Battle of Pered

Battle of Pered
Part of the Hungarian Revolution of 1848
Date 20–21 June 1849 Location around and in Pered Kingdom of Hungary (now Tešedíkovo, Slovakia) Result Austro-Russian victory
Belligerents
Hungarian Revolutionary Army	Austrian Empire  Russian Empire
Commanders and leaders
Artúr Görgei  Károly Leiningen-Westerburg	Julius Jacob von Haynau  Ludwig von Wohlgemuth  Anton Csorich  Feodor Sergeyevich Panyutyin
Strength
Total: 25,286/23,727 men - II. corps: 8059/6500 - III. corps: 9395 - VIII. corps: 7832 113 cannons Did not participated I. corps: 7261 men 30 cannons	Total: 39,500 men - II. corps: 13,500 - IV. (reserve) corps: 14,000 - Panyutyin division: 12,000 172 cannons
Casualties and losses
Total: 2878 men - 126 dead - 180 wounded - 2572 missing and captured 7 cannons	Total: 668 men - 131 dead - 415 wounded - 122 missing and captured 260 cannons

The Battle of Pered, fought on 20–21 June 1849, was one of the battles which took place in the Summer Campaign of the Hungarian War of Independence from 1848 to 1849, fought between the Hungarian Revolutionary Army and the Habsburg Empire helped by Russian troops. The Hungarian army was led by GeneralArtúr Görgei, while the imperial army by Lieutenant field marshal Julius Jacob von Haynau. After a several preliminary minor battles of the Hungarian and Austrian troops along the Vág river, in which the attacking Hungarians could not achieve a success, Görgei took the command of his troops, and after receiving reinforcements, at 20 June, put his troops to attack again towards West. Although the II. Hungarian army corps occupied in heavy fights the village of Pered, the other two corps (the III. and the VIII.) were unsuccessful, and could not advance. The angered Görgei removed the commander of the III. corps, General Károly Knezić because of his inactivity, and Colonel Lajos Asbóth, the commander of the II. corps who, in contrast to Knezić, was the only commander who successfully accomplished his duties. While Knezić's place was taken by Colonel Károly Leiningen-Westerburg, who was a great choice, Asbóth's place was taken by Colonel József Kászonyi, who was an explicitly bad choice. Haynau, who in the first day of the battle was moving the bulk of his troops to cross the Danube in order to start an attack on its southern bank, sent three of his corps, which were still on the northern bank, to repel the Hungarian forces. The two Austrian (II., IV.) and one Russian (Panyutin's) corps started their attack at 21 June, and forced the Hungarians to retreat from Pered and Zsigárd, which forced Görgei to order his troops to retreat from the battlefield.

Thanks to the victories of the Spring Campaign, the Hungarian Revolutionary Army liberated much of Hungary from the occupation of the numerically and technologically superior Habsburg armies and their, Serbian, Romanian and Croatian allies. The Hungarian army of Transylvania, led by Lieutenant General Józef Bem even managed to chase out from the province the first Russian intervention troops (7000 soldiers), which entered there in the winter of 1849. From the end of March the Austrian politicians and military leaders understood that the Habsburg Empire is incapable of crushing their revolution relying on their own strength. So, basing on the Münchengrätz Agreements from 1833, according to which the Habsburg and Russian Empires and Prussia agreed to help each other if their sovereignty is threatened by a revolt or revolution, Austria decided to ask for Russian help against the Hungarian Revolution, although initially they were reluctant to do that, because they were conscious that this will cause them a big loss of prestige. But the Hungarian victories of the Spring Campaign made the Habsburg government to make this unwanted step, and on 21 April, they made the official help request from Russia, followed by the letter of emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria to Tsar Nicholas I of Russia. In result the Tsar decided to send 200,000 Russian soldiers to Hungary, putting another 80,000 in reserve, to enter Hungary if their presence would be needed. Although the Hungarian Government led by Bertalan Szemere and Governor President Lajos Kossuth believed that the European nations would not allow Russian to intervene in Hungary, the European states and England agreed with a Russian intervention in order to crush the Hungarian revolution, thus Lord Palmerston replied to the question of the Russian ambassador about the reaction of England to a Russian intervention in Hungary, saying: Finish them quickly!, demanding that after they fulfilled their task to return in Russia immediately. Although England worried about a Russian intervention in Hungary, its first concern was that the Russian Empire to not advance in the Balkans, and an important condition for this was a strong Habsburg Empire. So, an independent Hungary could have been an impediment for England's world domination policy.

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