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A thousand years of the Hungarian art of war |
A DARING RAID ON BERLIN
1. C. A. Macartney, Maria Theresa and the House of Austria (Mystic, Conn.
Lawrence Verry, Inc., 1969), p. 2.
2. Homan-Szekfu, Hungarian History, IV, p. 362.
3. Walter L. Dorn, Competition for Empire I Z40-1763 (New York: Harper &
Row, Publishers, 1963), p. 81. (Hereafter referred to as Competition .)
4. Ibid.
5. See pp. 106- 108 below.
6. Gunther E. Rothenberg, The Army of Francis Joseph (West Lafayette, Indiana:
Purdue University Press, 1976). p. 5.
7. Dorn, Competition, p. 84.
8. Result of the 150 years of Turkish occupation.
9. Works on Kaunitz and the Diplomatic revolution are: Alexander Novotny,
Staatskanzler Kaunitz (Vienna: Hollinek Verlag, 1947); M. Braubach, Versailles
and Wien von Ludwig XIV bis Kaunitz (Bonn: 1952); E. Kuntzel, Furst
Kaunitz-Rittberg als Staatsmann (Frankfort: 1923).
10. Fuller, Military History, II. p. 199; Karl Uhlitz, Handbuch der Geschichte
Osterreichs und seiner Nachbarlander Bohmen und Ungarn (Wien:
Universitats-Buchhandlung Leuschner & Lubensky, 1927), 2 vols., I, p. 323.
11. Vajna-Naday, Warhistory, II. Part 1., Plan 14.
12. Delbruck, Geschichte der Kriegskunst, IV, p. 398, states that because of
the nearness of Daun's army to Frederick's supply line, the king had no other
choice than to attack. The numerical superiority of the Austrians did not
matter, since Frederick had defeated proportionally larger forces before in
the Battle of Soor and later at Leuthen. On the other hand, Fuller, Military
History, II, p. 200, considers Frederick's decision to accept battle
"reckless..."
13. Homan-Szekfu, Hungarian History, IV, p. 498.
14. Fuller, Military History, 11, p. 201.
15. Delbruck, Geschichte der Kriegskunst, IV, p. 399.
16. The following summary of Hadik's early career is based on -rp- "Egy hires
magyar katona eletutja... "The Carrier of a Famous Hungarian Soldier.' in
Hadak Utjan, ..On the Milky Way of Hosts.." (Munchen, Vol. XVII, No. 139,
November, 1965,) pp. 13-15.
17. See p. 61 above.
18. Pilch, Hungarian Soldier, II, p. 61.
l79
19. The artillery was classified, not by caliber, but by the weight of the
projectile.
20. The following description is based on Pilch, llungarian Soldier, ll, pp.
60-66.
21. Ibid., p. 63.
22. It meant three and one-half silver taler for a soldier, equal to six months
of the regular soldier's pay.
23. Compare with the standard speed of 8-12 miles per day of other armies.
24. Hadik was the fourth recipient of the newly-founded order. Before him,
only Prince Charles of Lorraine, Field Marshal Daun and Field Marshal Nadasdy,
the Hungarian hero of the Battle of Kolin, were decorated with this supreme
military order.
25. Frederick also had Hungarian hussars in his service. See, p. 106 below
26. Gerhard Ritter, Frederick the Great (Berkeley: University of California
Press, 1974), p. 111.
27. Ibid., p. 113.
28. Lynn Montross, War Through the Ages, New York: Harper & Row,
Publishers, 1960), 3rd edition, p. 394.
29. Fuller, Military History, II, p. 201.
30. Already on September 7, 1757, one of Bevern's divisions - 10,000 men -
were defeated by the attack of Nadasdy's hussar division. The Prussians lost
over 2,000 men and 5 guns. Because of Charles of Lorraine's "cautious and
unenterprising strategy". Bevern could withdraw unmolested to Breslau. C. T.
