Hungary in the Cold War, 1945-1956
Between the United States and the Soviet Union
László Borhi, Institute of History,
Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest.
Based on new archival evidence, examines Soviet Empire
building in Hungary and the American response to it.
Hungary was not important enough to resist the Soviets,
its democratic opposition failed to win American sympathy,
the US simply had no leverage over the Soviets, who
sacrificed cooperation with the West for a closed sphere
in Eastern Europe. The imposition of a Stalinist regime
assured Hungary's unconditional loyalty to Soviet imperial
needs. Unlike the GDR, Eastern Europe was never considered
a bargaining chip for bettering relations with the West.
The book analyzes why, given all its idealism and power,
the US failed even in its minimal aims concerning the
states of Eastern Europe. Eventually both powers pursued
power politics: the Soviets in a naked form, the US
subtly, but both with little regard for the fate of
Hungarians.
"Borhi opens the Hungarian archives for English
readers and tells from a Hungarian perspective the familiar
stories of the end of World War II, the imposition of
the Soviet model on Eastern Europe, and the explosion
of 1956. Not only does this yield new detail that considerably
complicates the stark narrative of the Cold War years,
but it also puts motivations and events in a new light."
- Foreign Affairs
"... a major contribution, as the author has explored
very thoroughly not only the Hungarian but also the
US, Russian, and French archives and nearly all the
available sources... The main focus is the beginning,
the period immediately following World War II... a good
approach, for country studies based on cholarly sources
are still quite scarce. Borhi is the first scholar to
have provided a full, 360-degree picture of the ruinous
consequences of the Soviet occupation on the Hungarian
economy... an illuminating and insightful exploration
of what Soviet rule in Eastern Europe was really about."
- American Historical Review
"This monograph is a study of Hungary's political
and economic history during the first decade of Soviet
domination, which ended in the revolution of 23 October
1956. László Borhi perceives this era
as bounded by acts of western perfidy... Borhi describes
and analyzes this period expertly and his book is a
valuable addition to Hungarian historiography."
- Slavic Review
Contents
Introduction Chapter I We do not wish
to move a finger Chapter II The Myth of Democracy
Chapter III The Merchants of the Kremlin Chapter
IV The Communists Take Over Chapter V Empire
by Coercion Chapter VI Containment, Rollback,
Liberation or Inaction? Conclusion Bibliography Index
2004
354 pages
ISBN 978-963-9241-80-0 cloth $49.95 / €42.95 / £33.00
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