NATO intervenes in 1956 Hungarian uprising

Is it possible, during the brief period of time while Hungary was in rebel hands, for NATO to send in aid to forestall the Soviet reinvasion? Could Hungary become a member of NATO? What would be the results?
 
Is it possible, during the brief period of time while Hungary was in rebel hands, for NATO to send in aid to forestall the Soviet reinvasion?

The fantasy on the ground was that the UN would send aid. The possibility of Nagy or Maleter accepting NATO intervention is zero. The possibility of the Workers Councils suggesting it is zero—disaffiliation with superpowers was the order of the day, as was a celebratory hope in the UN as a new, transnational peaceful means of resolving conflict.

The only way to get NATO or UN troops in is by air by the way. I don't think NATO has a stack of air liftable manportable anti-aircraft and anti-tank weaponry available. Even if they did, if Maleter is arrested on November 4 any air lifted "heavy" weapons prove useless. To frustrated the Soviets to the point where Hungary maintains its independence requires an order from Maleter to the Honved as the accepted revolutionary leader of the armed forces to resist foreign intervention. And even then, this requires that the Soviets decided that frustration is sufficient to withdraw for a second time.

Could Hungary become a member of NATO? What would be the results?

No, Hungary would not become a member of NATO. Hungary just got out of the Warsaw Pact (under Nagy), and senior members of government, along with the most influential revolutionary factions, were opposed to entangling alliances.

Further the revolution was communist in nature, and secondarily socialist. The chances of revolutionary Hungary joining NATO are more remote than Titoist Yugoslavia joining NATO.

yours,
Sam R.
 
My first question is 'how?'. Theres no land border with any NATO country, and airlift of entire armies isnt feasible.

This would require Yugoslavia to allow transit which would be ... interesting.

Get India, say, and some other nonaligned nations to go in with NATO weaponry under UN aegis?

Maybe. But those troops wouldnt be trained on those weapons, and would be pretty much targets for Soviet troops.

Besides, 1) how to the Soviets NOT veto this UN support, and 2) why on earth would the Indians go against the Soviets who are supplying them with arms dirt cheap? And3) why on earth would the Yugoslavs do this?

These problems might all be solvable... but theyre tough, and getting all of them in line at once and quickly, would be tougher. Not quite asb, but very improbable. Imo.

The best thing might actually be to get token neutral forces in their, as un peacekeeping tripwire force - which the Soviets could brush aside like a fly. Butmight not dare, politically. But again, whats the point for those neutrals?

And if Yugoslavia did allow transit, they would be forced into natos arms if the uprising failed, as it waould all too likely be. And Tito doesnt want that. He LIKES being a neutral third force. No?


Further thoughts. UN support is by a Genetal Assembly resolution, that the Soviets cant veto? But the US isnt intetested in letting the UN actually get teeth, so they and the Soviets would likely be working together to stop it...

As for Yugoslavia, maybe some high Soviet official talks publically about 'restoring' all communist countries to Marxist orthodoxy. He might even be aiming at Mao, not Tito, but if Tito feels threatened...
 
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I think the only way that NATO could have intervene would have been a diplomatic exchange between the West and Moscow that told Khruschev behind the scenes that a military response to Hungary would be a provocation and destabilize Europe. At the same time, it would tell Moscow in exchange that the West would not let Hungary iN NATO now or in the future, and that it would be willing to negotiate a variety of other deals to improve relations between East and West. So a very foreful statement with a hint of a threat, but heavily tempered that the West would do other things to make Moscow not feel threatened.

I don't know if it would have prevented the subsequent military invasion, but it at least increases the chance that Moscow will decide against it. The earlier the better while there is still panic.

Further the revolution was communist in nature, and secondarily socialist. The chances of revolutionary Hungary joining NATO are more remote than Titoist Yugoslavia joining NATO.

yours,
Sam R.

Saying that the Hungarian Revolt was communist in nature is like saying the French Revolution's intent was to establish a constitutional monarchy under the Bourbons. Technically true at a very, very early stage, and utterly wrong in terms of how it developed and would eventually turn out.

The initial demands were within the context of Khruschev Thaw Communism which is not suprising. Most revolutions begin with demands that are initially reasonable and acceptable to the existing powers. Once those demands are met, revolutionaries - as opposed to reformers - then begin demanding more

The fact that the protestors began cutting out the Communist coat of arms on the Hungarian flag is a pretty good indication of their actual feelings towards Communism.

When the actual fighting and killing began in late October, Communist Party members and officials started being killed. In response, party members began fighting back and organizing their own armed groups. Many of the leaders of the revolutionaries had once been members of the Communist Party, but had often been arrested and only recently released. So you have Communists opposing the revolution, and people attacking Communists in support of it.

By the end, the call for multiparty elections and social democracy indicates the demands of the Hungarians were not Communist in nature, but decidedly "bourgeosie". No Communist demands a multiparty democracy.

Keeping Nagy on as Prime Minister and his evaluation of the revolution as being a "populist uprising" and not "counter revolutionary" was clearly an attempt to play the Soviets to secure Hungarian independence.

If the Hungarians had succeeded, I am pretty confidant within a few years that it would have become a neutral social democracy along the lines of Sweden. There would probably be decidedly non-Marxist and non-Socialist parties in the Hungarian Parliament very soon, but it might be many years - even decades - before they could gain power. Living in the shadow of the Soviet Union would make the Hungarians keep people in power they knew would be acceptable to Moscow for a very long time.

As for the workers' councils that started up, I expect they would be replaced by traditional labor unions and other trappings of bougeosie democracy very soon. They might last for several years.
 
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