Atkinson, A History of Germany (New York: Barnes & Noble, Inc., 1969), pp.
218-219.
31. Fuller, Military History. 11, p. 201, In.
NATION IN ARMS, 1848-1849
I . The best scholarly modern treatment of this revolt is in Bela K. Kiraly,
Hungary in the Late Eighteenth Century: The Decline of Enlightened Despotism
(New York: Columbia University Press, 1969). See also the pertinent chapters
in C. A. Macartney, The Habsburg Empire 1790-1918 (New York: The Macmillan Co..
1969) (Hereafter referred to as Habsburg Empire.)
2. For the evolution of Hungary before and during the 1848-49 revolutions, see
Istvan Deak, The Lawful Revolution: Louis Kossuth and the Hungarians,
1848-1849 (New York: Columbia University Press, 1979), (Hereafter referred to
as Lawful Revolution.)
3. Deak, Lawful Revolution, p. 135.
4. Gunther E. Rothenberg, .'The Habsburg Army and the Nationality Problem in
the 19th Century, 1815- 1914... in Austrian History Yearbook. Vol. 111. Part
1, 1967, p. 71.
180
5. Alphons Freiherr von Wrede, K.u.K. Major. Ceschichte der K.u.K. Wehrmacht.
Die Regimenter, Corps. Branchen und Anstallten von 1618 bis Ende des XIX.
Jahrhunderts (Wien: K.u.K. Kriegsarchivs. 1893-1900), 5 vols., 1, pp. 13-24.
(Hereafter referred to as K.u.K. Wehrmacht.)
6. Moriz Edlen von Angeli, Wien nach 1848 (Wien: Wilhelm Braumuller, 1905), p.
217.
7. Ibid., p. 220. The yearly ration of ammunition for target practice was 10
cartridges per person.
8. Ibid., p. 57; Rothenberg, The Army of Francis Joseph, p. 15.
9. Pilch, Hungarian Soldier, II, p. 221. One infantry regiment had 4,356
men. Wrede, K.u.K. Army, 1, Appendix 11.
10. For the role of Jelacic. see: Deak, Lawful Revolution, pp. 155-156.
11. Macartney, Hungary, pp. 159-161.
12. The sources disagree. Deak, Lawful Revolution, pp. 164 and 169, puts the
Hungarian strength at 6.000 regulars and the National Guard; the Croat
strength at 30,000. Vajna-Naday, Warhistory, pp. 275-276, estimates the total
Hungarian force to be 15,000 men and the Croat strength at 40,000. Istvan
Nemesktirthy. Kik Erted Haltak Szent Vilagszabadsag, "Those Who Died For
You, Saint World Liberty." (Budapest: Magveto Zsebkonyvtar, 1977), p. 225,
gives the numbers for the Hungarian Army as 5-6,000; for the Croatian Army,
25-30,000.
13. For the details of the battle at Pakozd, see: Ronai-Horvath, War
Chronicle, II, pp. 490-492.
14. On September 25, King Ferdinand issued a manifesto, appointing Count
Ferenc Lamberg, Field Marshal-Lieutenant, as royal commissioner and Commander
in Chief of all armed forces in Hungary. This gesture was unquestionably a
peaceful one, since Lamberg, controlling all the armed forces, had the
authority to stop the hostilities. But his mission was misunderstood by the
Hungarians, since he also carried the order which dissolved the Hungarian
Diet. so a mob murdered him at Pest. Although the Hungarian National Assembly
expressed regret over the incident, the Austrian Court did not accept the
apology.
15. The revolution in Vienna on October 6, 1848 was successful. The imperial
troops were driven out of the city and the imperial family fled to Linz.
16. For details of the pro and con arguments for the entering of Austria, see
Deak, Lawful Revolution, pp. 178- 182. The battle at Schwechat is described in
detail: Ronai-Horvath, War Chronicle, 11, pp. 493-495.
