Artúr Görgei

Artúr Görgei de Görgő et Toporc (born Arthur Görgey; , ; 30 January 181821 May 1916) was a Hungarian military leader and served as a leading general in the Hungarian Revolutionary Army and played a major role in its military campaigns.

In his youth, Görgei was a talented chemist, with his work in the field of chemistry being recognized by many renowned Hungarian and European chemists. However, now he is more widely known for his role in the Hungarian Revolution and War of Independence of 1848–1849. As the most successful general and greatest military genius of the Hungarian Revolutionary Army, he was the leader of the victorious Spring Campaign and liberated almost all of Western Hungary from Austrian occupation. In recognition of his military successes, he was awarded by the Hungarian Government and was appointed Minister of War. In the last days of the revolution, he was appointed the "dictator" of Hungary. On 13 August 1849, when he realised that he would not be able to fight newly arrived and superior Austrian and Russian armies, he surrendered his troops to the Russians at Világos, thus ending the revolution.

Görgei's difficult relationship with Lajos Kossuth, the foremost politician and president-governor of revolutionary Hungary, impacted the course of the war of independence, Görgei's military career, and his post-revolutionary life until his death. During his campaigns in the winter and summer of 1848–1849. Görgei clashed with Kossuth over their differing opinions on military operations and because Görgei disapproved of the Declaration of the Hungarian Independence, whose chief proponent was Kossuth. The latter refrained from naming Görgei as commander-in-chief of the Hungarian army, naming weak commanders, such as Henryk Dembiński or Lázár Mészáros, instead, thus weakening the army.

After his surrender to the Russian army, he was not executed, like many of his generals, due to Russian intercession, but was taken by the Austrians to Klagenfurt, in Carinthia, and was kept under surveillance until 1867, when amnesty issued as a result of the Hungarian-Austrian Compromise and the founding of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy. He then was able to return to Hungary. Over several years of hardships in different parts of Hungary, Görgei unsuccessfully tried to find a suitable job; and his brother, István Görgey, provided him with a place to live in Visegrád, where Görgei lived the last decades of his life.

After Görgei's return and for the rest of his life, Hungarian public opinion was hostile, because of some false accusations. Kossuth's Letter from Vidin, written in the aftermath of Görgei's surrender, instilled a long-lasting hatred of Görgei amongst the Hungarians, many of whom came to believe that he was a traitor. In the 20thcentury, this characterization was challenged by modern research. As a result, Görgei is less often considered treasonous, and his reputation as one of the most talented and successful Hungarian generals of the 19thcentury has been restored, being now regarded as one of Hungary's greatest historical heroes.

Görgey or Görgei?

The earlier books and articles about Artúr Görgei usually gave his surname as Görgey, which is how it had been given at his birth. For example, Sándor Pethő's bibliographical book Görgey Artúr (Budapest, 1930), or Artúr's younger brother István Görgey's Görgey Arthur ifjusága és fejlődése a forradalomig [The youth of Artúr Görgey, and his development until the revolution] (Budapest, 1916) and Görgey Arthur a száműzetésben 1849–1867 [Artúr Görgey in exile, 1849–1867] (Budapest, 1918). But, recent historiography spells it Görgei (Róbert Hermann's and Tamás Csikány's works, for example).

thumb|left|Artúr Görgei's signature

In Hungarian surnames, the "y" instead of an "i" (used today), usually appears as the last letter of the names of nobles (as a locative adverb suffix: for example, 'Debreceni', meaning "from Debrecen"), because their names appeared in writing earlier than the names of people of common origin, so the nobiliary surnames retained the archaic spelling of the period when they were first written down. The surnames of the common people, which appeared later, after Hungarian spelling changed, had an "i" as the last letter.

Being of noble birth, initially, Görgei had a "y" at the end of his surname; but during the 1848–49 revolution, a period of an anti-nobiliary reaction, many Hungarians from noble families changed the last letter of their surnames from "y" to "i". For example, the renowned novelist Mór Jókay became Mór Jókai. Görgei similarly changed his name, because of his progressive liberal views. Even after the revolution was suppressed, he kept using Görgei instead of Görgey; and although in some works which appeared after his death, and translations to Hungarian of his works—such as Mein Leben und Wirken in Ungarn in den Jahren 1848 und 1849 [My life and work in Hungary in 1848 and 1849], translated by his younger brother István Görgey in 1911, when the Görgey form is used—Görgei was the preferred form until his death, which is why this article also uses this form.

Early life

Görgei was born as Johannes Arthur Woldemár Görgey at Toporc in Upper Hungary (today Toporec, Slovakia) on 30 January 1818 to an impoverished Hungarian noble family of Zipser German descent who immigrated to the Szepes (today Spiš) region during the reign of King Géza II of Hungary (1141–1162). During the Reformation, they converted to Protestantism. The family name refers to their origin from Görgő village (, lit. "of Görgő"), today Spišský Hrhov in Slovakia.

thumb|right|Equestrian statue of Artúr Görgei

In 1832, Görgei enrolled in the sapper school at Tulln, profiting from a tuition-free place offered by a foundation. Because his family was poor, this was a great opportunity for him; but initially, he did not want to be a soldier. During this period, he wrote to his father that he would rather be a philosopher or scientist than a soldier. He spent almost thirteen years in this school, receiving a military education. He decided not to accept money from his family, and ate very little, and wore poor clothes in an effort to train himself for a hard life.

Despite this, in his letters he wrote that he despised the life of a soldier because he had to obey officers whom he did not respect and that he dreamed about a free and active life that he could not find in the army. Following graduation, he served in the Nádor Hussar regiment, undertaking the role of adjutant. By 1837, he had reached the rank of lieutenant and entered the Hungarian Noble Guard at Vienna, where he combined military service with a course of study at the university.

Görgei's work in chemistry from this period are worthy of note: he conducted research into coconut oil, discovering the presence in it of decanoic acid and lauric acid. He started his research in the spring of 1847 in Prague but finished the experiments at home in Toporc, sending the results to the Imperial and Royal Academy of Vienna on 21 May 1848.

Just before Görgei started his study, a French chemist named Saint-Évre wrote an article in which he announced the discovery of the undecylic acid. At first, Görgei was disappointed that with this announcement his work would be pointless, but then he noticed that the French chemist was wrong in thinking that the undecylic acid was an original, undiscovered acid rather than a mixture of lauric and decanoic acids, which he demonstrated in his study.

Redtenbacher wanted to hire Görgei as a chemist at the university of Lemberg, but in the end Görgei retreated to the family domains at Toporc, because his uncle Ferenc had died and his widow had asked him to come home and help the family.

In August 1848, the danger of an imperial attack against Hungary grew day by day. Finally, at the beginning of September, King FerdinandV of Hungary, the Habsburg emperor under the name Ferdinand I of Austria, dismissed the Batthyány Government and authorized the Ban of Croatia, Josip Jelačić. On 11 September 1848, when the troops of Jelačić crossed the Dráva river to enter Hungary, Görgei's national guards were ordered to come from Szolnok to Csepel Island to keep an eye on the movements of Croatian supplies. Here, Görgei organized the villagers from the region to observe and capture the envoys and supply carriages sent from Croatia to Jelačić and back. On 29 September, the Croatian ban sent the wealthy pro-Habsburg Hungarian noble, Count Ödön Zichy, to inform the commanders of the Croatian reserve troops, led by Major General Karl Roth and Major General Nicolaus Philippovich vonPhilippsberg, about his decision to attack the Hungarian capitals of Buda and Pest. Görgei's troops captured Zichy, who was charged with treason for his pro-Austrian activities, court-martialed, and hanged.

thumb|left|upright=1.4|The Ozora-campaign of Artúr Görgei and Mór Perczel, which resulted in forcing the troops of Karl Roth to surrender – Red: Croatian troops, – Black: Hungarian troops

thumb|The Croatian troops surrender at Ozora at 7 October 1848

On 6 October, after the defeat of Jelačić's army, the people of Vienna revolted, forcing the emperor to flee to Olomouc. The Hungarian troops led by János Móga, who had defeated Jelačić at Pákozd, advanced to the Hungarian–Austrian border; and many people thought that it should come to the aid of the revolutionaries in the imperial capital, which was at that time defended only by the troops of Jelačić. The Hungarian officers, many of whom were foreign and unsure of what to do, said that they would agree to this only if the people of Vienna asked them to do it; but the Viennese revolutionaries were reluctant to officially ask for Hungarian aid. In the meantime, the Austrian commander Windisch-Grätz, having crushed the revolution in Prague, came with his army to Vienna to crush the revolution there, with an overwhelming numerical superiority (80,000 Austrian soldiers against 27,000 Hungarians).

