Twelve Days: Revolution 1956. How the Hungarians Tried to Topple Their Soviet Masters
Author(s): Victor Sebestyen
The Hungarian Revolution in 1956 is a story of extraordinary bravery in a fight for freedom, and of ruthless cruelty in suppressing a popular dream. A small nation, its people armed with a few rifles and petrol bombs, had the will and courage to rise up against one of the world's superpowers. The determination of the Hungarians to resist the Russians astonished the West. People of all kinds, throughout the free world, became involved in the cause. For 12 days it looked, miraculously, as though the Soviets might be humbled. Then reality hit back. The Hungarians were brutally crushed. Their capital was devastated, thousands of people were killed and their country was occupied for a further three decades. The uprising was the defining moment of the Cold War: the USSR showed that it was determined to hold on to its European empire, but it would never do so without resistance. From the Prague Spring to Lech Walesa's Solidarity and the fall of the Berlin Wall, the tighter the grip of the communist bloc, the more irresistible the popular demand for freedom.
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A strong personal element to this history. The author and his family left Hungary as a result of the uprising Victor Sebestyen draws on fresh evidence from Moscow, Washington and Budapest, as well as interviews with participants 'On the anniversary of 1956, wielding a vast array of totally new archives and totally new eye-witness testimony, Victor Sebestyen has written a magisterial but also totally gripping fresh account of the noble, violent and doomed Hungarian revolution' Simon Sebag Montefiore 'Victor Sebestyen is a marvellous guide to the Hungarian revolution: its causes, its unfolding and its aftermath. His nuanced, intelligent account reads in part like a thriller and he captures well the drama of those fateful days...This is a first-class book that should become the standard work on a revolution whose after-effects are still shaping the Europe in which we live today' Literary Review
"Sebestyen's gripping description of the uprising is impressively researched and even-handed" Observer "Sebestyen's accuont is elegant and emotive" Daily Telegraph "Sebestyen's account of the doomed uprising is utterly enthralling and almost unbearable to read" -- Simon Shaw MAIL ON SUNDAY "A gripping and enlightening read... recommended for anyone wanting to learn more about a tragic and regrettable event in European history" TRIBUNE
Victor Sebestyen, born in Budapest, was an infant when his family left Hungary as refugees. As a journalist, he reported widely from Eastern Europe when Communism collapsed in 1989. He covered the war in former Yugoslavia. At the London Evening Standard he was foreign editor, media editor and chief leader writer.
General Fields
- :
- : Orion Publishing Group, Limited
- : Phoenix (an Imprint of The Orion Publishing Group Ltd )
- : 0.31
- : 01 June 2007
- : 142mm X 200mm X 29mm
- : United Kingdom
- : books
Special Fields
- : Victor Sebestyen
- : Paperback
- : English
- : 943.9052
- : 368
- : Illustrations, maps, ports.