Summer Campaign
The Summer Campaign was the military campaign of the armed forces of the Habsburg Empire and Russian Empire against the troops of the Hungarian State with the intent to end its independence and abolish the achievements of the Hungarian Revolution of 1848. Following the Hungarian army's successful Spring Campaign, Franz Joseph I requested assistance from Tsar Nicholas I of Russia on May 21, 1849. The Tsar dispatched an army of nearly 200,000 Russian soldiers led by Marshal Ivan Paskevich to fight Hungary. The Austrian main army was led by Field Marshal Julius Jacob von Haynau. The enemy armies attacked Hungary from all 4 directions. The much smaller Hungarian army was led by General Artúr Görgei. Despite scoring many surprising successes, the Hungarian army was ultimately defeated by the superior forces of the two empires. On August 13, Görgei's main army surrendered to the Russian army. The remaining Hungarian troops and forts surrendered by October 2. Most of the Hungarian political and military elite fled the country. Those who remained were either executed or imprisoned.
Background
On December 2, 1848, Ferdinand V was deposed and succeeded by Franz Joseph I because Ferdinand had signed the April Laws, preventing him from ordering an attack on Hungary. However, Franz Joseph had not signed the laws, allowing him to order the attack. The Hungarians did not support this change and continued to regard Ferdinand as their ruler. At this time, Hungary was not considered an independent state; therefore, until 14 April 1849 the war can be regarded as a civil war. In December, Franz Joseph launched a general attack against Hungary. The main forces, led by Field Marshal Alfred I, Prince of Windisch-Grätz, attacked along the Danube. Opposing them was the Upper Danube Army, led by Artúr Görgei. Görgei retreated from the superior forces, strengthening his troops along the way. A conflict arose between Lajos Kossuth and Görgei. The commander-in-chief avoided a decisive battle with the much superior imperial army to preserve his troops, but the politician demanded victory to maintain morale. Görgei did not agree, but General Mór Perczel, trying to please Kossuth, attempted to confront the Austrian army. However, on December 30, 1848, Perczel suffered a crushing defeat in the Battle of Mór at the hands of the imperial army led by Lieutenant General Josip Jelačić. The main forces surrendered Pest without a fight. The National Assembly decided to continue the fight. In the middle of winter, the government and the National Assembly were moved to Debrecen, and the military industry to Nagyvárad.Görgei marched through Vác towards Northern Hungary to divert Windisch-Gratz's main forces from attacking Debrecen. In early February, the division led by Richard Guyon occupied the Branyiszkó Pass, thus opening the way for Görgei's army into the Hernád Valley. In the region of Kassa, he was able to unite with György Klapka's army, and together with the troops led by János Damjanich, significant forces were lined up against Windisch-Grätz. Kossuth appointed the Pole Henryk Dembiński to lead troops in a counter-attack against the main imperial army. However, due to Dembinski's indecisiveness, the Hungarian army suffered defeat in the Battle of Kápolna on February 26–27, 1849. Windisch-Grätz exaggerated the battle's significance and reported to the emperor that the uprising had been completely crushed. Thus, the Schwarzenberg government saw that the time had come to issue the Olmütz Constitution on March 4, 1849, which incorporated Hungary into the centralized empire. The defeat of Kápolna exacerbated the conflicts within the Hungarian army: Dembiński was deposed through a revolt of the Hungarian officers at Tiszafüred, but Kossuth did not want to appoint Görgei in his place, naming instead Antal Vetter as high commander. But at the end of March, Vetter got ill, forcing the reluctant Kossuth to appoint Görgei as commander in chief.
In Transylvania, the local high command openly opposed the Hungarian government, and with the troops at its disposal launched an attack against the weak Hungarian forces in Transylvania, also relying on Romanian border guards and popular uprisings, but the Székely uprising prevented the enemy from breaking out into the Tiszántúl Region, which, after Pest's occupation, was the government's base. By the end of March, Polish General Józef Bem had driven the Austrians out of Transylvania: he moved his troops quickly, made constant use of artillery, and did not shy away from daring ventures. Major battles: Capture of Kolozsvár and Marosvásárhely, First Battle of Nagyszeben, Battle of Vízakna, Battle of Piski and the Second Battle of Nagyszeben.
The new Hungarian military leadership set out to encircle and defeat the enemy. In April, the Hungarian army defeated the imperial forces in six battles. However, the main Austrian forces escaped the encirclements at Gödöllő and Komárom. This enabled them to reorganize later. On May 21, 1849, the Hungarians captured Buda Castle by siege, thereby liberating the Hungarian capitals.
In the spring of 1849, Hungarians achieved additional successes on other fronts. Except for the fortresses of Arad and Temesvár, and the Syrmia region, they captured Southern Hungary. The small Hungarian detachments led by Ármin Görgey and Lajos Beniczky occupied most of Upper Hungary. The popular uprising led by Gáspár Noszlopy captured southern Transdanubia. And, as mentioned before, the Transylvanian Army of Józef Bem captured much of Transylvania.