Kossuth, waiting in vain for the Hungarian troops to cross the Austrian border, decided to personally encourage the Hungarian army. In a war council, the old commanders, led by Móga, declared that an assault on the Austrian border would bring with it a Hungarian defeat, pointing at the numerical superiority of the enemy. Kossuth argued, "Our cause is linked with Viennaseparated from it, nobody will give us any importance." He warned that the enlistment period of the Hungarian national guards would expire soon; and if they did not engage the Austrians, they would go home without any fighting. He also said that if only one of the Hungarian commanders would say that he would attack, showing a plan by which success could be achieved, he would make that person the commander. At that moment Görgei stood up and said, "We have no other choice than to advance because if we do not advance, we will lose more than losing three battles." Hearing that, Kossuth wanted to give him the command; Görgei refused.

In the end, Móga remained the commander during the Battle of Schwechat, where the Austrian troops of Windisch-Grätz and Jelačić routed the Hungarian army, which was composed mainly of inexperienced national guards and peasants. Görgei led the advance guard and achieved some success, but the lack of experience of the soldiers and the commanders made all his actions useless, and the panic of the volunteers, who started to flee, decided the battle's outcome. Görgei successfully protected the retreating Hungarians, preventing a complete rout.

On 9 October, after the battle of Schwechat, Görgei was named colonel. On 1 November, Görgei, only 32, was named general and appointed commander of the army of the Upper Danube, being charged with protecting Hungary's western frontier against the imperial army's imminent attack. While he waited for the attack, which ultimately came on 14 December 1848, Görgei reorganized his army, sending home the national guards and the peasant militias—who had been the first to flee from the Schwechat battlefield and were deemed ineffective in fighting against the well trained, professional imperial army—and increased the number of the battalions of the Hungarian Honvéd army, training them for future battles. He debated with Kossuth about how to organize an effective defense of the border, and was forced to accept Kossuth's idea of aligning his units along the border, although he thought that grouping them further back would be a better choice. thus angering Kossuth, who thought that he should fight for every inch of Hungarian territory. On 30 December 1848, at Kossuth's urging and before Görgei arrived, Mór Perczel engaged and was heavily defeated by imperial troops led by Josip Jelačić in the Battle of Mór, thus leaving Görgei alone in a hopeless struggle against a vastly superior Austrian army.

thumb|right|Lajos Kossuth 1848 Prinzhofer

Görgei's retreat from the Hungarian border to Pest, can be seen as only partly successful; but this campaign was his first as commander of such a large, the main army of Hungary, being responsible for retreating before the numerically and technologically superior enemy forces without suffering a decisive defeat, having subordinates and the majority of his soldiers who were equally inexperienced. Although, strategically his decisions were not faultless, tactically he was mostly successful. The maximal goal of defending the border and repulsing the enemy was impossible to achieve, even if Perczel's troops would have joined him at Győr. He managed to accomplish the minimal goal, that of saving his troops from destruction at the hands of the superior forces of Windisch-Grätz. He suffered only two defeats that can be deemed important—at Nagyszombat on 16 December, and at Bábolna on the 28th—but these were mostly due to the inattention of his brigade commanders.

thumb|left|upright=1.4|The Winter Campaign of Artúr Görgei against the Austrian army, from December 1848 to February 1849 – Red: Austrian troops, red ⚔: Austrian victory, – Black: Hungarian troops, black ⚔: Hungarian victory

Görgei understood that with his inferior troops he could not stop the main Austrian army; and if he risked battle, he would have suffered a decisive defeat, which would have ended Hungary's bid for independence. In the war council held on 2 January 1849, Görgei convinced the other commanders that there was no other choice than to retreat from the Hungarian capitals. In spite of remonstrations from Kossuth, who wanted him to accept a decisive battle before the Hungarian capitals, Görgei maintained his resolve and retreated to Vác, letting Buda and Pest fall into the hands of the enemy, who entered the cities on 5 January 1849. The Hungarian Committee of National Defense, which temporarily functioned as the executive power in Hungary after the resignation of the Batthyány government on 2 October 1848, retreated to Debrecen.

This retreat had a negative effect on the officers of foreign origin in the Hungarian army, who left in great numbers, which threatened to cause the army's total dissolution. On 5 January 1849, in Vác, irritated by these events and blaming his defeats on the government's interference, Görgei issued the Proclamation of Vác, which blamed the government for the recent defeats and the evacuation of the capitals, but also declared that he, along with his army, would not put down their weapons and that he would fight with all his energy and power against the imperials to defend the Hungarian revolution and the April laws. This proclamation was seen at once by Kossuth as a revolt against his authority, but it convinced the majority of the foreign or wavering officers and soldiers to remain with the army, halting its dissolution, and to defend Hungary with all determination.

After the proclamation, Görgei chose to retreat eastward, through the northern Gömör-Szepes Ore and Tátra mountain ranges, and to conduct operations on his own initiative, forcing the Austrian commander Windisch-Grätz to send troops in pursuit as well as keep the bulk of his army around Buda and Pest, to prevent Görgei turning to the west and attacking Vienna, thus preventing the Austrians from attacking the provisional capital of Debrecen, and providing time for the Hungarian troops east of Tisza to reorganize. He also sent needed money and ore supplies from mining towns such as Körmöcbánya, Selmecbánya, and Besztercebánya to Debrecen. Then, on 5 February 1849, they broke through the mountain pass of Branyiszkó, defeated General Deym in the Battle of Branyiszkó, and united with the Hungarian troops led by György Klapka on the Hungarian plains.

According to the military historian Róbert Hermann, the one-and-a-half months of Görgei's campaign to the east through northern Hungary was a strategic success, because Görgei prevented Windisch-Grätz from attacking with all his forces towards Debrecen, where the Hungarian government had taken refuge, thus putting an end to the Hungarian revolution, and because he provided enough time for the concentration of the Hungarian forces behind the Tisza river, clearing the Szepes region of enemy troops, and thus securing with this the whole territory between Szeged and the Galician border as a Hungarian hinterland from which a future counterattack could be launched. During his retreat, he fought five notable battles, of which he lost two (Szélakna on 21 January 1849, and Hodrusbánya on the 22nd), scored a draw (at Turcsek 17 January 1849), and won two (Igló on 2 February 1849, and Branyiszkó on the 5th).

Kossuth, who did not want to give the supreme command to Görgei, conferred it on the Polish general Henryk Dembiński. Many officers from Görgei's Army of the Upper Danube (György Kmety, Lajos Aulich) were astonished at Kossuth's decision and sought to protest, but Görgei ordered them to accept it. One of the first decisions of the new commander was to order many of the Hungarian units, under the lead of Görgei and Klapka, to retreat, enabling the Austrian troops of General Franz Schlik to escape from their encirclement. The Hungarian officers revolted against the Polish commander and demanded his dismissal and that a Hungarian general be put in his place.

