Battle of Isaszeg (1849)

Battle of Isaszeg
Part of the Hungarian Revolution of 1848
Date 6 April 1849 Location around Isaszeg and Gödöllő, Kingdom of Hungary Result Hungarian strategic victory
Belligerents
Hungarian Revolutionary Army Polish Legion	Austrian Empire Kingdom of Croatia
Commanders and leaders
Artúr Görgei  György Klapka  János Damjanich  Lajos Aulich  András Gáspár	Alfred I, Prince of Windisch-Grätz  Franz Schlik  Josip Jelačić
Strength
Total: 31,315 men - I. corps: 10 827 - II. corps: 8 896 - III. corps: 11 592 99 cannons Did not participate VII. corps: 14 258 men 66 cannons	Total: 26,000 men - I. corps: 15 000 - III. corps: 11 000 72 cannons
Casualties and losses
Total: 800–1,000 men	Total: 373/369 men - 81/42 dead - 196/195 wounded - 96/132 missing and captured

 Austrian Empire

The Battle of Isaszeg was a battle in the Spring Campaign of the Hungarian War of Independence from 1848 to 1849, fought on 6 April 1849 between the Austrian Empire and Hungarian Revolutionary Army supplemented by Polish volunteers. The forces Austrians were led by Field Marshal Alfred I, Prince of Windisch-Grätz, while the Hungarians were led by General Artúr Görgei. This battle is one of the engagements of the Hungarian revolutionary and the imperial counter-revolutionary main armies, thus one of the decisive battles of the Hungarian freedom war. The Hungarians were victorious. The battle was one of the turning points of the Hungarian War of Independence, causing a series of setbacks of the Habsburg imperial armies in April–May 1849, forcing them to retreat from the occupied central and western Hungary towards the westernmost border strip of the country, convinced the Hungarian National Assembly to issue the Hungarian Declaration of Independence from the Habsburg Dynasty. It also decided the fate of Windisch-Grätz, who was dismissed from the leadership of the imperial forces in Hungary six days after this defeat, on 12 April 1849.

After the Battle of Kápolna on 26–27 February 1849, the commander of the Austrian imperial forces Alfred I, Prince of Windisch-Grätz, thought that he had destroyed the Hungarian revolutionary forces once and for all. He wrote on 3 March in his report sent to the imperial court in Olmütz, that: "I smashed the rebel hordes, and I will be in a few days in Debrecen (the temporary capital of Hungary)". Despite of this he did not attack the Hungarian forces, because he did not have any reliable information about the number of the Hungarian forces facing him if he crossed the Tisza river. But because of his alertness he lost the opportunity to win the war. While he was deciding whether to attack or not, the Hungarian commanders who were discontented with the disappointing performance of Lieutenant General Henryk Dembiński as high commander of the Hungarian forces, blamed him for the loss of the Battle of Kápolna, started a "rebellion", making a meeting in Tiszafüred, which forced the Government Commissioner Bertalan Szemere to depose the Polish general and put Artúr Görgei instead. This infuriated Lajos Kossuth, the President of the National Defense Committee (interim government of Hungary), wanting to execute Görgei for rebellion. Finally, he was forced by the support of the Hungarian generals for Görgei, to renounce to his plan, and accept the deposition of Dembiński. But Kossuth's antipathy towards Görgei prevented him to accept the decision of Szemere, but he named Lieutenant General Antal Vetter as high commander instead. But Vetter became ill on 28 March, so after two days Kossuth was forced to name Görgei as temporary high commander of the Hungarian main forces. These days and weeks of unrest, uncertainty and changes, could be an excellent opportunity for Windisch-Grätz to cross the Tisza river and defeat the Hungarian army once and for all. But the Austrian field-marshal, paralyzed by an increasing fear of a Hungarian attack, instead of attacking, tried to inform himself about the numbers and strength of the Hungarian armies which were on the eastern bank of the Tisza river, but his spies were unsuccessful in obtaining any information. His fear was fed also by the misleading Hungarian attacks in south against Szolnok on 5 March, and in north where on 24 March the commando of Major Lajos Beniczky, made of 800 soldiers descended on the imperial commando led by Colonel Károly Almásy at Losonc, taking the half of his soldiers as prisoners, which attack was reported by the latter to Windisch-Grätz, that it was made by a 6,000-strong army. Because of these the Austrian marshal scattered his troops in every direction, to prevent a surprise attack, his main concern being a bypass attack from the north, which he feared, will relieve the fortress of Komárom from the imperial siege against, which could cut his support lines.

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