The Hungarian Revolution of 1956 was a spontaneous nationwide revolt against the authoritarian communist government of Hungary and its Soviet imposed policies, lasting from October 23 until November 10 of 1956. It began as a student demonstration which attracted thousands as it marched through central Budapest to the Parliament building. The revolt spread quickly across Hungary, and the government fell. Thousands organized into militias, battling the State Security Police and Soviet troops. The new government formally disbanded the ÁVH, declared its intention to withdraw from the Warsaw Pact and pledged to re-establish free elections. On November 4, a large Soviet force invaded Budapest using artillery and air strikes, killing thousands of civilians. Organized resistance ceased by 10 November 1956, and mass arrests began. An estimated 200,000 Hungarians fled as refugees. By January 1957 the new Soviet-installed government had suppressed all public opposition. Soviet actions alienated many Western Marxists, yet strengthened Soviet control over Eastern Europe, cultivating the perception that communism was both irreversible and monolithic. Public discussion about this revolution was suppressed in Hungary for over 30 years, but since the thaw of the 1980s it has been a subject of intense study and debate. Read the rest of this article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hungarian_Revolution_of_1956 _______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries: 4004 BC: The universe was created, according to the Ussher-Lightfoot Calendar. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ussher-Lightfoot_Calendar) 1911: First use of heavier-than-air aircraft in war: an Italian pilot flew from Libya to survey Turkish lines during the Italo-Turkish War. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italo-Turkish_War) 1958: Belgian cartoonist Peyo introduced a new set of comic strip characters, The Smurfs. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Smurfs) 1983: Lebanese Civil War: Suicide bombers destroyed two barracks in Beirut, Lebanon, killing 241 U.S. Marines and 58 French paratroopers of the international peacekeeping force. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1983_Beirut_barracks_bombing) 2002: Chechen rebels seized a crowded theater in Moscow, taking approximately 700 theatergoers and performers hostage in the Moscow theater hostage crisis. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moscow_theater_hostage_crisis) _____________________ Wikiquote of the day: I am certain there is too much certainty in the world. -- Michael Crichton (http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Michael_Crichton)