Among the generals whom the Hungarian officers would accept as the supreme commander, Görgei was the most popular; and in an officers meeting held in Tiszafüred, in the presence of the government's chief commissary Bertalan Szemere, they elected Görgei as the commander-in-chief, with their decision ratified by Szemere. When Kossuth heard about this, he was angered and rushed to the military camp, thinking that Görgei was its organizer and declaring that he would order Görgei executed for this revolt. But when he arrived at Tiszafüred and saw that the majority of the officers supported Görgei, Kossuth was forced to accept the situation. However, he declared that the final decision about who would be the commander would be announced after he presented the facts to the Parliament. In Debrecen, Kossuth and his political supporters ignored the wishes of the Hungarian generals to name Görgei and designated Antal Vetter as commander-in-chief. On 8 March, by way of consolation, Görgei was decorated with the Second Class Military Order of Merit.

Spring campaign and Minister of War

In the middle of March, Vetter planned a Hungarian campaign to chase Windisch-Grätz and his troops out of Hungary. On 16–17 March, the Hungarian troops crossed the Tisza river; but, due to some unfounded rumors, Vetter decided to retreat to the starting position. During these events, Görgei was the only military commander who achieved notable success, by advancing from the north through Tokaj, Gyöngyös, Miskolc, and Mezőkövesd, by which he succeeded in diverting Windisch-Grätz's attention from the crossing of the main Hungarian forces at Cibakháza, forcing the Austrian commander to take a defensive position, and thus ceding the initiative to the Hungarians before the start of their Spring Campaign.

At the end of March 1849, Görgei was named as acting commander by Kossuth because Vetter had fallen ill. Before this, Kossuth again hesitated, trying to find somebody else, even thinking of taking command of the army himself; but when the corps commanders—György Klapka, Lajos Aulich, János Damjanich—declared that Görgei was the ablest commander for that job, he had to accept it. Thus, Görgei became acting head only a few days before the start of the spring campaign.

thumb|left|upright=1.4|The military operations conducted in Central Hungary, by Artúr Görgei in April–May 1849, which resulted in the liberation of much of Hungary from the Habsburg rule, and the liberation of the Buda castle. – Red: Austrian army, – Black: Hungarian army, black ⚔: Hungarian victory

The plan of the spring campaign had to take into account the fact that the enemy troops were numerically superior to the Hungarians. So, it was decided to defeat them in detail. In two of these battles (Tápióbicske and Isaszeg), the intervention of Görgei on the battlefield, who spoke personally to the hesitant Klapka, ordering him to hold his position and to counterattack, decided the battle for the Hungarians.

280px|thumb|left|upright=1.4|The Battle of Komárom on 26 April 1849

The spring campaign led by Artúr Görgei, combined with the successes of the Hungarian armies in the other fronts, forced the armies of the Austrian Empire and its allies, which at the beginning of March had controlled three-quarters of Hungary, to evacuate almost all of Hungary, except for a narrow strip of land in the west, Croatia, and a few land pockets and forts. In the battle of Isaszeg, Görgei had been close to encircling and completely destroying Windisch-Grätz's main Austrian army, which could have brought about a decisive end to the war; but the refusal of one of his army corps commanders, András Gáspár, to attack from the north, made possible the enemy escape. Görgei shared some responsibility for the failure to make the best of this opportunity because, wrongly thinking that Gáspár had already begun to attack, he did not urge his general on. Also playing an important role in the liberation of the country were the troops of Józef Bem, who liberated Transylvania, and Mór Perczel, who liberated much of southern Hungary. However, Görgei was the commander who achieved the greatest success by defeating the main Austrian army—which constituted the most experienced, and best-equipped forces of the Austrian Empire, and had Austria's best as its commanders—forcing them to retreat from the most developed central and western parts of the country, including the capitals.

Görgei achieved his successes with a numerically and technologically inferior army (47,500 Hungarian soldiers, having 198cannons, vs 55,000 Austrian soldiers with 214cannons and rockets), which lacked heavy cavalry (relying almost completely on the light Hussar cavalry), and having relatively very few soldiers fighting in the other types of units common in the armies of that period (chasseurs, grenadiers, lancer cavalry, dragoons, cuirassiers), and with constant shortages of weapons and ammunition. Several times these shortages caused the Hungarian infantry to not engage in long shooting duels with the Austrians, but to employ bayonet charges, which were repeated if the initial attempt to break through was unsuccessful, causing the Hungarian infantry heavy casualties.

During the spring campaign, Görgei's tactical outlook changed drastically, from being an extremely cautious commander who planned for slow, calculated movements, to a general full of energy, quick in action and ready to take risks if necessary to achieve his goals. Görgei understood that the main cause of Dembiński's failure was the latter's extreme cautiousness, which prevented him from concentrating his troops before the Battle of Kápolna. Fearful of being encircled, Dembiński had deployed his units so far from each other that they could not support each other when attacked. He took great risks at the start of both phases of his spring campaign because he left only a few troops in front of the enemy, while sending the bulk of his army to make encircling maneuvers, which, if discovered, could have led to a frontal attack of the enemy, the breaking of the weak Hungarian front line, cutting of his supply lines, and the occupation of Debrecen, the temporary Hungarian capital. Görgei later wrote in his memoirs that he knew that he could take these risks against such a weak commander as Windisch-Grätz. contenting himself with besieging Buda, the Hungarian capital, taking the castle of Buda on 21 May 1849 instead of attacking Vienna and using that strategic opportunity, which the Hungarian victories from the spring campaign created, to win the war.

thumb|left|upright=1.4|Kossuth and Görgei in a meeting in 1849

Some of the representatives of the new generation of Hungarian historians, such as Róbert Hermann, believe that the siege of Buda was not a mistake by Görgei because at that point he had not enough troops to attack towards Vienna because the Austrians had concentrated around Pozsony a fresh army that was two times the size of Görgei's, and also far better equipped. To achieve a victory with his tired troops, who had almost completely run out of ammunition, would have been virtually impossible. Görgei hoped that, while he was conducting the siege of Buda, new Hungarian troops would be conscripted, the Hungarian generals who were operating in southern Hungary would send him reinforcements, the issue of lack of ammunition would be resolved; and that then he would have a chance to defeat the Austrian troops. He also knew that the castle of Buda had a 5,000-strong Austrian garrison that controlled the only stone bridge across the Danube, the Chain Bridge, which disrupted the Hungarian supply lines and threatened the Hungarian troops and supply carriages, causing the Hungarians to make a long detour, which caused weeks of delay, and prevented their use of the Danube as a transport route. Besides that, he had to deploy a considerable portion of his force in order to monitor the Austrian troops in Buda, thus weakening any attack westward. Also, the presence in southern Hungary of the 15,000-strong Austrian troops led by Josip Jelačić, which might come north by surprise to help the garrison of Buda, threatened to cut Hungary in two; and only the liberation of Buda could diminish this danger. Kossuth also urged Görgei to take the capital; he hoped that such a success would convince the European powers to recognize Hungary's independence, and prevent a Russian invasion.

280px|thumb|upright=1.4|Siege of Buda on 21 May 1849

All the military and political advice seemed in favor of taking Buda first, rather than moving towards Vienna. According to Hungarian Historian Róbert Hermann, the capture of Buda after three weeks of siege (the only siege of the Hungarian Freedom War that ended in the taking of a fortress by assault; the remaining fortresses and castles were taken, by one or the other side, only after negotiations and then surrender) was one of the greatest Hungarian military successes of the war.

Görgei was not in sympathy with the new regime, and he had refused the First Class Military Order of Merit for the taking of Buda, and also Kossuth's offer of a field-marshal's baton, saying that he did not deserve these and did not approve of the greed of many soldiers and officers for rank and decorations, wanting to set an example for his subordinates. However, he accepted the portfolio of minister of war, while retaining the command of the troops in the field.

