The Hungarian Revolution 1956

(Paperback)

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Stalin's death in 1953 led to unrest in several states of the Soviet empire, as their hungry, tyrannized peoples sensed a slackening in the grip of their hard-line regimes. This is an account of the October 1956 student demonstrators in Budapest who attracted growing support from workers - and, when the secret police opened fire, from many Hungarian troops. For five days they successfully fought off Soviet tanks, and it even seemed that Moscow might negotiate a withdrawal; but then the tanks rolled in again, in crushing numbers. This stirring story is illustrated with fascinating contemporary photos and meticulously researched colour plates.

Reviews

"The authors have done a superlative job of not only explaining the background for the revolution, but also in providing a description of the fighting and its surroundings... As with most of the Elite series, there are superb drawings, this time by Peter Dennis, showing the various clothing and equipment of the people involved. I have to say this was a fascinating read that I found difficult to put down." --Scott Van Aken, modelingmadness.com

"...gives a thorough and evenhanded summary of the causes and consequences of the uprising... lists ample sources for further study, while presenting a wealth of archival photographs... as well as an excellent spread of color illustrations by English artist Peter Dennis." --Jon Guttman, Military History

Author Bio

Erwin A. Schmidl studied history and anthropology at the University in Vienna. He has held positions in the Austrian Ministry of Defence and currently head of the contemporary history department at the Institute for Strategic Studies at the Austrian National Defence Academy in Vienna. He lives in Vienna. Lszl Ritter received M.A. in history from the Central European University in Budapest. He is currently a PhD student who also works as a documentary film maker. Since 2001 he has been a researcher at Institute of History of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. He lives in Budapest. Peter Dennis was born in 1950. Inspired by contemporary magazines such as Look and Learn he studied illustration at Liverpool Art College. Peter has since contributed to hundreds of books, predominantly on historical subjects. He is a keen wargamer and modelmaker. He is based in Nottinghamshire, UK