1956 1.14: Lessons Learned and Forgotten
1956 Episode 1.14 analyses the Soviet response in the first week of November 1956, as the rug was finally pulled on Hungarian independence. Having already removed his country from the Warsaw Pact and ...
27 Feb 202436min
1956 1.13: Crushing Hope
1956 Episode 1.13 examines the unlikely triumph of the Hungarians in Budapest, even as the Soviets schemed for revenge. After somehow wresting a ceasefire agreement from the Soviet Union, the Hungaria...
22 Feb 202442min
1956 1.12: Hope Springs
1956 Episode 1.12 examines a key moment when a Hungarian student protest exploded into something far more encouraging, and for the Soviets, far more dangerous. The demands of the protesters – joined b...
20 Feb 202440min
1956 1.11: Gone But Nagy Forgotten
1956 Episode 1.11 looks at what happened when Moscow decided it’d be a good idea to force Rakosi, the avowed Stalinist, to share power with Imre Nagy, his opposite in almost every respect. Rakosi wish...
15 Feb 202436min
1956 1.10: I Did Nagy See That Coming
1956 Episode 1.10 continues where we left off last time, and looks a bit more at the person of Matyas Rakosi.Rakosi was the Stalinist dictator of Hungary from the late 1940s, and he set about establis...
13 Feb 202431min
1956 1.9: Desperately Hungary
1956 Episode 1.9 takes a somewhat depressing journey into post-war Hungary, to present a story and a people which suffered much over the course of the Soviet occupation – also known as the Soviet ‘lib...
8 Feb 202432min
1956 1.8: The Star Pupil
We continue our story from last time, as the Polish situation is connected to other fascinating questions. Perhaps the most significant aspect of this chapter in Soviet-Polish relations was the notabl...
6 Feb 202428min
1956 1.7: Soviet Sickles
1956 Episode 1.7 examines the continuing deterioration of the Polish situation, as Polish citizens dared to ask more and more questions, and to criticise the Soviet order, on their lips was one figure...
1 Feb 202438min