Meanwhile, at the parliament in Debrecen, Kossuth formally proposed the dethronement of the Habsburg dynasty, Although he did not oppose it when Kossuth divulged his plan at Gödöllő after the battle of Isaszeg, Görgei was against dethronement because he thought that this would provoke the Austrians into asking for Russian intervention. He thought that declining to demand dethronement and using the significant military successes he had achieved as arguments in an eventual negotiation with the Austrians might convince them to recognize Hungary's autonomy under the rule of the House of Habsburg, and the April Laws of 1848. He believed that this was the only choice to convince the Habsburgs not to ask Russia's help against Hungary, which he thought would cause destruction and national tragedy.

Preventing Russian intervention is why Görgei attempted to initiate secret talks with the Hungarian Peace Party (who were in favor of a compromise with the Austrians), to help him stage a coup d'état to overthrow Kossuth and the Hungarian government led by Szemere, to achieve the position of leadership necessary to start talks with the Habsburgs; but the Peace Party refused to help him, fearing a military dictatorship. So, he abandoned this plan. However, Görgei was wrong when he thought that the Hungarian Declaration of Independence had caused the Russian intervention when it came, because the Austrians had asked for, and the Czar agreed to, Russia's sending troops to Hungary before learning of the 14 April declaration. Perczel could not send the reinforcements because he needed them there. A second problem was that many of his experienced generals, who had proved their talent in the spring campaign, were no longer available: (János Damjanich had broken his leg, Lajos Aulich was ill, and András Gáspár had resigned from the Hungarian army for political reasons.) Görgei was forced to put in their place other officers, who were capable soldiers, but were not experienced as army corps leaders, many of them lacking the capacity to act independently when needed.

Nevertheless, Görgei decided to attack Haynau's forces, hoping to break them and advance towards Vienna before the main Russian troops led by Paskevich arrived from the north. Despite an initial victory in the Battle of Csorna on 13 June, his troops were not so successful afterwards. In the next battle, fought at Zsigárd on 16 June 1849, while he was in the capital to participate in the meeting of the ministry council, his troops were defeated; his presence on the battlefield could have brought a better result.

[[File:Banlaky-big hadtortpic 2112b.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.4|The beginning of the Summer Campaign on the Western Front from 13 June to 11 July 1849.

– Red: Austrians, red ⚔: Austrian victory

– Broken red: Russians.

– Black: Hungarians, black ⚔: Hungarian victory]]

On 26 June Görgei was again in the capital at a ministry council, and tried to convince Kossuth to concentrate all the Hungarian troops, except those from Transylvania and southern Hungary, around Komárom, to decisively strike against Haynau's troops, before the main Russian forces arrived. This plan was maybe the only rational way to end—if not with full success, but with at least a compromise—this war against overwhelmingly superior enemy forces. The place for the Hungarian concentration, the fortress of Komárom (one of the strongest fortresses of the empire), was the best choice, if they wanted to have a chance of success, and avoid having to retreat to the Ottoman Empire. 280px|thumb|right|upright=1.4|Mór Than: Battle of Vác, 15–17 July 1849

After learning about the defeat at Győr, and the advance of the main Russian forces led by Field Marshal Ivan Paskevich from the north, the Hungarian government—following Kossuth's lead in another ministry council, held this time without Görgei—abandoned Görgei's plan of concentration and ordered him to abandon the fortress and move with the bulk of his troops to southern Hungary, to the confluence of the rivers Maros and Tisza. Görgei thought this new plan completely wrong: that the region which they wanted to concentrate the troops was completely racked by the war, that the most important fortress of the region, Temesvár was in the hands of the enemy, and that this retreat would provide enough time for Haynau and Paskevich to unite their forces against the Hungarians, creating an even greater numerical superiority. Despite this Görgei agreed to follow the government's plan, in order to avoid an open conflict with them. So, he promised to lead his troops to southern Hungary, starting 3 July, hoping that until that day all the scattered units of his army would be able to gather and join his army.

But before he had the chance to accomplish this task, Görgei's troops were attacked on 2 July at Komárom by Haynau's force, which was twice the size of his, reinforced by Panyutyin's Russian division. Görgei defeated them, upsetting Haynau's plan to quickly conquer the capitals. However, at the end of the battle, Görgei sustained a severe head wound: a shell splinter shot by an enemy cannon made a long cut in his skull, opening it and leaving his brain exposed. Despite this he remained conscious, led his troops until the end of the battle, only after which he fainted, losing consciousness for several days, during which time he underwent several surgeries, which prevented him from taking advantage of his victory.

280px|thumb|left|upright=1.4|Mór Than: Görgei and his general staff after he was wounded in the Battle of Komárom at 2 July 1849, wearing, because of that, an Arabic style headscarf

Before the battle, because of a misunderstanding, Kossuth removed Görgei from the command and demanded that he go to Pest, naming Lázár Mészáros, the former minister of war, who was a weak general, in his place. The disastrous military events that unfolded at the beginning of August in southern Hungary, where he was to lead his army, restored Görgei's reputation somewhat. On the other hand, Kossuth's silence regarding being mistaken about Görgei cast a shadow on the reputation of the politician. The Hungarian parliament demanded that the government re-appoint Görgei to supreme command, but Kossuth and prime minister Bertalan Szemere, because of their hatred and envy of Görgei, appointed and dismissed, one after another, Lázár Mészáros, Henryk Dembiński, and Mór Perczel, as they failed to oppose Haynau's advance. although he was suffering because of his head wound, and underwent a surgery on his skull on the second day of the battle. Then, because his way to south, towards Szeged, was blocked by the Russian army, he retreated to the northeast, in almost the same way as he had done in the winter of 1848–1849, luring after himself the five-times-greater Russian forces, Using a roundabout mountain route, Görgei managed to arrive in Miskolc before the Russians, who used a shorter route through the plain between the two cities. Alsózsolca, 25 July; Gesztely, 28 July; etc.); losing only one, Debrecen, 2 August. This slowed the Russian advance and won time for the rest of the Hungarian army to prepare itself for a decisive battle, creating the opportunity for the supreme commander to defeat Haynau's Austrian forces, which his troops were equal to in numbers. writing this to Paskevich:

With Russian intervention, the cause of Hungarian independence seemed to be doomed. As a last try to save it, the Hungarian government tried to enter into negotiation with Paskevich, attempting to lure him with different proposals that conflicted with Austrian interests, one of them being to offer the Holy Crown of Hungary to the Russian Czar or to a Russian prince. But the Russian commander declared that he came to Hungary to fight and not to negotiate with politicians, and that he would discuss only the unconditional surrender of Hungary, which meant that he would not talk with politicians but only the leaders of the Hungarian army. But the Russian commander responded that they would talk only about unconditioned surrender.

In spite of Görgei's successes, in other theaters of operation the other Hungarian generals were not so successful. Dembinski, after being defeated on 5 August in the Battle of Szőreg by Haynau, instead of moving his troops north to Arad—having been asked to do this by the Hungarian government, to join with Görgei, who had won his race against the pursuing Russians, and together engage in a battle against Haynau—he moved south, where the Hungarian main army suffered a decisive defeat in the Battle of Temesvár on 9 August. Thus, Dembinski's decision prevented Görgei from taking part with his 25,000 troops in the decisive battle. After this defeat, Kossuth saw the impossibility of continuing the struggle and resigned from his position as regent–president.

On 10 August 1849. Görgei and Kossuth met for the last time in their lives at Arad. During their discussions, according to Görgei, Kossuth said that he would commit suicide, but the general convinced him not to do this, to escape and take refuge in another country, and, using the reputation that he had won as the leader of the revolution, to fight for Hungary's cause there. From Görgei's declarations from that period, and also from his later writing, we can understand that he wanted to become Hungary's only martyr, hoping that this would save his country from other retributions. During the summer campaign, Görgei reached his peak as a military commander. His last campaign in northern Hungary against the five-times-larger Russian main force is often regarded as a tactical masterpiece, considered to be unique among the Hungarian generals of the Freedom War.

