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Twelve Days: The Story of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution

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October 20, 2006 marked the fiftieth anniversary of the Hungarian Revolution, the seemingly spontaneous (at least to those outside Hungary) set of demonstrations that quickly morphed into a full-fledged revolution that almost freed Hungary from Soviet hegemony. Twelve days after it began the revolution was crushed under the tread of Red Army tanks. Victor Sebestyen's "Twelve Days: The Story of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution" is an informative and well-written examination of the revolution, its causes and its consequences.

Twelve Days is divided into three parts: "Prelude", "Revolution" and "Aftermath". In the Prelude Sebestyen provides a concise history of Hungary in the first half of the twentieth century. This is an invaluable introduction for readers, such as this reviewer, who have not previously immersed themselves in Hungarian history. After the First World War and the subsequent Treaty of Versailles, Hungary came to be ruled by a fascist regime led by Admiral Horthy. Hungary under Horthy became an ally of Hitler's Germany and found itself at war with the Allied Powers, most importantly the USSR. Toward the end of the Second World War, the German Army occupied Hungary and fought a desperate battle against the Red Army. The 100 day siege and conquest of Budapest was brutal and the damage to Budapest was exceeded only by the damage done to Leningrad, Stalingrad, and Warsaw. (Krisztian Ungvary's "The Siege of Budapest" makes an excellent companion volume to Twelve Days). Sebestyen then takes the reader through the immediate post-World War II years in which the Hungarian Communist Party, under the leadership of Matyas Rakosi gradually seized total control of the reins of power. Sebestyen's description of the brutality of Rakosi, who fancied himself as something of a Stalin-protégé follows. Rakosi's brutality, which rivaled that of Stalin's, laid the groundwork for the 1956 uprising. As noted by Sebestyen, Stalin's death and Khrushchev's denunciation of the cult of Stalin left many Hungarian's feeling that the time was ripe for liberalization and it is with this feeling in mind that Sebestyen begins his recitation of the revolution itself.

The revolution starts with a series of small demonstrations in Parliament square but these demonstrations caused the Communist party structure to collapse like a house of cards. The relatively small Soviet troop presence was humbled by the demonstrators. The Soviets deposed Rakosi and announced that Imre Nagy would take over Hungary's leadership. Nagy is a compelling figure. Sebestyen paints a sympathetic yet objective portrait of Nagy. Nagy, a dedicated Communist (albeit not a hardliner) found himself immersed in a situation he could not control. A jovial, if somewhat plodding bureaucrat, Nagy underwent a transformation from a party-liner to the leader of the drive for total independence from the USSR and from the one-party system then in place in Hungary.

Events in Hungary did not take place in a vacuum and Sebestyen's narrative covers the critical roles played by both the USSR and the USA. Sebestyen takes the reader into the Kremlin and paints a picture of a fragmented and confused Politburo that initially was prepared to grant Hungary some `freedoms' but ultimately decided it had to crush to the revolution brutally lest it lose its grip on the rest of Eastern Europe. The USA's role was marked more by inaction than action. The Eisenhower administration, most notably his Secretary of State John Foster Dulles, made the `roll back of Communism' a key tenet of the administration and Eisenhower's 1956 re-election campaign. At the same time, the USA-sponsored Radio Free Europe regularly urged its Eastern European listeners to take a stand against Communist rule. Unfortunately, the Hungarian people were cruelly disappointed to find that the USA had absolutely no interest in doing battle with the USSR over Hungary. In fact, Eisenhower made it a point to let the USSR know that it wished to remain neutral and, in effect, let the Kremlin know it had a free hand to do what it wanted.

The Kremlin did send in the tanks in great numbers and crushed the incipient revolution twelve days after it started. Order was restored and the Communist Party took back control of the government. The new party leader, Janos Kadar, was responsible for the prosecution and execution of the revolt's leaders, including Nagy. Life returned to the status quo until the fall of the Soviet Union over thirty years later.

Victor Sebestyen's "Twelve Days" provides a great service in providing a concise history of these twelve days. Twelve Days is a scholarly work (thoroughly researched and annotated) that is written with the lay reader in mind. Twelve Days is a thoughtful, well-written account of twelve tumultuous days in Hungary that left this reader hungry for more accounts of Hungary and its history. Highly recommended. L. Fleisig

I Think this Book is very well written, I liked how it follows a logical order and tells about the events in a clear way giving all the background necessary to understand the development of the revolution and it's aftermath. I Think the Author makes it more interesting in the way he tells the story in a simple and logical way.The Revolution itself it's a great history wich has everything including Heroes (The revolutionaries ),lots of Action, Treachery, espionage,Villains (Mr. Andropov ,Rakosi,Kadar ),Superpowers in Action (USSR ), And Inactive Superpowers (USA and The West ),indifference (UN ),and victims.
After This I Want to Express my Great Admiration to the Hungarian People who showed so great courage and Fought Incredibly against a Superpower Empire, and the Sadness for all the People that died or suffered under these events and the rule of communism.
And at last but not least I Hope that Mr.Andropov stays well attended in Hell by You Know Who.

