Battle of Schwechat

The Battle of Schwechat was a battle in the Hungarian Revolution of 1848, fought on 30 October 1848 between the revolutionary Hungarian Army against the army of the Austrian Empire, in Schwechat, near Vienna. This was the last battle of 1848 in the Transdanubian campaign. The Hungarian Army was under the command of János Móga and the Austrian Army was under the command of Alfred I, Prince of Windisch-Grätz.

Background

Jelačić’s retreat

Some days after the Battle of Pákozd János Móga and his Hungarian army pursued Croatian Ban Josip Jelačić. Jelačić and his Croat army retreated towards Vienna for two reasons: first, he knew he would get some support from Vienna; second, he could not turn toward Croatia, because militiamen and territorials were occupying South Transdanubia. Neither could they retreat in the direction of the fortress of Komárom, because it switched allegiance to the Constitution of Hungary, an allegiance that lasted until the end of the revolution. On 4 October Jelačić arrived at Moson. He planned to wait for reinforcements and then attack the Hungarian Army.

During Jelačić’s retreat there was major political upheaval. The Emperor had not heard of the Hungarian victory at the Battle of Pákozd, but he received the news that Ferenc Lamberg had been killed. The Emperor thought it was time to attack the Constitution of Hungary in public. The Emperor refused to recognise the Batthyány Government and ordered the Hungarian Parliament be dissolved. Furthermore, he appointed Jelačić as the civic and military regent of Hungary.

Jelačić's main supporter, the Austrian Secretary of War Theodor Franz, Count Baillet von Latour, sent troops to help him; however, von Latour was unaware that Vienna had very few soldiers. This was a mistake, and he paid for the error with his life. Those in Vienna sympathetic to the Hungarian cause started a rebellion on 6 October. The Emperor and his subjects escaped to Olmütz but Latour was lynched by rebels. After Jelačić heard of the rebellion, he left Hungary towards Vienna. On 10 October the Hungarian Army reached the Austrian border and stopped pursuing Jelačić.

The delayed Hungarian attack

The delayed attack by the Hungarian army is controversial among those studying Hungarian military history. When the rebellion started in Vienna, everyone took for granted that the Hungarians would come to the rebels' aid. Had they done so, it could have changed the course of the revolution. More so, had they done so and won, the Habsburg Empire might have collapsed.

The Hungarian army had good reason not cross the Austrian border. After the Battle of Pákozd, Jelačić’s army was stronger than ever. Jelačić sent the inexperienced Croatians in the direction of Croatia under the command of Kuzman Todorović because he knew that troops were en route from Vienna. As a result, the Hungarian army had to fight the more experienced, stronger Austrian army. This decision led to some infighting among the leaders of the Hungarian army. János Móga decided to follow the orders of the Hungarian National Defence Commission not to attack. But the members of the Commission varied in their views about crossing the Austrian border. The Left wanted to help the rebels in Vienna, but the Right objected to this idea. From the start Lajos Kossuth said that the Hungarians were not rebels, but were only protecting their own country. Later, he changed his mind, and on 18 October he visited the Hungarian army to tell them his views.

Battle

The imperial outposts withdrew behind Schwadorf and Fischamend as the main Hungarian power advanced. The incoming vanguard of the Hungarian Milpökh division, the brigade under Artúr Görgei, advanced on Schwechat early in the morning of October 30th and immediately tried to break into between the Croatian and imperial positions. The thrust against the right wing of the Kriegern Division and the left wing of the Ottinger Division failed and was stopped solely by the imperial batteries. Prince Windischgrätz had the bulk of his troops not deployed against the Viennese take a firm position on the southern bank of the Danube between Mannswörth and Schwechat in good time. The infantry under the Banus Jelacic held the following positions south of it via Kaiser-Ebersdorf - Rannersdorf to Oberlaa on the left bank of the Schwechat. The Hungarian right wing under General Richard Guyon occupied a range of hills opposite the imperial positions in front of Mannswörth, while the Hungarian cavalry was divided on both wings. The Hungarians had mostly untrained infantry, the National Guards and the Landsturm armed only with scythes in the middle, but the artillery concentrated to secure the flanks. On the left wing of the Hungarians, the reluctantly advancing Brigade Repasy had occupied the town of Rauchwarth and had three batteries of twelve pounders deployed from there to Zwölfaxing. Jelačić had ordered the equestrian brigade of Prince Liechtenstein assigned to him to cross the Schwechat near Maria Lanzendorf in order to encompass the Hungarian position over Himberg in the south, but the operation failed due to the lax approach of the prince in charge and no longer had any effect on the course of the battle.

At around 2 p.m., Prince Windischgrätz's chief of staff, Major General Karl von Zeisberg, personally commanded a strong counterattack in the center of the Imperial Army. Supported by a twelve-pound and a six-pound battery, 2 battalions of the Khevenhüller infantry regiment No. 35 and 3 squadrons of the 6th cuirassier regiment, Wallmoden, advanced. Zeisberg positioned his two batteries on the dominant height to the right of Schwechat and had an effective fire opened at a distance of 800 paces, which suppressed the Hungarian artillery in the center and broke through the position of the Laczar Brigade on the first attempt. Without any loss of time, Zeisberg led the cuirassier regiment mentioned above. The Hungarians, thrown back in the middle, were able to secure their retreat under cover of artillery from the two still intact wings. The weak pursuit of the imperial troops was stopped as darkness fell.

Aftermath

The main aim of the Austrian army's leaders was to prevent the rebels in Vienna and the Hungarian army banding together. In that respect, Windisch-Grätz won the battle as he successfully attacked the Hungarians and the rebels capitulated. But the defeat was not decisive as the Hungarian army kept its strength until they reached the Austrian border.

The battle showed that inexperienced men were not good enough to fight against the Emperor's army. It became clear that the Hungarian army needed brave leaders too. After this battle, only the loyal and brave leaders got higher positions in the Hungarian army.

Sources

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Battle Of Pakozd
Schwechat 1848
Schwechat 1848
Schwechat 1848
Hungarian Revolution of 1848
Military history of Austria
History of Lower Austria
Schwechat 1848