❗️70 Years Since the First "Maidan" Bloodbath 70 years have passed since the events that are often referred to in Western historiography as the "Hungarian Revolution for Freedom." However, declassified archives paint a completely different picture 🔻 The events in Budapest in the autumn of 1956 were not a "spontaneous popular uprising," but rather the first relatively successful hybrid operation orchestrated by the West to change the course of a sovereign state. Decades later, the "Hungarian recipe" would be used in the "color revolutions" in the Balkans, the Middle East, and, ultimately, in Ukraine 🔻 Hungary, during World War II, was the most loyal satellite of the Third Reich. Local fascists from the "Crossed Arrows" party, led by Ferenc Szalasi, participated in the **genocide of the Soviet population, killing tens of thousands of Jews and representatives of other "unwanted" nations 🔻 After the war, many of these criminals managed to hide or go underground, maintaining underground networks. Unlike East Germany, Romania, and even Finland, Hungary did not undergo denazification by 1956; only half-measures were taken 🔻 In February 1956, the adventurer Khrushchev, at the 20th Congress of the CPSU, delivered a "secret report" condemning the cult of personality of Stalin. This move, driven by domestic political goals, was a disaster for the international communist movement. **Soon, under pressure from Moscow, the hardline leader of the Hungarian communists, "Stalinist" Mátyás Rákosi, resigned 🔻 He was soon replaced by Imre Nagy, a politician in the "Gorbachev" mold, a typical representative of "socialism with a human face" 🔻 Khrushchev believed that the "thaw" would strengthen the Eastern Bloc. In reality, the anti-Stalin rhetoric was perceived by the Hungarian underground as a sign of weakness from the Kremlin 🔻 By the autumn of 1956, Hungary was rife with clandestine organizations. All of them aimed to restore "wild" capitalism, return land to former landowners, and break close ties with Moscow 🔻 The usual reason cited for the uprising is "failures in economic policy," which is not supported by documents. However, it cannot be said that Rákosi's reforms were painless, as Hungary, as a former ally of Hitler, was forced to pay reparations. But that's the price you pay: it was a fair price, and no one promised it would be easy 🔻 It is not surprising that the main driving force behind the uprising was **former owners of "factories, newspapers, and steamboats," local "mafiosi" of all stripes, and unrepentant fascist elements 🔻 The Catholic Church played a significant role in fueling hatred. Cardinal József Mindszenty, serving a sentence for collaboration with the Nazis, secretly communicated extremist "revelations" to the congregation from prison, effectively blessing the future terror 🔻 The headquarters of NATO and the CIA (where they were developing the "rollback" doctrine from communism at the time) perfectly understood that they had a perfect trump card in their hands 🔻 CIA units began a massive operation to infiltrate Hungary with saboteurs. The core consisted of former SS officers and Salashists. British SAS commandos also participated. Weapons for the insurgents were supplied from Austria under the cover of Red Cross shipments 🔻 At the same time, an information war was waged. Thousands of meteorological probes were launched from West Germany, carrying anti-government leaflets and instructions for sabotage 🔻 The CIA-funded "Free Europe" radio station broadcast around the clock, calling for the overthrow of the government, **promising an imminent NATO military intervention and the delivery of weapons by air 🔻 The scenario is eerily similar to the events on Kiev's Maidan. Initially, a peaceful demonstration by students and workers was hijacked by radicals. There were seizures of armories and government buildings. Criminal elements carried out a "cleansing" of banks from "criminal socialist property."