On 11 August, Görgei sent his envoys to Rüdiger with his offer to surrender, saying that he would bring his troops to Világos. On 12 August, Görgei arrived with his troops in Világos, and was housed in the mansion of Antónia Szögény Bohus. Here he was visited at noon of the same day by Rüdiger's military envoys, which whom he agreed about the place and time of the surrender, and to prevent any Austrian presence at the surrender.

The Russian Lieutenant Drozdov, who was present on the discussions at Világos wrote a description of Görgei:

The surrender, and particularly the fact that his life was spared while his generals and many of his officers and men were hanged or shot, led to his being accused of treason by public opinion.

The accusations made by Kossuth's circle against Görgei were:

From the beginning of his career as a general, Görgei wanted to be a dictator;
He organized a camarilla around him;
After the victorious spring campaign, instead of attacking towards Vienna, he attacked Buda, and with this he lost the opportunity to defeat the Habsburgs once and for all;
He was against the concentration of the Hungarian troops at Szeged;
He used his extorted dictatorship to commit high treason;
He did not respect and love his country and nation;
He had pro-aristocratic views.

280px|thumb|upright=1.4|Political cartoon by Don Pirlone: Görgei presenting Hungary's cut-off head to Russia, 1853

The letter from Vidin misled many people: on 10 October 1849, one of Hungary's greatest poets, Mihály Vörösmarty, who also played a role in the revolution as a member of the Hungarian parliament, wrote an angry poem about Görgei, with the title Átok (Curse), naming him a "worthless villain", "worm", and "traitor", and cursing Görgei for his "treason" against the Hungarian land, to be chased by hate and misfortune and his soul to be damned after his death. These accusations, have their root in Kossuth's Vidin letter. After the revolution, Kossuth became one of the most respected and beloved politicians and the symbol of Hungarian revolution and independence, being known internationally, as well. Many newspapers and books depicted Görgei as a traitor of the revolution and freedom. For example, in an Italian book with allegorical drawings, Don Pirlone a Roma. Memorie di un Italiano dal 1 Settembre 1848 al 31 dicembre 1850 (Don Pirlone in Rome: Memories of an Italian from 1 September 1848 to 31 December 1850), Görgei is portrayed as a traitor who hands over Hungary's head to Russia, and receives sacks of gold in return.

At the end of December 1849—two months after Kossuth's letter from Vidin and the execution of the 13 Hungarian generals of Görgei's army at Arad—Görgei wrote, in a letter to his younger brother, István:

During his exile at Klagenfurt and Vitring, Görgei vaguely heard about the accusations of Kossuth's circle against him, but he learned about the details of them only after he met with László Berzenczey in August 1862.

Once, Görgei was invited by the literary critic Pál Gyulay to a meeting of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in Budapest. When the meeting ended and Görgei tried to come down from the gallery on a spiral staircase, he was blocked by an angry mob of students, who looked threateningly at him, and shouted: "here is the traitor!" The aging Görgei was prepared to defend himself, because he had iron brass knuckles in his pocket. He put his hand in his pocket, grabbed them without taking them out, and continued to descend, staring in their eyes, while they stepped back, stair by stair, as he advanced. They cursed and slandered him, but did not attack.

Ferenc Deák related that Görgei once went to Budapest to meet with him, and asked him to officially refute all those slanders and accusations which filled the Hungarian media about the "treason" of the general, and to make clear to the nation that, in the summer of 1849, facing the superior Russian and Austrian armies, Görgei had no other choice than to surrender. Deák replied that although he knew that Görgei was right, and feels sympathy for him, that he, as a Hungarian, cannot destroy the belief that the Hungarians could be defeated only because of a treason, rather because of the superior strength of the enemy forces. He said that he did not want to shatter the belief of the Hungarians in their invincibility. So, he advised Görgei to live in seclusion and accept the fate of a man sacrificed for a greater cause, which is the pride of the nation and honor of the country. General Görgei wrote a justification of his operations (, Leipzig, 1852), an anonymous paper under the title (1875), and a reply to Kossuth's charges (signed Joh. Demar) in , 1881, pp.25–26. Amongst those who wrote in his favor were Captain István Görgey (, Budapest, 1885), and Colonel Aschermann (, Klausenburg, 1867).

In Hungary, only after a long search, could he find a job that assured the support of his family. First, he was hired at the Chain Bridge in Budapest, because his schooling made him suitable for this job. Unfortunately, after a year the bridge was nationalized and he was not needed anymore.

The death in 1912 of his younger brother István Görgey—who, starting at a young age, was beside Artúr, participating in his campaigns as one of his best officers, and after 1867 writing several books and articles where István tried to convince the Hungarians that his brother was not a traitor (Görgey Arthurról 1889, Kossuth és Görgey 1891, Görgey Arthur ifjusága és fejlődése a forradalomig 1916, Görgey Arthur a száműzetésben 1849–1867 1918, the latter two published posthumously), and supported and helped him after he returned to Hungary from Vitring, giving him even one of his houses in which Görgei spent the last part of his life—was a harsh blow for the old general. In her memoirs she remembered Görgei's modesty in his behavior; but when talking he quickly became the leader of the discussion with his mild warmth, at the same time giving cutting looks with sarcastic and sharply critical remarks, this combination showing, in her opinion, a very extraordinary personality. His loved ones dressed him in his favourite black ' (the elaborate court dress of Hungarian aristocracy) and covered him with a white shroud. His catafalque was decorated with violets, Görgei's favourite flowers, brought from Visegrád.

thumb|Artúr Görgei lithography by [[Miklós Barabás ]]

These modest words are not completely true, but he pointed out one of his most important principles in war: maintaining discipline. But for Görgei to achieve his military successes, he had to possess more specific qualities, which were required for a general of his time. To analyse and evaluate Görgei's military qualities and strategical ability, we should determine which were regarded as the best qualities for a successful commander of his period. We cannot take him out from his time, and compare with military commanders of our times, the medieval era, or antiquity. One of the greatest military theorists of the 19th century, Carl von Clausewitz, pointed out that a good commander must have the following qualities:

During the winter campaign, when he was the commander of the Army of the Upper Danube, Görgei was remarkably firm. His consistent, harsh, peremptory, leadership style was accepted by his subordinates and soldiers. They respected, loved him, and feared him at the same time. One of his artillerymen wrote: "I was afraid of him more than of the Austrian army, when he rode towards me, looking at me through his glasses." into, after the defeat of Schwechat, a disciplined, combat-worthy army. When, after the capture of Buda castle, the Hungarian government wanted to award him the First Class Military Order of Merit and the rank of lieutenant general, he refused both, saying that he did not deserve these and he did not agree with the rank and order hunger of many of the soldiers and officers.

When, in the 1890s, Görgei was asked by the Hungarian writer and journalist Kálmán Mikszáth about the secret of his successes, he replied: it is certain that I never knew what fear is. Nature forgot to bless me with that feeling, unlike other people."

Besides of his fearlessness he had the capacity of fulfilling his toughest military challenges even when he was suffering from one of the most severe medical situations which a badly wounded soldier could have. Two weeks after his head injury in the second battle of Komárom from 2 July 1849, he was leading the Hungarian army in the second battle of Vác against the Russians outnumbering his troops two to one. On the morning 16 July, the second day of the battle, his medic Lajos Markusovszky noticed that his headwound became festered, so he had to operate Görgei. Görgei during this surgery on his skull, was on his feet, leaning over a bowl full of water, the surgery being made with the medical possibilities of the mid 19 century, when the analgesia and Anaesthesia were in a very early stage of their development. Artúr Görgei's younger brother, István Görgey (also an officer in the Hungarian army), describes how this surgery happened:

Shortly after this surgery, at 11 a.m. of the same day, Görgei was leading his troops on horseback, scoring one of his greatest military successes.

