Hungary and Suez

Hungary• 27-28 June Nagy delivers his own ‘secret

speech’ to party Central Committee which is a devastating critique of the Stalinist years

• Nagy becomes prime minister, as Moscow instructed, and he introduces a Hungarian version of the ‘New Course

• No radical reform of the model• Shift of priorities:-• to consumption rather than investment• to agriculture and services rather than

industry• to a limited extent to private sector rather

than state

Rákosi vs. Nagy

• February 1955 - Malenkov (Nagy’s protector) removed by Khrushchev from Soviet premiership

• 4 March - Nagy was condemned for ‘Rightist deviation’ : failing to devote sufficient resources to investment

• April 1955 – Nagy dismissed from CC

• December 1955 – Nagy expelled from Party

Domestic context• 1954 – Young Communist League

establishes a discussion group called the Petőfi Circle

• After February secret speech it becomes focal point of political criticism, including demands for return of Nagy to political life

• March 1956 – Rákosi admits Rajk trial was staged

• June - Petőfi Circle hold meetings calling for reburial of Rajk and restoration of Nagy government

• June – series of strikes following brutal suppression of worker demonstrations in Poznań, Poland

Domestic Build-Up

• 6 October - Domestic pressure from the Petőfi Circle and international pressure from Tito results in reburial of Rajk

• This turns into a massive demonstration against the regime

• 13 October – Nagy re-admitted to party

• 15 October – Kádár and Gerő visit Belgrade

23rd October

• 22 October, students at Budapest Technical University, supported by Petőfi Circle, call for demonstration on 23rd calling for withdrawal of Soviet troops and a new Nagy government

• 23 Oct - Gerő arrives back from Belgrade and denounces demonstrators in a radio broadcast

• Demonstrators mass outside Radio Station demanding the right to reply

• Stalin statue is torn down • The demonstrators are shot at

24-30 October

• 24 Oct - Soviet tanks role into city• 4 days of bitter fighting ensue• 25 Oct - Mikoyan and Suslov sent to Bp. They

order replacement of Gerő by Kádár as Party Sec

• 28 Oct – Nagy calls for ceasefire, and refers to the fighters as a democratic movement rather than counter-revolutionaries

• 30 Oct – Nagy forms an administration which brings back politicians and parties from 1947

• 30 Oct – Moscow signals readiness to sanction Hungary leaving Warsaw Pact

Tito and Khrushchev

• 24 Oct - Soviet tanks role into city• 4 days of bitter fighting ensue• 25 Oct - Mikoyan and Suslov sent to Bp. They

order replacement of Gerő by Kádár as Party Sec

• 28 Oct – Nagy calls for ceasefire, and refers to the fighters as a democratic movement rather than counter-revolutionaries

• 30 Oct – Nagy forms an administration which brings back politicians and parties from 1947

• 30 Oct – Moscow signals readiness to sanction Hungary leaving Warsaw Pact

Early November

• 2 Nov – Nagy forms new government almost exactly reflecting composition of 1945 elections

• 2 Nov- Soviet troop movements• 3 Nov – Soviet troops begin to invade again• 4 Nov – Nagy makes broadcast to world• 4 Nov - Kádár announces formation of

workers and peasants government• 7 Nov- Kádár reached parliament building in

Soviet armoured car

Later November

• 14 Nov Central Workers' Council of Greater Budapest formed and agrees to negotiate

• Kádár initially conciliatory

• 22 Nov – following pressure from Khrushchev, factory councils banned from discussing political issues

• 26 Nov – dismissed as counter-revolutionary

US Response: RFE

• Radio Free Europe constantly broadcast messages encouraging Hungarians to fight the communists and suggesting that western intervention was imminent

• Unlike its Polish desk which was cautious and supported the reform communism of Gomułka

• The Hungarian desk did not support Nagy, seeing him as just another communist and hence unworthy of support

