The Hungarian Revolution 1956 (Elite) (ISBN 184603079X)

Decent but Limited by Source Material:
Osprey's The Hungarian Revolution 1956, number 148 in the Elite series, must have been a difficult volume to write. The Soviet suppression of this Hungarian uprising in Budapest resulted in the death or execution of many of those Hungarians involved and the survivors were imprisoned and harassed for years; all of that adds up to limited eye-witness source material. Despite the collapse of the Soviet Union, the amount of Soviet-related reference material available was not exactly encouraging either. In any event, the two authors have constructed a reasonable account of the Hungarian Uprising and its suppression, which packs more military detail than is normally available in other accounts. That is not to say that this is a detailed military history - it is not - but readers will get a decent overview of the main areas of fighting in Budapest, the forces involved and casualties. The authors spend six pages discussing the background to the Uprising, which was sparked by the death of Stalin in 1953 and subsequent clumsy reforms by local Communists that undermined the already fragile Hungarian economy. At several points in the volume, the authors make the point that not all participants in the uprising shared the same objectives - some wanted to drive out the Soviet occupiers while others merely sought improvements in their standard of living or redress for crimes committed by the former regime. Due to these factors, the political content tends to be dominant in the first part of this volume, but once the shooting starts in October 1956 the focus shifts to military operations. Unlike other civil insurrections, the rebels in Budapest were fairly well armed and had the support of some Hungarian regular army troops. Soviet units initially fared poorly in the city fighting and the authors' description of how one Soviet mechanized unit was ambushed and virtually destroyed while still in column of march was eerily similar to what happened to a Soviet mechanized unit in Grozny in 1996. Color plates in the volume include depictions of police and insurgents at the start of the uprising, then two pages of well-armed insurgents during the height of the uprising, Hungarian Army troops (both loyal to the regime and those supporting the rebels), Soviet troops and Austrian border troops. The photographs throughout the volume are very good, although there are relatively few of Soviet troops in Budapest. The authors note that several of the photographs of insurgents were used to identify, arrest and execute individuals participating in the fighting. After spending about 20 pages discussing the first and second Soviet interventions, the authors then outline the opposing forces. A Soviet order of battle is included. The level of military detail varies throughout this volume, from good to vague. While some actions around the Corvin Passage in Budapest are discussed in some detail, the actual organization of insurgent units is hardly touched upon. While several insurgent groups are named, it is not clear what their size or capabilities were (were these platoon or company size groups?) or how they interacted with rebellious Hungarian Army units. Nor does the volume really discuss how the Soviet troops crushed the rebellion, except to note a preference for firepower over close combat. Overall, this volume certainly whets the appetite for anyone interested in this subject, but fails to satisfy a serious thirst.

Easily digestible:
Quick painless compendium - easy to read has all necessary info to learn basics.