Few writers have the ability to present history to their readers with both historical integrity and quality narration. The former allows the reader an accurate appraisal of history. Yet, writers can easily neglect the latter. It is far easier for them to approach their recount with dry objectivity, void of a human "touch," and void of a true story.

Victor Sebestyen accomplishes both tasks in his book "Twelve Days: The Story of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution." Filled with vivid accounts and character analysis, which comes from Sebestyen's in-depth research, a largely forgotten historical event of the Cold War finds new life.

As a satellite of the Soviet Union, Hungary fell under the control of Maytas Rakosi, a torrid dictator eager to please his appointer, Joseph Stalin. Under Maytas, Hungarians came to know the AVO (the Hungarian equivalent to the KGB), who under the leadership of Gabor Peter, implemented the "salami tactics" of Rakosi to subdue dissent and retain control of the communist country.

After the death of Stalin, and the subsequent approval of Nikita Khrushchev to lead the Kremlin, Rakosi influence in Hungary diminished. Khrushchev and his associates, well aware of Rakosi's brutal "salami tactics" diminished his power. One way in which the Kremlin accomplished this was through the appointment of Imre Nagy as the country's Prime Minister.

Nagy represented a communism that sought to withdrawal from the harsh affronts of Stalin, mirroring the desire of Khrushchev, in favor of a more amicable system for the Party and Hungarians through his "June Road" plan. A polar opposite of the much harsher Rakosi, an embodiment of Stalin-communism, Nagy quickly amassed a loyal following amongst his compatriots. His rival-like stature to Rakosi, the First Secretary of the Hungarian Communist Party, was not unseen by the country's leader. As he had done before with perceived rivals, Rakosi attempted to oust Nagy through trumped-up charges, which would ultimately lead to a show trial (a preferred method amongst Soviet communists to remove threats).

Rakosi failed at this, and was only able to fire Nagy from his position. Khrushchev later tired of Rakosi, and removed him from power. His successor, Erno Gero, would ultimately be in communist power when the Revolution began.

A communist student organization desired to march into Budapest City Park. A last minute approval by Gero sealed the eventuality. What began as a protest march, partly inspired by rhetoric heard on the U.S. sponsored Radio Free Europe, quickly turned into a revolution. Hungarian soldiers joined the side of their country, and what began has a mere protest to voice concerns turned into a hostile takeover of the country. The country rallied around the implementation of a Nagy-led government. Yet, the still loyal communist was unable to inspire and govern a rebellion, whose hatred of communism had grown since initial Soviet takeover of the country after World War II.

Intermixed between these events, Sebestyen places his readers inside both the Kremlin and the White House. Had the Eisenhower taken a more proactive stance to support rebellious Soviet satellite countries, the revolution might have brought significant change for the country. Instead, a more passive approach to communist "containment", coupled with a developing Egyptian crisis, doomed the revolution of help from the West.

In the Kremlin, a Polish upheaval days before the Budapest march gave way to a more moderate communist led country with stronger autonomy. Initially, Khrushchev did not want to retake the country with military force, opting more for the agreement that had been reached in Poland. Yet, the violence exhibited by the revolutionaries pushed Khrushchev to invade, twelve days after the initial protests.

The succinct writing of a well-researched subject makes the book feel more of a narrative than a historical textbook. The reader quickly aligns themselves with the Hungarians through Nagy and various other insurgents based on their immense reproach of Rakosi and the communist leaders. Despite knowing the outcome of the uprising from the beginning of the book, one reads "Twelve Days: The Story of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution" with the investment of possibility, inspired by hope. Very few authors match the narrative power of Victor Sebestyen.

This is the story of one of the most heroic, and yet, saddest episodes of the Cold War. Unfortunately, it was apparently published in haste, and therefore the excellent historical research is almost negated by the factual errors. Although Mr. Sebestyen apparently was there as a baby, and then taken to England, he has no idea of Hungarian geography and spelling. He liberally uses the "accent marks" - which in Hungarian don't indicate accent, they indicate a different-sounding vowel from the one without the mark - unfortunately more often in the wrong places than in the right ones. To anyone who actually reads Hungarian, this alone makes the book appear like an amateurish effort by a careless and ill-informed foreigner. He consistently puts geographical places almost consistently in the wrong directions from Budapest (often the opposite of reality) - consulting a map of Hungary would have been useful. Some of his numbers are wrong - for example, the US did not take 150,000 Hungarian refugees. By an Executive Order of President Eisenhower, 35,000 were admitted as "parole residents" ("white card"), which was converted to permanent resident status backdated to their entry by Congress after some time.