17. Vajna-Naday, Warhistory, 11, Part III. Figure 32. Ronai-Horvath, War
Chronicle, 11, pp. 497-499, uses slightly higher numbers, but the proportion
between the forces is still the same; 1:2.
18. Deak. Lawful Revolution, p. 219.
l81
19. Viktor Szokoly (ed.), Meszaros Lazar Emlekiratai. "The Memoirs of Lazar
Meszaros." (Pest: Rath Mor, 1867), 2 vols, II, pp. 38-39.
20. Quoted in Deak, Lawful Revolution, p. 234.
21. See above
22. Ronai-Horvath, War Chronicle, 11, p. 503.
23. Szokoly, Memoirs of Meszaros, 11, p. 39.
24. The Honved units were vulnerable to cavalry attack. They were inclined to
panic and flee from the enemy approaching them in orderly combat formation.
For examples of such behavior, see Nemeskurthy, World-Liberty, pp. 291 -295.
25. Vajna-Naday, Warhistory, 11. Figure 33 gives Gorgey's strength at 12,000
soldiers. It represents a loss of 40% due to desertion.
26. Deak, Lawful Revolution, p. 234.
27.Friedrich Wilhelm Rustov, Die Feldherrkunst des neunzehnten Jahrhunderts
(Zurich: 1857) as quoted in Nemeskurthy, World Liberty, pp. 318-320.
28. Deak, Lawful Revolution, p. 289. Czar Alexander provided help for him
legally, according to the principle of legitimacy, accepted at the Congress of
Vienna in 1815.
29. Ibid., p. 262.
30. See p. 70 above.
31. The following numbers are based on data published in Wrede, K.u.K.
Wehrmacht, Vol. 1, in the pages describing the history of the respective
regiments.
32. Hero of the Habsburgs, who defeated the Piedmontese and Garibaldi forces
in Northern Italy.
33. The controversy concerning what is more important - political convictions,
patriotism or military skill - still goes on in our day, although history has
provided us with many examples which prove that to gain victory both
conviction and military skill are necessary.
34. Max Ritter von Xylander, Heerwesen der Staaten des Deutschen Bundes
(Augsburg, 1846), p. 5.
35. Macartney, Hungary, p. 163.
K.u.K. ARMY AND THE HONVEDSEG
1. Homan-Szekfu, Hungarian History, V, p. 447.
2. Ibid.
3. Alexander Bach was the leading minister of Francis Joseph. His policy of
neoabsolutism was intolerant and cruel, hated by the aristocracy and peasantry
in Austria, as well as in Bohemia and Hungary, because of the heavy taxation.
4. For the condition of the Habsburg Army from 1848 to 1868, see Rothenberg,
The Army of Francis Joseph, chapters 4 and 5. l82
5. Homan-Szekfu, Hungarian History, V, p. 457.
6. For the career and role of Benedek, see Oscar Regele, Feldzagmeister
Benedek (Vienna, 1960).
7. For a detailed discussion of the October Diploma and its consequences, see:
Macartney. Habsburg Empire, pp. 495-522; Kann, Habsburg Empire, pp. 326-345.
8. The Kleindeutsch principle represented the wish to unify the German speaking
states in a great German empire. If Austria wanted to be the head of this
unified Germany, the Habsburgs would have to give up their control over
Bohemia and Hungary.
9. Jozsef Antall, "Eotvos Jozsef politikai hetilapja es a kiegyezes
elokeszitese," (Jozsef Eotvos' Political Weekly and the Preparation of the
Compromise) in Szazadok, Journal of the Hungarian Historical Society
(Btldapest, 1965), Vol. 99, No. 6, p. 1108.
10. Text of the Hungarian Low XII and the Austrian "December Constitution" is
in Dr. Edmund Bernatzik, Die Oesterreichische Verfassungsgesetze (Leipzig,
1906), pp. 38-45.
