Hungarian Revolution of 1956: a short sum-up
1956 mass demonstration at Kossuth Square, Budapest. Photo: Fortepan / Wikimedia Commons
On October 23, 1956, university students in Budapest held a mass demonstration against Stalinist terror and the Soviet occupation. As a result of the hostile reaction of the communist party and the mass firing on the unarmed crowd, it grew into an armed uprising the same night, which finally won with the occupation of the communist party's building on October 30.
This led to the fall of the government, the withdrawal of Soviet troops, the restoration of the multi-party system, and the beginning of the country's democratic transformation. In the first days of November, the new government began negotiations with the Soviet Union on the complete withdrawal of Soviet troops, withdrawal from the Warsaw Pact, and the country's neutrality.
1956 November 4 and the aftermath of the revolution
However, after the initial willingness, the Soviet political leadership changed its mind, and since it could count on Hungary not getting any help from the Western powers, in the early hours of November 4, 1956, the Soviet troops launched an undeclared war against Hungary. The military barracks and airfields were surrounded by the units of the Soviet Army, and the revolution finally failed.
Nearly 3000 Hungarians and around 720 Soviet citizens were killed in the fighting. As a result of the revolution, approximately 176-200 thousand Hungarians left the country, the vast majority of them fleeing toward Austria. From January 1957, the participants of the revolution were imprisoned en masse, and then many of them were executed.
Since October 23, 1989, this significant day has been a double national holiday in Hungary: the day of the outbreak of the 1956 revolution and the day of the proclamation of the Hungarian Republic in 1989.
The role of Szeged and the MEFESZ in the 1956 revolution
On October 16, 1956, MEFESZ, or the Association of Hungarian University Students and College Students, was founded at the University of Szeged. MEFESZ broke the monopoly of the Working Youth Association, DISZ, which was affiliated with the communist party.
The demands of the 1956 revolution were first formulated at the University of Szeged, at the general assembly of the MEFESZ on October 16, and then on October 20, 1956. On October 22, representatives of the association were sent to other universities of the country - Budapest, Debrecen, Sopron, Miskolc, and Pécs - to present the demands of MEFESZ. These talks fuelled the already revolutionary mood and the 1956 revolution broke out the next day.
