Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 12.djvu/386

372 372 HUNGARY [HISTORY. professed his determination to defend the integrity of the Hun garian monarchy, convoked the diet for the 5th of July, when it was opened by the palatine Stephen, as viceroy. At the sugges tion of Kossuth a levy of 200,000 men and ample supplies for the purposes of national defence were unanimously voted ; but to these measures Ferdinand withheld his assent. On the 6th of September a deputation of a hundred members arrived at Vienna in order to urge upon the emperor the necessity of taking immediate and decisive steps to oppose the Croatian invasion. On the 9th of September they were admitted to an audience, but, receiving only &quot;Revolu- an evasive answer, they straightway returned to Pest. The abor tion, tive result of the deputation, and an official report that Jellachich had crossed the Drave, were announced to the diet on the llth September, and brought matters to a crisis. A few days later the palatine archduke Stephen, who at the demand of the diet had set out for the camp, but failed in his efforts at mediation, fled to Austria. The emperor thereupon nominated Count Lamberg royal commissioner and commander-in-chief of all the military forces in Hungary (September 25), but the diet pronounced his appointment illegal and invalid, and he was murdered on the Budapest bridge of boats by the infuriated populace (September 28). The Batthyanyi ministry now resigned, and a committee of national defence was formed under the presidency of Kossuth. On the 29th September, Jellachich, who had advanced to within 25 miles of Buda, was defeated at Yelencze, Avhenee he fled towards Vienna during a three days armistice that was granted to him by General Moga. Ferdinand now declared openly against the Hungarians, annulled the decrees of the diet, and nominated Jellachich generalissimo of the forces to be employed for the reduction of Hungary. While the Austrian Government, still further exas perated at the march of a Hungarian force to Sehwechat (30th October), was preparing for a general invasion, the Hungarian diet hastily equipped a large army to resist it. In the meantime a new Austrian ministry was formed at Vienna, and on the 2d December Ferdinand was induced to resign the imperial throne. He was succeeded by his nephew archduke Francis Joseph, son of Francis Charles, the heir-apparent, who refused to accept the crown. The Hungarian diet, however, protested against this dynastic change as unconstitutional. Eevola- On the loth of December the main body of the Austrian army tionary under Prince Windischgratz began to cross the western frontier of war Hungary near Brack on the Leitha, while the Hungarian army of (1843- the Upper Danube, commanded by Gorgei, who had succeeded 49). Moga, retreated in the direction of Moson (Wieselburg). On the 18th December the second Austrian army corps occupied Pozsony (Pressburg), which the Hungarian troops had evacuated, and upon the same day Jellachich, who commanded the first army corps, occu pied Moson, compelling Gorgei to withdraw towards Gyor (Raab), Upon the occupation of this town by the Austrians, on the 27th December, Gu rgei removed to Babolna, where he hoped to effect a junction with Perczel, who had been ordered to reinforce him. But Perczel being overtaken and defeated at Moor on the 29th December by the troops of the ban, was obliged to beat a hasty retreat towards Szekesfehervar (Stuhlweissenburg). These reverses having rendered Budapest insecure, the diet and the committee of national defence on the 1st January 1849 transferred their seat to Debreczen, and on the night of the 4th and 5th the Hungarian troops marched out of the capital, which on the following day was taken possession of by AVindischgratz. Perczel, who had gathered together the remains of his corps at Budapest, followed the Government by way of Szolnok, while Gorgei made a flank movement to the north, and led his corps by a circuitous route through the Carpathians to join the army on the Theiss. Windischgratz, mindful of Schwechat, and, regard ing the Hungarians as rebels, had refused to listen to a deputation headed by Count Batthyanyi making proposals of peace, and Batthyanyi himself waS arrested. While the Austrian generals were making this rapid progress in Hungary Proper, the Polish general Bern had succeeded in organizing a large force in Transyl vania, by means of which he reduced the refractory Wallachs to subjection, and drove the Austrians out of the principality, which had been forced to submit to General Puchner. In the diet now held at Debreczen Kossuth declared that the nation was on the verge of destruction, and could only be saved by extraordinary measures. But the inactivity of Windischgratz, who, instead of hastening onwards to the Theiss, remained for several weeks at Pest, gave the committee of national defence time to con centrate its forces, procure war material, and make other provisions for a determined resistance. On the 12th of February Gorgei arrived at Kassa (Kaschau), and the two Hungarian armies could now act in concert. Meanwhile the national cause made little pro gress in the south, a great portion of which was in the hands of the enemy. On the 14th February the fortress of Eszek in Slavonia was lost to the Hungarians ; that of Lipotvar (Leopoldstadt) in the north had already fallen on the 2d of the same month. At length the main body of the Austrians under Windischgratz advanced, and attacked the Hungarians