp focus to understanding of one of the most important events of the 20th century, the spontaneous Hungarian uprising. He maintains a balanced account of the causes and consequences of this heroic but tragic revolt, including the nonassistance of the Western nations, especially the U.S."—-T.M. Racz, Choice

"Lendvai's approach and style make this book a particularly welcome addition to the scholarship on the Hungarian revolution. . . . Though the entire book has a great deal to offer the reader . . . [the] final chapters, evaluating the legacy of the 1956 uprising, are the ones where Lendvai offers his most striking additions to the history of the revolution."—-Eliza Ablovatski, Austrian History Yearbook

"Lendvai has produced a sophisticated narrative of complex events, interweaving political, international, military, social, personal, and intellectual history into a thick fabric of historical text. Importantly, he argues that 1956 is an important year in Hungarian, and Western, heritage. Commendably, Lendvai shows his intellectual debt to Hungarian scholars throughout the text. One Day That Shook the Communist World is one of the most readable and best English language accounts of the Hungarian 1956 Uprising."—-Laszlo Borhi, Historian

"The detail in this work is impressive, the narrative engaging, and the judgments considered."—-David W. Lovell, European Legacy

From the Publisher

The detail in this work is impressive, the narrative engaging, and the judgments considered.

European Legacy - David W. Lovell

Lendvai has produced a sophisticated narrative of complex events, interweaving political, international, military, social, personal, and intellectual history into a thick fabric of historical text. Importantly, he argues that 1956 is an important year in Hungarian, and Western, heritage. Commendably, Lendvai shows his intellectual debt to Hungarian scholars throughout the text. One Day That Shook the Communist World is one of the most readable and best English language accounts of the Hungarian 1956 Uprising.

Historian - Laszlo Borhi

Lendvai's approach and style make this book a particularly welcome addition to the scholarship on the Hungarian revolution. . . . Though the entire book has a great deal to offer the reader . . . [the] final chapters, evaluating the legacy of the 1956 uprising, are the ones where Lendvai offers his most striking additions to the history of the revolution.

Austrian History Yearbook - Eliza Ablovatski

Based on his own experiences, Lendvai adds a sharp focus to understanding of one of the most important events of the 20th century, the spontaneous Hungarian uprising. He maintains a balanced account of the causes and consequences of this heroic but tragic revolt, including the nonassistance of the Western nations, especially the U.S.

Choice - T.M. Racz

The detail in this work is impressive, the narrative engaging, and the judgments considered.
— David W. Lovell

European Legacy

Lendvai has produced a sophisticated narrative of complex events, interweaving political, international, military, social, personal, and intellectual history into a thick fabric of historical text. Importantly, he argues that 1956 is an important year in Hungarian, and Western, heritage. Commendably, Lendvai shows his intellectual debt to Hungarian scholars throughout the text. One Day That Shook the Communist World is one of the most readable and best English language accounts of the Hungarian 1956 Uprising.
— Laszlo Borhi

Historian

Lendvai's approach and style make this book a particularly welcome addition to the scholarship on the Hungarian revolution. . . . Though the entire book has a great deal to offer the reader . . . [the] final chapters, evaluating the legacy of the 1956 uprising, are the ones where Lendvai offers his most striking additions to the history of the revolution.
— Eliza Ablovatski

Austrian History Yearbook

Based on his own experiences, Lendvai adds a sharp focus to understanding of one of the most important events of the 20th century, the spontaneous Hungarian uprising. He maintains a balanced account of the causes and consequences of this heroic but tragic revolt, including the nonassistance of the Western nations, especially the U.S.
— T.M. Racz

Choice