Ultimately, although he reminds us of this event with some detail, this is a flawed historical work. This one is flawed not because of political expediency - that is it did not yield to political pressures of re-writing history as so many historical works do. It simply lacks in good execution. With that understanding, I would recommend buying it because the literature is rather limited on this historical event - but Caveat Emptor!

Written in a vivid journalistic style, the book narrates the Hungarian revolution of 1956. Its first part, Prelude, helps to understand the origins of the process, while the second and third one, Revolution and Aftermath, details the development of the revolution, day by day, and its more important political consequences. Sebestyen introduces the main actors one by one, telling us about their past, personality and motivations. The book makes a smooth and interesting reading, particularly for a person not very familiar with the topic. Not being an expert in the Cold War, I cannot judge the historical accuracy or the presence of historical biases. Nonetheless, recommended as a first reading for those with an interest in this important episode of the 20th century European history, but most likely insufficient for the historian, because of insufficient academic rigor, or the experts in the issue, who will probably prefer a more in-depth work, looking with detail at the causes of the revolution and its main players.

This is a story about betrayal.

First from the West. Ike and Dulles wanted a "rollback" of communism and led the people (through Radio Free Europe) to believe the US would be there to help them. But when the Suez Crises arouse, Hungarians were forgotten. The last pleas from Imre Nagy to the UN were not even read for 2 hours, then debates over the minutia of what "assembly" Nagy was referring to. All leading to nothing being done, while thousands of Soviet tanks and troops were tightening the noose around Budapest. The next day the UN Secretary General when went to Egypt the next day.

Imre Nagy was a man who being a lifelong communist was the only leader available but was unable and unwilling to do what needed to be done. While not betrayal in the true sense of the word, Hungarians deserved better. While the Soviets were sending tanks and troops into Hungary, Nagy did nothing. Not mobilize the army, warn the people, nothing. He did believe that the Soviets would stick to their word about troop withdrawals even as the noose tightened. Only when Budapest shook under tank and air bombardment did he realize, too late, than the Soviets had lied to him. He was hanged after being promised that his life would be spared if he came out from hiding and recognized the Soviet puppet government with the Judas Kadar in the Presidency.

The worst acts were committed by the workers paradise, the USSR. Strangely the Soviets were at first confused and shocked by the revolution happening in Hungary. After the initial revolution the Soviets promised that they would withdraw. After much discussion and politics in the Kremlin, Khrushchev decided to crush the revolution to keep it from spreading to the other occupied satellites. The Soviet ambassador to Hungary, Andropov had the job of keeping the Hungarians lulled into a false sense of security. He was a master of lying in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary. You can't help but admire Andropov and how he did his job. But Nagy wanted to believe so badly the Soviets were gone and not coming back, Andropov just told him what he wanted to hear. The KGB even engineered the capture of the Defense minister under the umbrella of talks concerning Soviet troop withdrawals. This left Hungary unable to use its army to defend itself.
Finally the Judas Kadar. He was a minister under Nagy and betrayed himself to the soviets. He defended himself later, saying if not him, them someone else more brutal would have been installed as President. Such as preventing the reinstall of Stalin's puppet, Rakosi who had led Hungary (brutally) in the postwar years. Kadar himself though proved just as bloodthirsty. He had Nagy hung along with hundreds of freedom fighers. The once open borders were now closed shut to prevent escape to freedom. Some of those who had feld were convinced to return with no harm to them. However they were arrested and imprisoned if not killed once they stepped back on home soil.

My father was one of those who managed to flee to the west after participating in the uprising in Budapest. I grew up hearing stories of street battles, Molotov cocktails and bloodshed. I just learned that he even had a piece of Stalin's statue that was torn down (but lost some years ago). This book is a testament to those heady days of freedom in '56.

I found this book very useful and interesting. The first part deals with the prelude to the uprising/revolution . It clearly shows the methods used by Moscow and their allies in Hungary in order to siege power in Hungary. The role of Eisenhower and US Foreign policies is also shown in an a good way. The second part shows how the revolution unfolds and it clearly shows the problems of Nagy Imre and how he constantly is one step behind events.

