Table of Contents

Introduction 1 Chapter 1: A Day That Shook the Communist World 5 Chapter 2: The Road to Revolution 25 Chapter 3: A Night of Cataclysmic Decisions 45 Chapter 4: The Legend of the Corvinists 55 Chapter 5: Wrestling for the Soul of Imre Nagy 67 Chapter 6: Deadlocked 75 Chapter 7: A Turnaround with a Question Mark 83 Chapter 8: The General, the Colonel, and the Adjutant 89 Chapter 9: The Dams Are Breaking 101 Chapter 10: The Condottiere, the "Uncle," and the Romantics 109 Chapter 11: Decision in the Kremlin: The End of Patience 119 Chapter 12: Double Dive into Darkness 127 Chapter 13: The Puppeteers and the Kadar Enigma 139 Chapter 14: Operation Whirlwind and Kadar's Phantom Government 149 Chapter 15: The Yugoslav-Soviet Conspiracy 163 Chapter 16: The Second Revolution 173 Chapter 17: The Moral Bankruptcy of the U.S. Liberation Theory 185 Chapter 18: Worldwide Reactions 195 Chapter 19: The Barbarous Vendetta of the Victors 211 Chapter 20: 1956-1989: Victory in Defeat? 225 Epilogue: Whose 1956? 241 Acknowledgments 247 Chronology 249 Notes 255 Bibliography 279 Index 285

Promotional Information

A brilliant synthesis of the events of 1956 and their background written in Lendvai's smooth, intelligent, and witty style, with the same elegant translation known to readers from his highly successful book, The Hungarians. Lendvai has a remarkable facility for unmasking the many lies told during the past half century by the Soviet and Hungarian Communists, as well as legends perpetrated by Hungarian nationalists. -- Istvan Deak, coeditor of "The Politics of Retribution in Europe"

About the Author

Paul Lendvai is a leading European journalist and senior commentator on Austrian television. He is editor in chief of the Vienna-based international quarterly "Europaische Rundschau". He is the author of thirteen books, including "The Hungarians: A Thousand Years of Victory in Defeat" (Princeton).

Reviews

"Based on his own experiences, Lendvai adds a sharp focus to understanding of one of the most important events of the 20th century, the spontaneous Hungarian uprising. He maintains a balanced account of the causes and consequences of this heroic but tragic revolt, including the nonassistance of the Western nations, especially the U.S."--T.M. Racz, Choice "Lendvai's approach and style make this book a particularly welcome addition to the scholarship on the Hungarian revolution... Though the entire book has a great deal to offer the reader ... [the] final chapters, evaluating the legacy of the 1956 uprising, are the ones where Lendvai offers his most striking additions to the history of the revolution."--Eliza Ablovatski, Austrian History Yearbook "Lendvai has produced a sophisticated narrative of complex events, interweaving political, international, military, social, personal, and intellectual history into a thick fabric of historical text. Importantly, he argues that 1956 is an important year in Hungarian, and Western, heritage. Commendably, Lendvai shows his intellectual debt to Hungarian scholars throughout the text. One Day That Shook the Communist World is one of the most readable and best English language accounts of the Hungarian 1956 Uprising."--Laszlo Borhi, Historian "The detail in this work is impressive, the narrative engaging, and the judgments considered."--David W. Lovell, European Legacy