Video: 'Selected Originals - Hungarian Revolution (1956)'

(Tuesday, October 23, 1956, peaceful demonstration of students started at about 2:00 p.m. at the Petofi square; during the Cold War) — The Hungarian Revolution of 1956, a nationwide revolt against the government of the Hungarian People’s Republic and its Soviet-imposed policies, began today as a student demonstration in Budapest.

Video: 'The 1956 Hungarian Revolution by the BBC'

The revolt was the first major threat to Soviet control since the USSR’s forces drove out Nazi Germany from its territory at the end of World War II and broke into Central and Eastern Europe.

In 1956, communism in Hungary meant a harsh, Soviet-controlled one-party dictatorship. This system was enforced by a brutal secret police and a failing state-run economy.