Sebestyen's could be compared to Dent's "Budapest 1956 - Locations of drama" which is also a recent book. Sebestyen takes a chronological approach to the event were Dent is focusing on the different places in Budapest and shows what happened at those places. If you like me spend a lot of time in Budapest (married to a hungarian), Dent is an excellent choise. Dent shows different interpertations of the events when Sebestyen shows a general interpertation (his interpertation) of events. His interepertations are based on facts and valid sources, but sometimes he leaves out the historical debate where there is one (the impact of the lynching of "AVH"-men for exaple). I would not say that Sebestyen is biased in the sense that his book is a bad source, but it is obvious to the reader of both books that some events are debated in the academic world, but not in Sebestyen's book. Another example is the role of Andras Hegedüs, in Dent we get to know that mr Hegedüs actually became somewhat of a dissident during the Kádár-years, but in Sebestyen's book he is simply portraied as "the lap dog of Rákosi and Gerö". Both authors make the same judgement of Nagy, stating and showing how his reluctant policies at the start of the revolution clearly led to the eventual failure of the revolution. Both have basicaly the same interpertation of Kádár's role. These lacks in Sebestyen's book costs him the last fifth star.

For the reader that wants a general,well written, easy to read and very interesting account on the events I would strongly recommend Sebestyens book. For the traveller to Budapest looking for a in-depth guide to the events (with a good general understanding of the events 1956) I would recommend Dent's book.

This is a fast paced, highly readable account of the Hungarian Revolution in 1956. The first 100 pages or so of the book set the context by recounting the first ten years of communism in Hungary after WWII. In particular it details the reign of Rakosi, a mini-Stalin who carried out purges and staged show trials just as vicious as Stalin had done a decade earlier, albeit on a smaller scale. Sebestyen also sketches the emergence of various reform movements that ultimately led to Rakosi's ouster.

The bulk of the book, about 175 pages, is concerned with the revolution itself. Sebestyen's recounting reads almost like a novel, as the narrative moves along at a rapid pace and the action shifts from place to place and character to character. The author does a very good job of explaining the motivations of many of the key actors. As he makes clear, many Hungarian communists switched their allegiance to the revolutionaries purely for political opportunism, although countless others did so out of genuine political conviction. Perhaps the most sympathetic character is Imre Nage, the reform-minded communist who served as Prime Minister during the short-lived revolution. Initially opposed to the more radical demands of the revolutionaries, he eventually lent his support to the resistance against the Soviets. The author also did a good job of presenting the shifting perspectives of Soviet leaders. He demonstrates that Khrushchev and other Kremlin leaders were genuinely uncertain about how to proceed, and that the decision to use brute force to quash the rebellion was made at the last moment. One figure who stands out is Yuri Andropov, future General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union but at the time Soviet Ambassador to Hungary. He emerges as a highly deceitful individual who consistently lied through his teeth in assuring Hungarian leaders that the Soviets had no intentions of attacking, despite the mounting evidence to the contrary. Finally, Sebestyen presents the perspective of American policymakers, who were unable to back up their anti-communist rhetoric with actual assistance to the Hungarian revolutionaries. Overall, I found the author's judgment on the Eisenhower administration's policy of non-interference pretty fair.

This book makes for a fascinating read and I would recommend it to anybody wishing to gain a better understanding of the Hungarian Revolution. If I had to make a criticism, it would be that the story is too elite-centered. Almost the entire story is told from the perspective of the individuals who were making the key political decisions, whether they be Hungarian, Soviet, or American officials. The book doesn't have as much to say about the motivations and experiences of ordinary Hungarians who lived through the revolution. Of course, as Sebestyen makes clear, there were a variety of social and economic grievances that led Hungarians to revolt against their regime, but it still would have been instructive to hear more directly from people who participated what they had hoped to gain from the revolution. Naturally, there are numerous quotations from memoirs and diaries of participants, but it might have been nice if the author had directly interviewed more people who participated in the revolution. This might have disrupted the narrative flow, but the absence of non-elite perspectives is definitely a notable omission. Nevertheless, this is a relatively minor complaint, and my hearty endorsement of the book stands.

Admittedly I haven't studied much about the Hungarian Revolt but this book certainly makes sense of the rather superficial studies I have gone through so far. I enjoyed thumbnail portraits of many of the key players in events and could make sense of the ins and outs of the Communist Party (or whatever it was calling itself) and the factions involved in the making of decisions. The maps were most helpful in getting an idea of the progress of the story and the photos gave faces to those discussed in the text. Overall, a good history and one I enjoyed immensely.

Victor Sebestyen brings a compelling and readable account of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution to US readers. This often forgotten chapter in American Foreign Policy history was one of the defining moments of the Cold War and a place where the world could have stood up to what it perceived as Soviet Terror. Instead it used the excuse of a conflict in the Middle East to allow a movement towards freedom to be repressed. This book accounts the days in Hungary and those that led up to it to be understood and focuses on the major players involved. It is a high level political and military account of the Hungarian Revolution. For those looking for a readable and quick account of the Hungarian Revolution this is the place to get it.