Battle of Trenčín

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Battle of Trenčín
Part of the Francis II Rákoczi Kuruc uprisings

Memorial of the Battle of Trenčín
Date 3 August 1708
Location near the villages of Trenčianska Turná, Soblahov, Mníchova Lehota, present-day Slovakia
Result Habsburgs' victory
Belligerents
Kuruc Army of Francis II Rakoczi Habsburg Imperial Army
Serbian army in the Voivodina
Commanders
Francis II Rakoczi
de la Motte
Laurinc Pekri		 Siegbert Heister
John Pálfi
Strength
15,000 infantry and cavalrymen, 12 cannons around 5,000 infantry and cavalrymen, serbs
Casualties and losses
3,000 dead or wounded, 500 POW
12 cannons captured		 200 dead or wounded

The Battle of Trenčín (Hungarian: Trencséni csata, Slovak: Bitka pri Trenčíne) was battle between the Kuruc forces of Francis II Rákóczi and the Imperial Army of the Habsburgs. The battle caused great losses for the Anti-Habsburg rebels, which had to give up some of their plans. It also meant the beginning of the end of the Anti-Habsburg uprisings.

Contents

[edit] Background

In the year 1708, Francis II Rákóczi decided to march his troops into Silesia, to pave the way for the plans of Friedrich Wilhelm I of Prussia to take the Hungarian throne. Thus by this way reinforcing the Silesian Protestants as well. His army started to march down the Váh river, and planned near the town of Trenčín to go to Moravia. However, Trenčín was in the hands of a reinforced Habsburg garrison. At first, Rákóczi had no intention to besiege Trenčín, as to not to weaken his army, but under pressure of other Kuruc commanders, he decided to do so. The commander of the garrison, Siegbert Heister, found out about the moves of the Kuruc army, and started preparing his soldiers for the attack.

[edit] The Battle

At the morning of 3 August 1708, 5,000 Habsburg soldiers faced 15,000 Kuruc soldiers, with 12 cannons.[1] The right wing of the Kuruc army was composed of light cavalry and part of the infantry under command of Laurinc Pekri. The middle was composed by the artillery, protected by the German cavalry, as well as with the Polish and German carabiniers under command of colonel de la Motte. The left wing was made out of the rest of the infantry. The terrain ahead of them, however, was unclear, with moats going through it. When Siegbert Heister saw the number of Kuruc troops, and their advantageous standing, he decided to retreat into Trenčín Castle. At the moment of giving this order, the Kuruc artillery started firing, with Pekri's wing advancing forward to attack the Habsburg soldiers while they were still organising.

But the terrain was unsuitable for attack. The terrain was rugged, with two man-made ponds being next to each other, with an embankment between them. Pekri's cavalry started to go through the embankment at the trot. Meanwhile, Pekri was warned to rather retreat from those positions. While his cavalry started to turn back, it became disorganized, of which the troops of Imperial commander Ján Pálfi took advantage of and counter-attacked and caused the disorganized horsemen to flee.

The middle and left wing meanwhile fought off Imperial mercenaries, but the flee of the right wing brought uncertainty to them. Rákóczi tried to impress his soldiers and personally entered the fight. When jumping one of the moats, however, he fell from his horse and lost consciousness. Rumours about his death started to spread between his soldiers, and even the fighting troops started to flee. Heister's cavalry during the next three hours broke the originally three times bigger Kuruc army. As a result around 3,000 Kuruc soldiers died or were wounded, 500 were captured, along with all their 12 cannons.

Juraj Jánošík fought in the battle for the Kuruc side at the age of fifteen.

[edit] Aftermath

The Kuruc troops were heavily defeated in the Battle of Trenčín, revealing that they had smaller fighting capability than their foes. Heister's troops chased the remainder of Rákóczi's soldiers, captured Slovak mining towns, took Nitra, and started to besiege Nové Zámky. By the end of the year 1708, the Kuruc rebels had lost all of western Slovakia and part of the Kuruc soldiers joined the Habsburgs army. Soon, the rebels lost Tekov, Hont, the town of Zvolen and at the beginning of 1709, had to retreat from Liptov.

In December 1708, Rákóczi tried to save the situation of his declining army, by promising the peasants in his army freedom and land grants if they would stay in his army until the end, but this resolution had no effect on the peasants, who continued deserting from his army.

[edit] References

  1. ^ V. Vamgl, V. Kopčan - Vojenské dejiny Slovenska II. / 1526-1711 / published 1995 ISBN 80-967113-2-8 (pages 204 - 206)
Languages