5.2 The Superpowers’ Response To The Hunagrian Uprising

Question 1

What was the American response to the Hungarian uprising?

Answer 1

-They made no official comment. The Truman doctrine meant that USA was bound to help Hungary and Secretary of State John Foster Dulles hinted this during a speech.
-Eisenhower made it clear American involvement was not an option as Hungary was in the Soviet sphere and it would be seen as a direct attack

Question 2

What was the UNs response to the Hungarian uprising?

Answer 2

-Meeting on the 4th November, the Security Council voted for Soviet troops to withdraw, USSR vetoed it
-They had no power to intervene
-More concerned with crisis of the Suez Canal, which involved Egypt, Israel, Britain and France

Question 3

What was the Soviet response when Hungary declared they were an independent country?

Answer 3

-The USSR feared other Warsaw Pact members might follow Hungary’s example
-4th November uprising was crushed. Soviet tanks attacked revolutionaries, 200,000 Hungarian refugees fled
-Hungary was put under the rule of Janos Kamari
-Khrushchev talked of peaceful coexistence abroad but was brutal as Stalin at home

Question 4

What was the Soviets first response to the Uprising?

Answer 4

-Khrushchev agreed to compromise, Hungary would be allowed to have limited rights to create their own communism matching their traditions, while still remaining in the Warsaw Pact
-Soviet tanks withdrew