Why Did Soviet Troops Invade Hungary in October 1956?

The Soviet invasion of Hungary came at a climax in the rebellion of the Hungarian people to what they saw as government rule run amuck. The country was suffering from food shortages, high prices, an economy in tatters and a complete disinterest in communism. The ethos of Communism was totally opposite to the Hungarian belief structure. A proud and independent people, the rule of Communism was oppressive and degrading to Hungarians. The idea of collectivism was not a welcome concept, and the Soviet ideal that people worked for the benefit of the state rather than for themselves chafed the people and pushed them to the edge. The Soviet practice of taking resources on the cheap, and then selling a finished product back to the people at over inflated prices was one premise that did not serve to endear the Soviet communistic ideology to the Hungarians. Rather, this served as the beginning of a tide of rebellion that would sweep through the country and cast a worrying climate over the Soviet hierarchy and their ability to retain their presence and stranglehold over Eastern Europe. The rebellion would cause great anger to the Communist party leaders in Moscow, and subsequently lead to a deadly game of cat and mouse as the Soviet hierarchy toyed with the resistance, giving them false optimism that they could be live free of the stranglehold of Communism, an optimism that was to have deadly and catastrophic consequences.