Hello and welcome history Friends Patrons All to 1956 episode 1.13. Last time we saw how the

Hungarian revolt finally burst forth from the ashes of discontent, anger and a sense of hope which was

sweeping across the block in the aftermath

of the secret speech.

As badly as the Kremlin leader may have wished he could put the D-Stalinization speech

back in the box.

Ever since that moment in late February, it was clear nothing would ever be the same again.

Regime changes in Poland had come to pass amidst tense scenes,

but it was in Hungary above all that affairs had taken such an incendiary turn. If the revolt

in Budapest had apparently been foreseen by nobody important enough to stop it, then the outcome

of a Soviet agreement to a ceasefire had been impossible to predict.

Yet the Soviets had, against all odds and the grim expectations of the desperate Hungarians

who rose against them, signed just such an agreement on Sunday the 28th of October,

five days after the Hungarians had first begun their armed action against their stunned Soviet masters.

The shock to the Soviet system, it seemed, was the reason for the hasty peace terms,

just as the recovery from and need to contain this shock justified the decision to break the armistice

and reinvade Hungary once more with overwhelming force.

With portions of the bloc growing restless and Soviet prestige on the line,

the decision was made in Moscow to crush Budapest and in the process

extinguish for good any impressions which the West may have had regarding the soft power

aspects of Soviet communism. The events of Budapest make for

depressing, but also inspiring reading, as the people in Hungary saw the writing on the wall,

...