Because of his fearlessness, as well as unusual physical and mental resilience, he required his officers and soldiers the same heroism and recklessness in fulfilling his orders. He often brutally punished those who showed cowardice, as in the Second Battle of Komárom, when Görgei, after he tried first unsuccessfully to stop them verbally, stopped those units who were fleeing in disorder from the enemy by ordering the artillery to unleash a cannonade of grapeshot on them, which stopped the fleeing soldiers, who regrouped and successfully counterattacked. He required courage not only from frontline units but also from support troops. For example, he obliged the war medics to be on the battlefield during the fighting, in order to more quickly help the wounded.

The majority of Görgei's strategic plans were not drawn up personally by him, but by his general staff, although in the war councils he was the one who chose from the plans presented. Despite, this on the battlefield, on every occasion, even facing unexpected situations, Görgei was able to quickly make correct decision, and stick to those decisions without hesitation. When it was necessary he himself could elaborate strategic plans, and the majority of those (except that of the offensive in the Vág region) had successful outcomes. In March 1849, he wrote to Antal Vetter, then the interim supreme commander, that he was aware of not being very skilled and having not the patience to elaborate, with a table full of maps and papers, campaign strategies. So he relied on József Bayer and the general staff, who were better at it, Or, in the same battle, during the famous hussar charge led by him and Ernő Poeltenberg, Görgei, who was wearing a red coat—seeing that the left wing of his attacking 3000 hussars, because of the heavy enemy artillery firing that was causing them heavy losses, was slowing and turning in the wrong direction—quickly rode to them, shouting: "Boys, do you not [want to] follow the red coat in attack?" (Fiúk hát nem gyüttök a vörös hacuka után atakba?) Hearing this, the hussars quickly reorganised, and followed him toward the enemy lines.

In conclusion, Görgei was an erudite soldier, a man of logical thinking, who was able to recognize in the moment the importance of a situation or opportunity, capable of making quick decisions, and direct their application, while being willing to make changes in the course of the events, as the changing situation on the battlefield required. His personality was characterized by autonomy, eccentric behaviour, but also by a disciplined, emotionless attitude, and a lot of cynicism. He was characterized by the Russian military historian Ivan Ivanovitch Oreus (1830–1909) in his book Описание Венгерской войны 1849 года (Description of the Hungarian War of 1849): "Görgei was by nature hot tempered, but still he was not an enthusiast: he hated the swaggerers and he scourged them with relentless mercilessness." Sometimes he made poor decisions in this regard; for example, according to Hermann, before the second day of the Battle of Pered, it was a mistake to replace Lajos Asbóth, the commander of the II. corps, who was the most successful of all the corps leaders, with the weak József Kászonyi;

Among Görgei's qualities were also the ability to avoid traps, take reasonable risks, be tactically creative (as when he used a closed mine tunnel to escape with his encircled troops in January 1849), see the advantage of constructing a base bridge over the Danube on 23–26 April 1849, or organise a siege (such as that at Buda).

Hermann sets forth five errors Görgei is often accused of, often providing exculpatory reasoning:

In December 1848, when the Austrian invasion began, Görgei is accused of dividing his forces and placing half his troops on the northern bank of the Danube. Hermann's opinion is that even if Görgei would have concentrated all his troops on the southern bank, the outcome of the campaign would have been the same.
In February 1849, when Görgei arrived near Kassa he lost one day before he attacked the troops of Franz Schlik, which cost him an opportunity of totally destroying the latter's forces. Hermann argues that even if he had been prompt, General Klapka's failure to block the retreat of the Austrian troops would have allowed their escape.
During the battle of Isaszeg, Görgei neglected to order General András Gáspár to attack with the VIIth corps the troops of Franz Schlik, which, in many people's opinion, would have brought about the encirclement and destruction of Windisch-Grätz's army. Hermann argues against this, writing that during the battle Görgei did not see the necessity of ordering an attack as he had received information that Gáspár's troops were already advancing against Schlik. Hermann also points out that even if the VIIth corps would have attacked, the imperial troops could not be encircled, although their losses would have definitely been heavier.
Görgei is accused of being absent from the battle of Zsigárd, during the Vág river campaign, where his presence would have been decisive in winning that battle. Görgei, by way of excuse, wrote that he wanted to try out his new corps commanders. But this excuse is weak, because during the spring campaign he always was near the battlefield, and helped his corps commanders of that time (Klapka, Damjanich, Aulich, Gáspár), who were much more experienced than the new ones (Knézich, Nagysándor, Asbóth) in June 1849. Furthermore, the plan of the campaign at the Vág river was more complicated, thus harder to accomplish than the spring campaign. So the presence of Görgei was more needed.
After Görgei successfully resisted the Russian attack at the Sajó river, he did not rush to the Tisza river, but sojourned at the Hernád river to join with Dembinski's main army, losing precious time. Hermann excuses Görgei for this, writing that, as with his sojourn at Hernád, he tried to win time for the main army. Then, by forced march Görgei reached Arad, where they were to meet, but instead, Dembinski moved south, to Temesvár, where his troops, led then by Bem, suffered the final defeat, at Haynau's hand.

Summary of battles

The following table shows those battles in which Görgei himself, or those troops and units of which he was their chief commander, took part. Even if he was not always personally present at every battle, he designated their positions, commanded their movements, and sent troops to reinforce critical points.

{| class="wikitable collapsible collapsed"

|- valign="top"

! Battle !! Date !! Result !! Hungarian commander !!Opponent !! Hungarian troop strength !! Enemy troop strength !! Hungarian casualties !! Enemy casualties !! Notes

|- valign="top"

| The Ozora campaign || 4–7 October 1848 || style="background:#98fb98;" | Victory

Tác: Victory
Káloz: Victory
Ozora: Victory

|| & || Karl Roth border|23px & Nicolaus Philippovich von Philippsberg border|23px || 29,064 (9452+ ? regulars, 16,500 irregulars) || 9000 || 7 || 9000 || After relentless feints and harassment, Görgei's units, together with Mór Perczel's troops and the Tolna County peasant militia, forced Josip Jelačić's Croatian reinforcements to surrender.

|- valign="top"

| Vanguard skirmishes around Bruck || 17–19 October 1848 || style="background:#98fb98;" | Victory

Bruck: Victory
Bruck: Defeat
Bruck: Victory
Wilfleinsdorf: Defeat

|| || || 3960 hussars|| unknown || 4+ ? || 20+ ? || Görgei's hussars occupied Bruck an der Leitha, taking many prisoners and a large number of battle standards. Jelačić's vanguard was forced to retreat behind the ditch from Wiener Neustadt, leaving Lower Austria's eastern narrow strip of land in Hungarian hands.

|- valign="top"

| Schwechat || 30 October 1848 || style="background:#ffa07a;" | Defeat || & || & || 27,000 || 30,000 || 695 || 89/96 || Many of the Hungarian troops were irregulars, armed with pitchforks or scythes. Görgei led the vanguard; then, when defeat was imminent, he protected the retreating troops, preventing them from being crushed. After the battle, Kossuth named Görgei as the commander of the Upper Danubian Army, to defend the western border.

|- valign="top"

| Nagyszombat & Parndorf || 16 December 1848 || style="background:#ffa07a;" | Defeat || & || || ~8555 || 17,500 || 942 || 40 ||Start of the Winter campaign. The first battle as commander of the Upper Danube Army, which was the VIIth army corps. The imperial forces broke into Hungary from the north. Görgei sent Richard Guyon to stop them, but he was defeated at Nagyszombat. At Parndorf the rear guard troops of Zichy Lipót were attacked by Jelačić's troops and put to flight.