11. Literature on the Compromise is extensive. In English, the best short
interpretations of the Compromise itself and its consequences are in: Kann,
Habsburg Empire, pp. 332-342; Macartney, Habsburg Empire, pp. 551-568; Arthtlr
F. May. The Habsburg Monarchy 1867-1914 (New York: W. W. Norton & Company,
1968).
12. The minutes of the most important conferences were published by Tibor
Papp. "Az Osztrak-Magyar Monarchia Elso Vederotorveny tervezetet Targyalo
Konferencia Jegyzokonyve" (Minutes of the Conference Negotiating the First
Legislation Regulating the Armed Forces of the Austrian-Hungarian Monarchy),
April 18-29, 1880, in Hadtortenelmi Kozlemenyek. "Publications of War
History." (Budapest, XV, 4, 1968,) pp. 703-724.
13. Ibid., p. 705. Auersperg was a member of an illustrious Bohemian family.
His words illustrate the real problems which the conference had to resolve
first: to eliminate the centuries-old suspicion and jealousy existing between
the different nationality groups.
14. Quoted in Rothenberg, The Army of Francis Joseph. p. 77.
15. Gunther E. Rothenberg, ..Toward a National Hungarian Army: The Military
Compromise of 1868 and its Consequences." in Slavic Review, Vol. 31, No. 4.
December, 1972. p. 812.
16. Ibid., p. 815.
17. The evolution of the Austrian-Hungarian armed forces is not the topic of
this study. Readers interested in the history of the period 1870-1914
concerning the army may consult the following works which give a good, concise
account of the events: Rothenberg, The Army of Francis Joseph; Moriz Edlen von
Angeli, Wien nach 1848 (Wien and Leipzig, 1905); Julius Miskolczy, Ungarn in
der Habsburger Monarchie (Vienna-Munich, 1959); Feldmarshall Conrad Von
Hotzendorf, Aus Meiner Dienstzeit 1906-1918 (Wien, 1925), 5 vols.
18. Rothenberg, The Army of Francis Joseph, p. 82.
19. The language of command in the joint army was German. The
183
regimental language was the language of the majority of the rank and file. The
regiment was designated as Hungarian, Austrian, Bohemian, and so forth,
following the regimental language. This designation, however, did not mean
that the entire regiment was made up of members of the same ethnic group.
20. Wrede, K.u.K. Wehrmacht, Vol. 1, Appendix VIII, and Vol. 111, pp. 232-314.
21. Maximilian Csicserics von Bacsany, Die Schlacht. Studien auf Grunde des
Krieges in Ostasien, 1904-05 (Wien: L. W. Seidel and Sohn, 1 908).
22. Quoted in Vajna-Naday, Warhistory, 1, pp. 394-395.
23. Ibid.
24. The tragic lessons of straight cavalry attacks in the Crimean War
(Balaclava) were entirely forgotten.
25. Conrad, Dienstzeit, 1. pp. 13-28.
26. Rothenberg, Army of Francis Joseph, p. 176.
27. Endre Ajtay, A Magyar Katona. Szazadunk Legszebb Magyar Csatai. The
Hungarian Soldier. The Outstanding Hungarian Battles of Our Century."
(Budapest: Jozsef David, ed., 1944), p. 10.
28. Telegram of Marshal Conrad to Potiorek, August 9, 1914, No. 178, in
Dienstzeit , I V, p. 355.
29. Ajtay, Hungarian Soldier, pp. 10-15; Vajna-Naday, Warhistory, I, p. 419.
30. Ajtay, Hungarian Soldier, p. 10.
31 Conrad, Dienstzeit, p. 168. Conrad tried to excuse Potiorek's failure and
found the reason for the fiasco in the exclusion of the Second Army's units
from the great battles of October-December, 1914.
32. See p. 89 above
33. Vajna-Naday, Warhistory, I, p. 476.
34. The Second Army which marched up in Southern Hungary against Serbia was
still in Hungary.
