October Blog: 70th Anniversary of 1956 Hungarian uprising
70th Anniversary of the 1956 Hungarian uprising (October 23, 1956)
'Arise Hungarians, your country calls you. Meet this hour, what'er befalls you. Shall we free men be or slaves Choose the lot your spirit craves'
A verse which inspired the Hungarian revolution of 1848, used once again in 1956.
"October 23, 1956 is a day that will forever live in the annals of free men and free nations. It was a day of courage, conscience and triumph. No other day since history began has shown more clearly the eternal unquenchability of man's desire to be free, whatever the odds against success, whatever the sacrifice required"
(John F Kennedy, October 23, 1960)
This month sees a significant anniversary relevant to IGCSE students studying Option B; It is 70 years since the anti-Soviet uprising in Hungary when Hungarians took to the streets to demand that the hardliner Rákosi be replaced with the more moderate Imre Nagy.
The result was bitter fighting in the streets of Budapest as the Soviet tanks rolled in to regain control. The latest research suggests that about 3,000 Hungarians and 7,000 - 8,000 Russians were killed. In addition, 200,000 Hungarians fled the country in the following weeks and months.
To coincide with the 70th Anniversary of this important national anniversary. Hungary will soon start releasing tens of thousands of Communist-era police files in an online public database, giving people access to lists of informers and collaborators used by the former state security services.
The role of informers, and the discussion around the decision to name them, are covered in this article and students may wish to discuss whether the releasing of informers' names is a good idea and what the repercussions could be for society.
There will undoubtedly be other discussion points about the 1956 Uprising in the news as we approach the 23rd October and so this is a great opportunity to review this event with students, which comes under this topic: How secure was the USSR’s control over Eastern Europe, 1948–c.1989?
Note that there is an excellent movie on this event, Children of Glory. which students would enjoy; in addition to covering key events through the eyes of the students, it highlights the link between the uprising and the 1956 Olympics in which the Hungarians beat the Russians in the waterpolo match which became known as ‘the blood in the water match’.
Site update
November examinations are fast approaching and we have uploaded a practice Paper 2 for the prescribed topics:
Nineteenth century Core content (Option A): How was Italy unified? (focusing on Garibaldi's contribution)
Twentieth century Core content (Option B): How effectively did the United States contain the spread of communism? (focusing on US in Vietnam)