The 1956 Hungarian Revolution and the Declaration of Neutrality.

On 1 November 1956 the Hungarian government denounced the Warsaw Pact and unilaterally declared the country's neutrality. At the same time Imre Nagy, the Communist Prime Minister, turned to the United Nations and requested that the four Great Powers help defend Hungary's neutrality. This was an unprecedented act in the whole history of the Soviet bloc, and therefore many students of the Hungarian revolution came to the conclusion that the denouncement of the Warsaw Pact and the declaration of neutrality were inconsiderate and hasty steps that challenged the second Soviet intervention on 4 November. This paper argues that in reality this step was not the cause but the consequence of the forthcoming Soviet showdown; therefore it can be considered a desperate last-ditch effort at saving the revolution, although with no chance to be successful. The paper will also analyze the main challenges facing the Hungarian and Soviet leaderships during the revolt as well as the process of handling the Hungarian crisis and the issue of neutrality by the Western Great Powers during their behind the scenes talks at the United Nations, using Soviet, Hungarian, American, British and French archival sources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]