US Response: Govt• 24/10 “watch developments closely and keep

quiet”• 26/10 US concern that there could be Soviet-

NATO confrontation – Soviet leadership should be assured US had no intention of intervening militarily in Poland or Hungary

• 27/10; 28/10 various speeches given making this point

• 29/10 Moscow informed of this by US ambassador

• 31/10 Eisenhower says same in nationwide TV broadcast

• Till 31/10 US policy-makers did not realise Nagy shared some of the goals of the rebels

‘Active non-involvement’

• 1/11 No change in US policy even after Hungary leaves Warsaw Pact; no consideration of recognising neutrality

• 2/11 US authorises food aid, but sends circular to US embassies hopeful that reformist tendencies will continue

• 2/11 While Khrushchev and Malenkov are briefing Tito of their plans, US sends telegram to Tito:-

• ‘The govt of US does not look with favour upon govts unfriendly to the SU on the borders of the SU’

Suez: background

• 1948 Israeli independence and defeat of Arab nations

• 1952 cabal of young army officers backed by Muslim Brotherhood forces dissolute King Farouk of Egypt into exile

• 1954 Gamal Abdel Nasser assumes control• Vision of pan-Arab movement led by Egypt

that would expel the British from Middle East, efface Israel, and restore Islamic grandeur

• Egypt begins sponsoring acts of violence against Israel from Gaza Strip

Suez - Issues• Jan 1954 Nasser blocks Straits of Tīrān (at

the mouth of the Gulf of Aqaba) • British hostile to Nasser, as Farouk had been

their puppet• French also concerned about is pan-Arab

views as they were battling Islamic nationalists in Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia, whom Nasser supported

• Israel wanted to stop incursions into its territory

• BUT U.S. had a different agenda - play down Arab–Israeli dispute and alert all parties to danger of Communist penetration

Suez

• Sept 1955 Egypt acquires military equipment from Czechoslovakia (authorized by SU)

• Israel begins contemplating military action

• US & UK decide not to finance Egypt's construction of Aswan High Dam,

• July 26, 1956, Nasser declares martial law in canal zone seizing control of the Suez Canal Company

Intervention by ‘old empires’

• 21-24 Oct 1956 Brits, French & Israelis finalise plan in secret (and denied) meeting in Sèvres (suburb of Paris)

• 29 Oct 1956, 10 Israeli brigades invade Egypt and advance toward canal, routing Egyptian forces

• Britain & France demand Israeli & Egyptian troops withdraw from canal; announce they would intervene to enforce a cease-fire ordered by UN

• 5-6 Nov British & French forces land at Port Said and Port Fuad and begin occupation of canal zone

Reaction of new superpowers• Eisenhower opposed hostilities before the

U.S. election lest he lose Jewish votes• Also ‘preoccupied’ with Hungary • US furious at this initiative of ‘old empires’• 1 Nov sponsors UN resolution for cease-fire• Suspends financial support to UK• Public opinion in UK also massively against

this latter-day imperialist adventure• 22 Dec UN evacuated British and French

troops and impose peace-keeping troop which remain for 10 years

• Jan 1957 Anthony Eden resigns as UK PM• March 1957 Israeli forces withdraw

US-SU reactions

• 29/10 US expressed concern that SU might support Nasser, and there were rumours that he was

• Eisenhower convinced that the geography of the situation made it impossible

• 2-4/11 US pre-occupied with Suez and blind to Nagy’s worsening position

• 5/11 French ambassador told US thought SU would not intervene

SU’s actions• 31/10 is first reaction (nothing for 2 days)• Calls for UN action• Removes military advisors to Sudan• Removes Ilyushin 28 bombers to Syria• 1/11 verbal attack on West, but only

sympathy for Nasser• Soviet troops removed from Egypt to avoid

possibility of direct contact with Israeli troops• Till 2/11 believed US in collusion with UK etc• 5/11 once Hungary under control and UN

resolution for ceasefire accepted, SU issues threat of missile attack – rhetoric not military assistance

• Ultimately Suez is propaganda victory for SU