Challenging Communism in Eastern Europe: 1956 and its Legacy

Cox, T. (Ed.) (2008) Challenging Communism in Eastern Europe: 1956 and its Legacy. Series: Routledge Europe-Asia studies series. Routledge. ISBN 9780415449281

Abstract

Marking the 50th anniversary of events in 1956, that were a major turning point in the history of communist-led Eastern Europe, this book contains a selection of some of the most recent research on those momentous events and their memory and legacy. The book contains edited contributions from historians and social scientists from Hungary, Poland, the UK and the USA. Their contributions are the fruit of research which has only been possible since 1989. In the years since the fall of the communist regimes the state archives have been opened to researchers and it has been possible to collect the testimony of eye-witnesses without fear of repression and censorship. The outcome of 1956 led to Poland embarking on its own distinctive version of communist rule. Meanwhile 1956 Hungary saw the first society-wide attempt to overthrow a ruling communist regime – only to be put down by Soviet military intervention. In both countries the events of 1956 had lasting repercussions for society and its relationship with the communist regime. In retrospect they can be seen as paving the way for the eventual fall of the communist regime in East Central Europe in 1989.

• Item Type: Edited Books
• Status: Published
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Cox, Professor Terence
• Subjects: D History General and Old World > DJ Netherlands (Holland) > DJK Eastern Europe
• College/School: College of Social Sciences > School of Social and Political Sciences > Central and East European Studies
• Publisher: Routledge
• ISBN: 9780415449281