The Siege of Budapest: One Hundred Days In World War II - Hardcover

Ungvary, Krisztian

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0300104685 ISBN 13: 9780300104684

Publisher: Yale Univ Pr, 2005

Synopsis

In the final six months of World War II, Germany and the Soviet Union focused on Hungary: Stalin demanded victory at all costs as a key to securing his European empire; Hitler ordered an unrelenting defense of Budapest in order to prolong his grip on Vienna and preserve the route to Berlin. Consequently, the siege of Budapest was one of the longest and bloodiest battles of the entire war.

Based on formerly inaccessible documents and several hundred interviews with Hungarian and German survivors, this is the first complete and unbiased account of the siege of Budapest. Street by street, day by day, Krisztián Ungváry describes the battle and its horrors in meticulous detail. One hundred and two days passed between the appearance of the first Soviet tank and the final capture of Buda Castle. More than 80,000 Soviet troops and 38,000 German and Hungarian soldiers were killed; about 38,000 Hungarian civilian lives were lost. Civilian casualties were extraordinarily high because the city’s 800,000 noncombatant residents were never evacuated. This book represents a massive effort of historical reconstruction, and a major contribution to the history of World War II.

About this title

About the Author:

Krisztián Ungváry is a research fellow at the Institute for the History of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution. Ladislaus Löb is emeritus professor of German, University of Sussex.


Krisztián Ungváry is a research fellow at the Institute for the History of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution. Ladislaus Löb is emeritus professor of German, University of Sussex.


Ladislaus Lob is Emeritus Professor of German, University of Sussex.

About this edition

• Publisher: Yale Univ Pr
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 0300104685
• ISBN 13: 9780300104684
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 475