SOVIET TANKS ROLLED INTO BUDAPEST ON THIS DAY IN 1956, thoroughly crushing the Hungarian Revolution. About 200 Hungarians were executed for their part in the effort to get out from under Soviet domination (including Prime Minister Imre Nagy, who had announced Hungary’s withdrawal from the Warsaw Pact only days before). About 20,000 were imprisoned and about 200,000 fled the country.

Some had thought that Khrushchev, unlike Stalin, might permit Hungary to leave the Soviet orbit in peace.  They were proven wrong.