November 4

This Day in History

Also on This Day

Lead Story
Soviets put brutal end to Hungarian revolution, 1956
American Revolution
Patriot, politician and physician William Shippen dies, 1801
Automotive
Iranian students storm U.S. embassy in Tehran, leading to oil embargo, 1979
Civil War
Rebels attack Yankee supply base at the Battle of Johnsonville, 1864
Cold War
Soviets crush Hungarian revolt, 1956
Crime
One of New York's most notorious gamblers is shot to death, 1928
Disaster
Heavy rain leads to flooding in New England, 1927
General Interest
Entrance to King Tut's tomb discovered, 1922
Iranians storm U.S. embassy, 1979
Yitzhak Rabin assassinated, 1995
Barack Obama elected as America's first black president, 2008
Hollywood
Dances with Wolves debuts, 1990
Literary
T.S. Eliot wins Nobel Prize in literature, 1948
Music
Anne Murray earns a #1 pop hit with "You Needed Me", 1978
Old West
Will Rogers is born in Oklahoma, 1879
Presidential
Abraham Lincoln marries Mary Todd, 1842
Sports
End of an era for the Yankees, 2001
Vietnam War
South Vietnamese battle communists along the Cambodian border, 1969
U.S. hands over air base to the Vietnamese Air Force, 1970
World War I
Poet Wilfred Owen killed in action , 1918
World War II
Gen. Sir John Dill dies, 1944

Cold War

Nov 4, 1956:

Soviets crush Hungarian revolt

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Following nearly two weeks of protest and political instability in Hungary, Soviet tanks and troops viciously crush the protests. Thousands were killed and wounded, and nearly a quarter-million Hungarians fled the country.

The problems in Hungary had begun in October, when thousands of protesters took to the streets demanding a more democratic political system and freedom from Soviet oppression. In response, Communist Party officials appointed Imre Nagy, (a former premier who had been dismissed from the party for his criticisms of Stalinist policies), as the new premier. Nagy tried to restore peace and asked the Soviets to withdraw their troops. The Soviets did so, but Nagy then tried to push the Hungarian revolt forward by abolishing one-party rule. He also announced that Hungary was withdrawing from the Warsaw Pact (the Soviet bloc's equivalent of NATO).

On November 4, Soviet tanks rolled into Budapest to stop Hungary's movement away from the communist bloc. Vicious street fighting broke out, but the Soviets' greater power insured the doom of the rebels. After the deaths and injuries of thousands of Hungarians, the protests were finally put down. Nagy was captured shortly thereafter and was executed two years later.

The Soviet action stunned many people in the West. Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev had pledged a retreat from the Stalinist policies and repression of the past, but the violent actions in Budapest suggested otherwise. Inaction on the part of the United States angered and frustrated many Hungarians. Voice of America radio broadcasts and speeches by President Dwight D. Eisenhower and Secretary of State John Foster Dulles had recently suggested that the United States supported the "liberation" of "captive peoples" in communist nations. Yet, as Soviet tanks bore down on the protesters, the United States did nothing beyond issuing public statements of sympathy for their plight.

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This Week in History, Nov 4 - Nov 10

Nov 04, 1956
Soviets crush Hungarian revolt
Nov 05, 1968
Richard Nixon elected president
Nov 06, 1988
Renowned Soviet dissident Andrei Sakharov visits United States
Nov 07, 1957
Gaither Report calls for more U.S. missiles and fallout shelters
Nov 08, 1960
John F. Kennedy elected president
Nov 09, 1989
East Germany opens the Berlin Wall
Nov 10, 1982
Leonid Brezhnev dies

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