35. Ajtay, Hungarian Soldier, pp. 81-82.
36. As quoted in Ibid., p. 94.
37. The following statistics are from Pilch, Hungarian Soldier, II, p. 414.
38. Magyar Statisztikai Szemle, "Hungarian Statistical Review." (Budapest,
1927).
DEFENSE OF HUNGARY UNDER RED FLAGS
1. For the diplomacy of peace attempts of Austria-Hungary see: Kann, Habsburg
Empire, pp. 468-483; Macartney, Habsburg Empire, pp. B21 -833.
2. A.J.P. Taylor, The Habsburg Monarchy 1809-1918 (New York: Harper
Torchbooks, 1965), p. 245.
3. Molnar,History of Hungary, 11, p. 267.
4. The armistice with Austria-Hungary was signed by the Entente and Charles's
representatives at Padua on November 3, 1918.
l84
5. In the spring of 1915, the Entente convinced Italy to enter the war against
the Central Powers by promising her the "unredeemed" Italian lands still under
Austrian control. In 1916 Rumania entered the war on the side of the Entente
for the award of control over Transylvania after the war. In March, 1918,
President Wilson promised the Serbian leaders the fulfillment of "Serbo-Croat
national aspirations as far as possible," and by the summer of 1918 he gave
his consent to the creation of Czech-Slovakia, awarding Austrian and
Hungarian territories to the new state. None of the new "allies" of the
Entente powers was able to occupy the territories Wilson had promised, yet
after the war their claims were recognized and Austria and Hungary were
ordered to evacuate those territories.
6. Arno F. Mayer, Politics and Diplomacy of Peacemaking (New York: Alfred A.
Knopf, 1967), pp. 533-534. (Hereafter referred to as Peacemaking. )
7. Quoted in Ibid., p. 544.
8. Quoted in Ibid., p. 727.
9. Rudolf L. Tokes, Bela Kun and the Hungarian Soviet Republic (Stanford:
Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace, 1967), p. 162. (Hereafter
referred to as Bela Kun.)
10. Admiral Nicholas Horthy, Memoirs (New York: Robert Speller & Sons
Publishers, 1 957), p. 98. Gyula Kadar, A Ludovikatol Sopronkohidaig. "From
the Ludovika to Sopronkohida." (Budapest: Magveto Konyvkiado, 1978), p. 96.
(Hereafter referred to as From Ludovika.) p. 96.
11. Kadar, Ibid.
12. For example, Henrik Werth served as Chief of Staff of the Hungarian Army
from 1938 to l941; Ferenc Szombathelyi held the same position from l941-1944.
Both were colonels-general. Ibid., p. 89.
13. Their petition was rejected and the academy reorganized as "Commander
Training School." The cadets were dismissed but later permitted to join the
new school on the intervention of Colonel Stromfeld.
14. Molnar, History of Hungary, 11, p. 330.
15. Eyewitness account: Cecile Tormay, An Outlaw's Diary: Revolution (New
York: Robert M. McBride & Company, 1923)
16. The most significant (although unsuccessful) uprising happened in Budapest
where the cadets of the Ludovica Military Academy, the artillery units of the
garrison, and the rank and file of some monitors attempted to overthrow the
government. Ferenc Adonyi, A Magyar Katona a Masodik Vilaghaboruban.
"Hungarian Soldier in the Second World War." (Klagenfurt: Ferdinand Klarmayr,
1954), pp. 10-11. (Hereafter referred to as Hungarian Soldier.)
17. Tokes, Bela Kun, p. 204.
18. Macartney-Palmer, Independent Eastern Europe, p. 164.
19. Horthy, Memoirs, p. 102. For details of the Romanian occupation of
Budapest, see H. H. Brandholtz, An Undiplomatic Diary (New York: Columbia
University Press, 1933). l85
20. Adonyi, Hungarian Soldier, p. IO.
21. Mayer. Peacemaking, p. 851.
HUNGARIAN SOLDIERS IN FOREIGN ARMIES
CHAPTER VIII
CHAPTER IX.
CHAPTER X.
CHAPTER XI