It was  50 years ago when the people of Hungary decided they'd had enough of the Soviet-influenced communist government in their country. What started as a protest against the removal of a leader who had started to bring some reform to the nation, turned into a spontaneous people's revolution.

This was somewhat unique in history as there was no plan, no initial organization and no leader. It was truly an uprising of the population. Initially the occupying Soviet forces were stunned and offered little or no resistance. This only encouraged the now growing army of Hungarian opposition, who had been bolstered by many members of the national army who had decided to join the opposition. The Soviets and their backers withdrew from the capital and for a time it appeared that they might leave the country completely.

However, the Kremlin could not have one of their satellite nations set an example so forces were brought in and after some heavy fighting, the uprising was quelled and even more repressive measures were taken to keep the populace in check.

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 surrounds. Not surprisingly, most of the images of personalities involved came from the Hungarian State Security Archives as these were used to round up people after the fact, many of whom were either executed or served long prison sentences. Many fled the country to Austria, which had only recently shrugged the mantel of Soviet occupation.

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 that this was a fascinating read that I found difficult to put down. It is the story of a people who wanted to be self-governing, but had to wait nearly 35 more years for that to happen.

November 2006

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