|- valign="top"

| Battle of Moson || 18 December 1848 || style="background:#98fb98;" | Victory || || || ~1000 || ~1000 || ? || 700 || ? || Görgei's retreating right flank, led by his cousin Kornél Görgey, were surprised by the cuirassiers of Ferenc Ottinger, with many taken prisoner.

|- valign="top"

| Tétény || 3 January 1849 || style="background:#eedd22;" | Inconclusive || || || ~4000 || ~4200 || ? || ? || The result is a draw, but tactically a Hungarian success. Görgei's rear guard pushed back Jelačić's attacking vanguard units, but retreated after hearing the approach of other enemy troops. This skirmish slowed the imperial advance and made them more cautious.

|- valign="top"

| Vanguard skirmishes around Verebély & Ipolyság || 11 January 1849 || style="background:#98fb98;"|Victory

Verebély: Victory
Ipolyság: Defeat

|| 22px Lajos Aulich & || & & || ~11,013 || 11,406+ ? || ? || ? || Hungarian tactical victory. Görgei's right-flank troops, led by Lajos Aulich, forced Götz to retreat.

|- valign="top"

| Szélakna, Selmecbánya, Hodrusbánya || 21–22 January 1849 || style="background:#ffa07a;" | Defeat

Szélakna: Defeat
Hodrusbánya: Defeat

|| & || || ~6794 || ~13,198+ ? || Richard Guyon's brigade occupies the Branyiszkó mountain pass, ending with success the winter campaign of the Upper Danubian Army led by Görgei.

|- valign="top"

| Szén || 13 February 1849 || style="background:#98fb98;" | Victory || || || ~5446 || ? || ? || The brigade of Sándor Kossuth surprised Franz Schlik's rear guard, taking the majority of them prisoner.

|- valign="top"

| Mezőkövesd || 28 February 1849 || style="background:#98fb98;" | Victory || & 22px Kornél Görgey || || ~17,118 || ~5306 || ? || 58 || The brigade led by György Kmety is attacked by the Austrians; but when two other Hungarian brigades come to the rescue, the imperials retreat, losing 3cannons and 29 prisoners.

|- valign="top"

| Hatvan || 2 April 1849 || style="background:#98fb98;" | Victory || 22px András Gáspár & || || 14,563 || 11,000|| 20 || 202|| Start of the spring campaign of the main Hungarian troops led by Görgei. Under his command were the I., II., III., and VII. army corps. The VII. Hungarian corps and the support units sent by Damjanich defeated Schlik's army.

|- valign="top"

| Tápióbicske || 4 April 1849 || style="background:#98fb98;" | Victory || & || || 22,419 || 16,000|| The I. corps led by György Klapka are surprised by Jelačić's army corps, but the arrival of Görgei and the III. corps, led by János Damjanich, turns the battle in favour of the Hungarians.

|- valign="top"

| Isaszeg || 6 April 1849 || style="background:#98fb98;" | Victory || || || 31,315 || 26,000|| 800–1000 || 373/369 || The first decisive battle of the spring campaign is won by Görgei, forcing Windisch-Grätz to retreat from the Danube–Tisza Interfluve.

|- valign="top"

| 1st Vác || 10 April 1849 || style="background:#98fb98;" | Victory || || || 11,592|| 8,250 || 150 || 422|| The Hungarian III. corps defeated the Austrians. Among the Austrian casualties is their commander, Christian Götz.

|- valign="top"

| Nagysalló || 19 April 1849 || style="background:#98fb98;" | Victory || & & 22px András Gáspár || || 23,784 || 20,601+ ? || 608 || 1538 || An Austrian army corps, led by Wohlgemuth, sent from Italy to help the Austrians in Hungary, is heavily defeated. Instead of joining the siege of Komárom, as it was planned initially, Wohlgemuth's corps is forced to retreat westwards, to near the Austrian border.

|- valign="top"

| Kéménd || 20 April 1849 || style="background:#98fb98;" | Victory || 22px András Gáspár || || ? || ~5296 || ? || ?|| Tactically a draw but a strategic Hungarian victory. The Austrian siege troops were chased from the trenches around the fortress of Komárom, until the IIId. Austrian corps, which were retreating from Pest, arrived, forcing the Hungarians to retreat, but only to secure a safe retreat of the main Austrian army towards Vienna. The Hungarians capture much of the siege weapons of the Austrians. Then much of central and western Hungary is liberated.

|- valign="top"

| Buda || 4–21 April 1849 || style="background:#98fb98;" | Victory || || || 34,277|| 4890 || 368/427 || 4914 || The Hungarian troops capture the fortress of Buda. The Austrian commander, Heinrich Hentzi, is fatally wounded.

|- valign="top"

|Vanguard skirmishes on the western front || 9–13 June 1849 || style="background:#98fb98;" | Victory

Szered: Victory
Vásárút: Draw

|| 22px József Nagysándor & 22px Lajos Asbóth || & – || ~20,304 || ~12,946+ ? || 18 || 20 || The Hungarian troops push forward to the west of Austrian positions.

|- valign="top"

| Csorna || 13 June 1849 || style="background:#98fb98;" | Victory || || || 5002 || 2690 || 271/215 || 258|| The start of the summer campaign as supreme commander. Under his command were the I., II., III., VII., and VIII. army corps. A Hungarian detachment led by György Kmety defeats the Austrians, whose commander, Franz Wyss, is fatally wounded.

|- valign="top"

| Zsigárd || 16 June 1849 || style="background:#ffa07a;" | Defeat || 22px Lajos Asbóth || & || 24,480 || 31,200 || 765 || 154 || In Görgei's absence (because he was fulfilling his duty as minister of war), the I. and II. corps of his army started an attack, but after initial successes, because of a counterattack by the superior Austrian army, they had to retreat, suffering heavy losses. One of the main causes of the defeat was the total inactivity of the III. Hungarian corps.

|- valign="top"

|Pered || 20–21 June 1849 || style="background:#ffa07a;" | Defeat

20 June: Victory
21 June: Defeat

|| || & & & || 25,286/23,727 || 39,500 || 2878 || 668 || This time Görgei led his troops personally. On the first day, despite fierce Austrian opposition, his troops took control of Pered and other localities. But the second-day intervention by Panyutyin's Russian troops led to an imperial victory.

|- valign="top"

| Ihász || 27 June 1849 || style="background:#ffa07a;" | Defeat || || || 5700|| ~4376|| 112 || 277|| Kmety's detachment is defeated and retreats towards southern Hungary, but after causing heavy casualties.

|- valign="top"

| Győr || 28 June 1849 || style="background:#ffa07a;" | Defeat || & || & || 17,480 || 69,350 || 607/706 || 342|| In the presence of the emperor, Franz Joseph I of Austria, Haynau occupies Győr, defeating a Hungarian army one-third the size of his. Görgei arrives towards the end of the battle, and secures the safe retreat of the Hungarian troops towards Komárom, by leading his hussars in attack against the advancing imperial troops.

|- valign="top"

| 2nd Komárom || 2 July 1849 || style="background:#98fb98;" | Victory || || & || 26,884 || 52,185 || 1500 || 890 || The troops of Haynau initially occupy strategic positions around Komárom, but Görgei's counterattack forces them to retreat. Towards the end of the battle Görgei is gravely wounded, and this prevents him from taking advantage of his success. He is deposed from supreme command, retaining only temporarily command of the troops around Komárom, until he led the troops to a designated meeting point near Szeged.

|- valign="top"

| 3nd Komárom || 11 July 1849 || style="background:#ffa07a;" | Defeat || & & 22px József Nagysándor || & || 43,347 men || 56,787 || 400/500/800/1500 || 813|| Despite initial success, the Hungarian attack to break the Austrian blockade around Komárom failed because of the inactivity of two generals: Gusztáv Pikéthy and József Nagysándor, who did not support Ernő Poeltenberg's and Károly Leiningen-Westerburg's attack. Görgei observed the battle from the fortress, but could not personally intervene, because he had not fully recovered from his head wound. His troops were led on the field by György Klapka.

