Capitulaton of Hungarian Army at Világos 1849

The Surrender at Világos, which was the formal end of the

Hungarian Revolution of 1848 The Hungarian Revolution of 1848 or fully Hungarian Civic Revolution and War of Independence of 1848–1849 () was one of many European Revolutions of 1848 and was closely linked to other revolutions of 1848 in the Habsburg areas. Although th ...

, took place on 13 August 1849, at Világos, (now Șiria, Romania). The terms were signed by Hungarian General Artúr Görgey on the rebels' side and Count

Theodor von Rüdiger Theodor is a masculine given name. It is a German form of Theodore. It is also a variant of Teodor. List of people with the given name Theodor * Theodor Adorno, (1903–1969), German philosopher * Theodor Aman, Romanian painter * Theodor Blueger ...

of the

Russian Imperial Army The Imperial Russian Army (russian: Ру́сская импера́торская а́рмия, tr. ) was the armed land force of the Russian Empire, active from around 1721 to the Russian Revolution of 1917. In the early 1850s, the Russian Ar ...

. Following the capitulation, General

Julius Jacob von Haynau Julius Jakob Freiherr von Haynau (14 October 1786 – 14 March 1853) was an Austrian general who suppressed insurrectionary movements in Italy and Hungary in 1848 and later. While a hugely effective military leader, he also gained renown as an agg ...

was appointed Imperial plenipotentiary in the country and brutally re-subjugated it.

Russian intervention in the revolution

After the

Russians , native_name_lang = ru , image = , caption = , population = , popplace = 118 million Russians in the Russian Federation (2002 ''Winkler Prins'' estimate) , region1 = , pop1 ...

intervened in the conflict, it was only a matter of time before the Hungarians were defeated, as the Austro-Russians now had far greater military strength. The deciding point came at the

Battle of Temesvár The Battle of Temesvár (now Timișoara, Romania) was a key battle in the Hungarian Revolution of 1848, fought on 9 August 1849 between the Austrian Empire, led by Field Marshal Julius Jacob von Haynau, and the Hungarian Revolutionary Army (sup ...

, which ended in a decisive Austrian victory, after which the Hungarians' choices essentially amounted to surrender or annihilation. On 21 July, Cavalry Captain Katlaroff and Count

delivered an offer from Russian General Chruloff to Görgey, who was at Rimaszombat (now

Rimavská Sobota Rimavská Sobota (; hu, Rimaszombat, german: Großsteffelsdorf) is a town in southern Slovakia, in the Banská Bystrica Region, on the Rimava river. It has approximately 24,000 inhabitants. The town is a historical capital of Gömör és Kishon ...

Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the s ...

); the offer included total freedom for Hungarian officers and men.

László Batthyány László () is a Hungarian male given name and surname after the King-Knight Saint Ladislaus I of Hungary (1077–1095). It derives from Ladislav, a variant of Vladislav. Other versions are Lessl or Laszly. The name has a history of being frequen ...

and another officer delivered Görgey's response to Chruloff, in which Görgey demanded that all Hungarians get freedom, not only those who had served in the conflict. He would also gladly accept if one of the Russian princes would wear the

Holy Crown of Hungary The Holy Crown of Hungary ( hu, Szent Korona; sh, Kruna svetoga Stjepana; la, Sacra Corona; sk, Svätoštefanská koruna , la, Sacra Corona), also known as the Crown of Saint Stephen, named in honour of Saint Stephen I of Hungary, was the ...

(Holy Crown of Saint Stephen).

Surrender

The Hungarian Army surrendered to Russian General Rüdiger on 13 August 1849. At Bohus Castle, they signed the document of surrender. Görgey tried to show by the terms of the surrender that Hungary had been defeated by Russia, and not by Austria. This proved to be pointless as the Russians simply just handed them over to the Austrian authorities.

Aftermath

After the surrender and despite the

Russian Emperor The emperor or empress of all the Russias or All Russia, ''Imperator Vserossiyskiy'', ''Imperatritsa Vserossiyskaya'' (often titled Tsar or Tsarina/Tsaritsa) was the monarch of the Russian Empire. The title originated in connection with Russia' ...

's pleas for clemency, the

Austrians , pop = 8–8.5 million , regions = 7,427,759 , region1 = , pop1 = 684,184 , ref1 = , region2 = , pop2 = 345,620 , ref2 = , region3 = , pop3 = 197,990 , ref3 ...

engaged in harsh reprisals against Hungary. They sentenced hundreds of soldiers and civilians to death, and imprisoned even more. Prisoners were conscripted into the Austrian Army. On 6 October 1849, at Arad (today in

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

), the Austrians executed twelve Hungarian generals and one colonel, who are known as the 13 Martyrs of Arad. The same day, they executed

Lajos Batthyány Count Lajos Batthyány de Németújvár (; hu, gróf németújvári Batthyány Lajos; 10 February 1807 – 6 October 1849) was the first Prime Minister of Hungary. He was born in Pozsony (modern-day Bratislava) on 10 February 1807, and was e ...

, the first Hungarian Prime Minister, by firing squad.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Surrender at Vilagos Hungarian Revolution of 1848