In response to the Olmütz Constitution, the Hungarian National Assembly declared the Habsburg dynasty deposed and Hungary independent on April 14 in Debrecen. Thus, the Hungarian State was founded. They did not decide on the form of government, but they did elect Lajos Kossuth governor and form a new constitutional government under the leadership of Bertalan Szemere. However, since the great powers regarded the Habsburg Empire as a pillar of European balance against the Russians, the declaration of independence did not improve the country's foreign policy situation.
Alarmed by Hungary's successes and fearing that he could not defeat them with his own forces, on May 21, 1849, Emperor Franz Joseph I asked the Russian Tsar, Nicholas I, for help.
The calling of the Russians
According to the Treaty of Münchengrätz of 1833, Austria could count on the help of Russia's army, but the Austrian government was reluctant to ask for help. By the end of March 1849, it had become increasingly evident, that the imperial army alone was incapable of putting down the Hungarian "rebellion". Negotiations in preparation for the intervention started at the end of March, and the formal request for assistance was made on 21 April. The Austrian side wanted to ask for only a few tens of thousands of Russian auxiliary forces fighting under Austrian command. Tsar Nicholas I of Russia, however, believed that he had to act with a strong army that alone could crush the revolution.The opposing forces
The Anti-Hungarian coalition
The Austrian army and its allies
The Imperial Army under the command of Field Marshal Julius Jacob von Haynau consisted of the following army groupings.The Army of the Danube consisted of 4 corps and a Russian division, which amounted to 82,570 soldiers and 336 guns.
In addition, there were two battalions and six companies stationed in various forts and towns in western Hungary or assigned to guard the main artillery reserves.
The Southern Army, commanded by Lieutenant General Josip Jelačić, consisted of a corps, 3 divisions, a cavalry division, and the Temesvár and Arad garrisons, which totaled 54,392 Austrian and Serbian soldiers and 401 cannons.
The Transylvanian corps, led by Lieutenant General Eduard Clamm-Gallas consisted of 12,000 soldiers and 36 guns. The Austrian troops in Transylvania were joined by a column led by Colonel Karl Urban, then Colonel Springensfeld, with 3000 soldiers and 9 guns.
These were joined by a couple of reserve corps, such as the 1st Reserve Corps under Lieutenant General Johann Nobili with 6,000 soldiers and 12 guns, and the 2nd Reserve Corps under Field Marshal Laval Nugent with 8,500 soldiers and 24 guns. The garrisons and other troops totaled 10,000 soldiers with an unknown number of guns. Thus, the total Imperial Army attacking Hungary consisted of 177,964 soldiers and artillery, which exceeded 818 guns.
Among the irregular troops that supported the Austrians were the Romanians, who retreated to the Ore Mountains of Transylvania, led by Avram Iancu. The number of these Romanian rebels was estimated at 70,000. Besides them, it was the Slovak legion, which consisted of about 900 men.
The Russian army
In 1849 Tsar Nicholas I mobilized for the Hungarian campaign, the entire II, III, and IV Infantry Corps of the Russian army, the majority of the V Infantry Corps, some units of the I Infantry Corps and the II Reserve Cavalry Corps, about 10 Cossack regiments, 4 companies of Caucasian Circassian cavalry and 6 companies of Muslim cavalry from the Southern Caucasus region. The I Infantry Corps, the undeployed part of the II Reserve Cavalry Corps, and the entire III Reserve Cavalry Corps were waiting at the Hungarian borders as reserves. These totalled 193,000 soldiers and 584 guns.Of these, 135,500 soldiers and 448 guns were stationed at the borders of Northern Hungary, 37,000 soldiers and 88 guns at the borders of Transylvania, while 12 000 Russian soldiers and 48 guns joined the Austrian main force under Haynau.
The Hungarian army
The Hungarian main army led by General Artur Görgei, which was concentrated in the western part of the country, around the Rába and Vág rivers, consisted of 5 corps, 1 independent division and 3 mobile columns. This totalled 62 640 soldiers and 229 guns.The Northern Army, led by Lieutenant General Henryk Dembiński, consisted of 1 corps and a separate division with 16 500 soldiers and 57 guns. The reserve corps, led by General Richard Guyon, had 9 500 soldiers and 12 guns.
The southern army under the command of Lieutenant-General Vetter consisted of two corps and the garrison of Pétervárad, which totaled 36,800 soldiers and 109 field guns, 49 siege guns and 64 fortress cannons. The Transylvanian army, which included 1 corps and the siege troops of Gyulafehérvár, totaled 27 000 soldiers 65 field guns, and 10 siege cannons.
To these were added the Székely and Hungarian militias and mobile national guards, which amounted to about 20,000 armed men.
This amounted to 172,440 soldiers and 472 guns.
In addition, there were 465 heavy guns in Komárom and 392 in Pétervárad, for a total of 857.