3. A Night of Cataclysmic Decisions

Chapters in this book

1. Frontmatter i
2. Contents vii
3. Introduction 1
4. 1. A Day That Shook the Communist World 5
5. 2. The Road to Revolution 25
6. 3. A Night of Cataclysmic Decisions 45
7. 4. The Legend of the Corvinists 55
8. 5. Wrestling for the Soul of Imre Nagy 67
9. 6. Deadlocked 75
10. 7. A Turnaround with a Question Mark 83
11. 8. The General, the Colonel, and the Adjutant 89
12. 9. The Dams Are Breaking 101
13. 10. The Condottiere, the “Uncle,” and the Romantics 109
14. 11. Decision in the Kremlin: The End of Patience 119
15. 12. Double Dive into Darkness 127
16. 13. The Puppeteers and the Kádár Enigma 139
17. 14. Operation Whirlwind and Kádár’s Phantom Government 149
18. 15. The Yugoslav-Soviet Conspiracy 163
19. 16. The Second Revolution 173
20. 17. The Moral Bankruptcy of the U.S. Liberation Theory 185
21. 18. Worldwide Reactions 195
22. 19. The Barbarous Vendetta of the Victors 211
23. 20. 1956–1989: Victory in Defeat? 225
24. Epilogue: Whose 1956? 241
25. Acknowledgments 247
26. Chronology 249
27. Notes 255
28. Bibliography 279
29. Index 285