|- valign="top"

|2nd Vác || 15–17 July 1849 || style="background:#eedd22;" | Inconclusive

15 July: Victory
17 July: Inconclusive

|| || & || 27,834 || 52,831 || 1400+ || 452 || Hungarian strategic victory. On the first day, Görgei's troops chase the Russians from Vác, and on the third day they retreat north, repulsing Russian attacks. The failure of Paskevich to crush Görgei's army prevented the Russians from joining Haynau's advance south in order to put down the revolution; forced them to chase, with their entire army, Görgei's troops, fearing that he would cut their supply lines; and prolonged the Hungarian War of Independence for another month.

|- valign="top"

|Battle around Miskolc & Görömböly || 23–24 July 1849 || style="background:#eedd22;" | Inconclusive

23 July: Victory
24 July: Inconclusive

|| || || 8600 || ~39.886|| ? || 24 || Hungarian tactical victory. The VII. corps of Ernő Poeltenberg occupied Miskolc. On the first day, they repulsed a Russian attack, then on the second day, after receiving Görgei's order to retreat (who feared that his general faced the whole Russian army), retreated, repulsing more Russian attacks.

|- valign="top"

| Alsózsolca || 25 July 1849 || style="background:#98fb98;" | Victory || & || || ~17,900|| The attack of the Russian IV. corps, led by Lieutenant General Tscheodayev, was repulsed by the III. and VII. Hungarian corps.

|- valign="top"

| Gesztely || 28 July 1849 || style="background:#98fb98;" | Victory || || || ~9200 || The attack of the troops of Lieutenant General Grabbe is disorganised by a well-hidden Hungarian artillery unit of the III. Hungarian corps, led by Leiningen, putting the Russians to flight.

|- valign="top"

| Debrecen || 2 August 1849 || style="background:#ffa07a;" | Defeat || 22px József Nagysándor || ||11,338 || 62.427 || ~1901 || 337|| The I. Hungarian corps led by József Nagysándor is defeated by the main Russian forces. Görgei was later criticised for not going with this other troops to help. But Nagysándor's mission was to hold the enemy, to enable to Görgei to retreat south to unite with Dembinski's troops. Nagysándor's orders were to not seek battle but to slow the enemy's advance. He engaged the Russians because he miscalculated their troop strength. On the other hand, even if Görgei would have tried to march towards the battlefield with the other two Hungarian corps, he would have arrived with tired troops three hours after Nagysándor's battle ended, which would have probably caused Görgei to suffer a crushing defeat at the hands of the three-times-larger enemy force.

Works

During the Revolution and Freedom War of 1848–1849 he wrote several proclamations to the army and the nation:

Katonák és nemzetőrök! (Soldiers and National Guards!) – Pozsony 3 November 1848 (in Hungarian),
Szózat. (Appeal) – Pozsony 3 November 1848 (in Hungarian),
A felállítandó magyar honvéd építész-kar érdekében. (On Behalf of the Faculty of Architecture, which Will be Founded) – Pozsony 5 November 1848 (in Hungarian),
Szózat. Önkéntes nemzetőrök! (Appeal. Voluntary National Guards!) – Pozsony 23 November 1848 (in Hungarian),
Szózat a magyar hadsereghez! (Appeal to the Hungarian Army) – No location and date (in Hungarian),
Aufruf an die Herren Ober- und Unteroffiziere und Kadetten der Armee (Appeal to the High- and the Non Commissioned Officers of the Army) – No location and date (in German),
A feldunai magyar királyi hadsereg nyilatkozata. (The Declaration of the Royal Hungarian Army) – Pozsony 10 December 1848 (in Hungarian),
Vitézek! (Brave Warriors!) – No location January 1849 (in Hungarian),
A magyar hadsereghez. (To the Hungarian Army) – Vác 10 April 1849 (in Hungarian),
A magyar hadsereghez. (To the Hungarian Army) – Komárom 29 April 1849 (in Hungarian),
A magyar hadsereg főparancsnoka a néphez. (The Supreme Commander of the Hungarian Army to the Nation) – Budapest end of April 1849 (in Hungarian),
Fölszóllítás! Henczihez (Warning! To Henczi) – Buda 4 May 1849 (in Hungarian),
Görgei to György Klapka – Buda 6 May 1849 (in German),
Görgei a miniszteri tanácshoz. (Görgei to the Ministry Council) – Komárom 2 July 1849 (in Hungarian),
Görgei to Rüdiger – No location Jul 1849 (in German),
Görgei to Paskevich – Rimaszombat 21 July 1849 (in German),
Görgei to the Following Generals: Nagysándor, Leiningen and Pöltemberg – No location 21 July 1849 (in German),
Görgei Rüdigerhez (Görgei to Rüdiger) – Óarad 11 August 1849 (in Hungarian and German),
Polgárok! (Citizens!) – Castle of Arad 11 August 1849 (in Hungarian and German),
Görgei Klapkához (Görgei to Klapka) – Nagyvárad 16 August 1849 (in Hungarian),
Görgei to Baron Stein, the High Commander of the Armies of Transylvania – Nagyvárad 16 August 1849 (in German),

During his life Artúr Görgei wrote several articles and books.

Articles:

Without title. Márczius Tizenötödike. 1848 (70) 5 June (signed Egy quietált huszár főhadnagy = A resigned Hussar lieutenant) (in Hungarian),
Görgei Artúr levele a szerkesztőhöz (Artúr Görgei's Letter to the Editor). Pesti Napló. 1861 február 1 (31/XII) (in Hungarian),
Görgei Artúr nyílt kérelme Kossuth Lajoshoz (Artúr Görgei's Open Demand to Lajos Kossuth). Pesti Napló. 1867 május 29 (126/XVIII) (in Hungarian),
Történészeti megjegyzések, Jókai válaszával (Remarks of a Historian, with the response of Mór Jókai). Hon. 1867 (231/V) (in Hungarian),
Dembinszki emlékiratairól (About Dembinski's Memoirs). Budapesti Szemle. 1875 (XIV) (with János Demár's pseudonym) (in Hungarian),
Kossuth és Görgei. Nyílt levél a szerkesztőhöz és észrevételek Kossuth Irataira. (Kossuth and Görgei. Open Letter to the Editors, and Observations to Kossuth's Writings). Budapesti Szemle. 1881. (XXV) (in Hungarian),
Még egyszer Kossuth és Görgei. Nyílt levél a szerkesztőhöz és észrevételek Kossuth Irataira. (Again about Kossuth and Görgei. Open Letter to the Editors, and Observations to Kossuth's Writings). Budapesti Szemle. 1881. (XXVI) (in Hungarian),

Books:

Über die festen, flüchtigen, fetten Säueren des Cocusnussöles (About the Solid, Volatile, Fat Acids of the Coconut Oil) Offprint from Sitzungsberichte der kais. Akademie der Wissenschaften (1848) (in German),
Mein Leben und Wirken in Ungarn in den Jahren 1848 und 1849 (My Life and Works in Hungary in the Years 1848 and 1849). [https://books.google.com/books?id=S4FRAAAAcAAJ] – [https://books.google.com/books?id=zRUwAAAAYAAJ] II. Leipzig, 1852. (in German, released later also in Hungarian and English) (full text)
Gazdátlan levelek Kiadja Ráth Mór, Pest 1867 (in Hungarian) (full text)
Mit köszönünk a forradalomnak? Franklin Társulat, Budapest 1875 (Anonymously) (in Hungarian) (full text)

Notes

References

Sources

Nobili, Johann. Hungary 1848: The Winter Campaign. Edited and translated Christopher Pringle. Warwick, UK: Helion & Company Ltd., 2021.

External links

Full public-domain text of Görgey's , in English translation