under the Polish general Dembinski on the 26th and 27th February at Kapolna. The battle, though obstinately contested, proved indecisive, and the Hungarians were obliged to retire beyond the Theiss in order to recruit their forces. A few days later, however, an Hungarian corps, withdrawn from the lower Danube, and commanded by Danijanics, routed the Austrians under Grammont at Szolnok (5th March). Meanwhile the Russians, coming to the aid of the Austrians, had penetrated into Transylvania and occupied Nagysze- ben (Hermannstadt) and Brasso (Kronstadt), but the Hungarians under Bern regained these fortresses on the llth and 20th March, and drove the Eussians into Wallachia. By the middle of March an army of 120,000 men, provided with excellent generals and ample artillery, was concentrated on the Theiss. Towards the end of the month the Hungarians crossed the river at various points, and advanced on the road to Pest, under the command of Gorgei, Danijanics, Aulich, Klapka, and others, Guyon having been nominated to the commander ship of Komarom (Komorn), the relief of which was the ultimate object of the cam paign. The leadership of the Hungarian forces had meanwhile passed from Dembinski to Vetter, on account of whose ill-health it was provisionally transferred on the 31st March to Gorgei. From this time the Austrians had to. endure a rapid succession of defeats, at Hatvan (April 2), Tapio-Bicske (April 4), Isaszeg (April 6), Godollo (April 7), and Vacz or Waitzen (April 10). In consequence of these reverses Windischgratz was recalled, and the chief com mand of the Austrian troops was given to Baron Welden (April 12). In order to prevent the relief of Komarom, Welden opposed the advance of Gorgei with a force under Wohlgemuth, which was, however, defeated by Danijanics on the 19th April at Kagy-Sarlo, so that on the 22d the relief of the fortress of Komarom was effected upon the left bank of the Danube, Guyon having previously succeeded in passing through the hostile lines. The subsequent rout of the besieging forces at Uj-Szony on the 26th April completed the discomfiture of the Austrians, and forced them to fly to the frontier. The ban Jellachich meanwhile retreated to Croatia, and nearly the whole country was once more in the hands of the Hun garians. In the midst of these victories Kossuth proposed in the diet at Debreczen the dethronement of the Hapsburg dynasty, and upon the 14th April an act to that effect was almost unanimously passed, although afterwards unfavourably received by Gorgei and a large portion of the army. The chief provocation to the passing of this extreme and, as it eventually proved, unfortunate measure was the promulgation of the new constitution on the 4th March by the emperor Francis Joseph, which made a tabula rasa of all the time- honoured laws, rights, and privileges of Hungary. The substance of the declaration of independence was as follows : &quot; That the house of Hapsburg, having violated the integrity of the kingdom, treacher ously levied war against the nation, and called in the aid of a foreign power to accomplish its aims, has trampled under foot all the treaties that united it to Hungary, and is therefore declared for ever excluded from the Hungarian throne.&quot; The form of government was to be settled afterwards by the diet, but in the meantime Kossuth was nominated governor, the committee of national defence was dissolved, and a new responsible ministry formed under the presidency of Szemere. It is generally admitted that, had the Hungarians followed up their victories by an immediate march upon Vienna, they would have been able to force the Austrian Government to terms, and thus have warded off the Eussian invasion, the preparations for which were now being conducted upon an enormous scale. Instead, how ever, of acting on the offensive across the Austrian frontier, the Hungarian commander-in-chief, Gorgei, after a few days delay at Komarom, made a retrograde movement towards the Hungarian capital. On the 4th May he arrived before Buda, which was still in the possession of the Austrians, but it was in vain that he sum moned the commander Hentzi to surrender. On the 15th began the regular bombardment of the fortress, and on the 21st it was taken by assault. On the 5th of June Kossuth made his entry into Pest, and the diet having adjourned its sittings at Debreczen, the Government returned to the capital. Every preparation was now set on foot for a desperate defence against the combined armies of Russia and Austria, which by the middle of the month had com pleted their arrangements, and had begun to invade the country at various points. Prince Pa.skewitch advanced from Galiciaat the head of the main body of the Russian army, consisting of over 100,000 men, while Haynau crossed the western frontier with an Austrian force of 60,000, supported by a Russian division of 12,000 under Paniutin. On the Drave and the Styjian frontier Nugent commanded 12,000, and near Eszek was Jellachich with 25,000 men. In Transylvania the combined Austrian and Russian forces under Puchner and Liiders amounted to 60,000 ; so that, including the garrisons of the fortresses in their hands, the allied forces were in all not less than 275,000 men with 600 guns. The whole available forces of Hungary did not amount to more than half this number, the army of the Upper Danube under Gorgei being 50,000, that of Perczel and Vecsey in the south 30,000, the army of the north under Dembinski 12,000 ; while there were about 32,000 men under