page_title: Timișoara Fortress
section_title: Siege of 1849
hierarchical_section_title: Timișoara Fortress / Habsburg Fortress / Siege of 1849
caption_attribution_description: Magyar: Vécsey Károly (1803–1849) honvéd vezérőrnagy portréja. Szamossy Elek litográfiája
context_page_description: Timișoara Fortress is a historical fortress in western Romania around which the town of Timișoara was built.
  It is presumed that there was an earlier earthworks fortification built by the Avars, but the first written record is from the 13th century. At the beginning of the 14th century Charles I of Hungary built the first stone fortification, the Angevin fortress. In 1443 John Hunyadi restored the castle and the surrounding walls, which had been destroyed by an earthquake. The fortress was captured in 1552 by the Ottoman Turks, who held it till 1716 when it was taken by the Habsburgs. The Habsburgs reconstructed it, making it much bigger in the style of Blaise Francois Pagan, a precursor of the Vauban system. The Habsburg fortress was besieged only once, during the Hungarian Revolution in 1849.
  The increased effectiveness of artillery with explosive shells at the end of the 19th century rendered the walls ineffective. As the walls and the area around them hindered the development of the town, the walls were demolished and the ditches were filled in.
context_section_description: On 13 March the Revolution of 1848 broke out in Vienna and on 15 March in Budapest. The news reached Timişoara on 18 March 1848. Following Ferdinand I of Austria’s decision on 3 October a state of siege was declared in the Kingdom of Hungary. The military commander of the fortress of Timișoara, Lieutenant Field marshal K.k. Georg von Rukavina took over command of Timișoara.
  The state of siege required the banning of riots, of groups larger than 6 persons and also imposed the surrender of the arms. In response, to the decree of Lajos Kossuth of 8 October – which demanded the flying of the Hungarian flag and loyalty to Hungary – the garrison of the city replied that Kossuth was declared outlaw by the decree of 3 October and therefore it was no longer obliged to follow Hungarian orders and would remain faithful to the Emperor and defend the Fortress.
  Although the restoration of Timișoara Fortress was completed, due to the swampy ground the first heavy wall belt had sunk to some extent, making artillery fire difficult without threatening the defenders of the other two wall belts, and also the covertway. In the winter of 1848–1849 the fortress was supplied and reinforcements were sent. At the beginning of the siege the defense forces consisted of 8,851 people. It also had 1,272 horses and 213 functional cannons. There was enough gunpowder, but there were only 312 artillerymen and 17 military engineers.
  On 14 May the attackers occupied Fabric and destroyed the drinking water supply pipe to the fortress. The defenders could use the 130 fountains in the fortress but only 13 of them provided drinking water. The lack of clean water led to epidemics.
  The first bombardment of the fortress took place on 18 May. The bombardment intensified on 11 June, when the attackers put more guns in the battery. Nearly 2,000 shells landed in the Fortress area and almost all the buildings were hit. They were built of brick, with only Huniade Castle, the barracks, especially Transylvania Barracks, the Military Hospital and the crypts more strongly constructed.
  On 6 July the attackers installed further batteries and bombarded the fortress with about 30 mortars and 30 heavy cannon. On 20 July Kossuth visited the siege camp and asked Károly Vécsey, the siege commander, to capture the fortress at all costs. The bombardment continued. During its most intense phase the batteries had 36 mortars, 20 cannons, 13 howitzers and 22 field guns, altogether 91 pieces. On 5 August a parliamentarian demanded the surrender of the fortress but it was refused.
  On 8 August movements were seen in the attackers’ camp, and the following day there was further movement. The sound of cannonfire was heard to the northwest, where the Battle of Temesvár was being fought. The Austrian troops led by Julius Jacob von Haynau defeated the Hungarian army commanded by Józef Bem, and Haynau entered Timișoara after 107 days of siege.
  The losses among the garrison were not high: 161 dead, including 6 officers, 376 wounded, including 13 officers, 27 taken prisoner and 213 horses killed. However, the food supplies were exhausted, and typhus and cholera killed 2,000 people; after the siege a further 2,000 ill people died. Most of the buildings in the fortress were destroyed, including Huniade Castle, which was rebuilt in 1856, acquiring a totally different look.
  On 14 June 1852, Emperor Franz Joseph visited Timișoara, where he laid the foundation stone of the Fidelity Monument in the Parade Square on 15 June.
caption: Károly Vécsey
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