page_title: Battle of Kápolna
section_title: Balance of forces
hierarchical_section_title: Battle of Kápolna / Prelude / Balance of forces
caption_attribution_description: Henryk Dembiński
context_page_description: The Battle of Kápolna was a battle in the Hungarian Revolution of 1848, fought on 26 and 27 February 1849. The battle ended with Austrian victory and influenced the politics of central Europe: Franz Joseph I announced the March Constitution of Austria on 4 March 1849.
context_section_description: Windisch-Grätz saw Schilck army's vulnerable position and the Hungarian army's activity, so he started to move his army towards the River Tisza. On the one hand Windisch-Grätz wanted to stop the Hungarian army, but on the other he wanted to make contact with Schilck, but they only communicated through a messenger.
  Windisch-Grätz's army had 30,000 men and 165 cannon. The Hungarian-Polish-Italian army had about 43,000 men and 150 cannon, but the supreme commander only counted 36,000 men and 136 cannon. So there was a chance that the Hungarians and Poles would win on numbers, but the sticking point was for Dembiński to close up gather the Hungarian forces. But he did not.
  On 26 February, at 10 a.m., the Austrian army started to move from Gyöngyös to Tarna, where they met with the Hungarian army. The first Hungarian legion, under the command of Arisztid Dessewffy, remained at Verpelét. A small commando from this legion were at Sirok. The arriving Austrian army realised that the Hungarian army was much stronger than they, and after a short fight the Austrian army started to move towards Feldebrő.
caption: Henryk Dembiński Polish-born, Hungarian-Polish supreme commander in the Battle of Kápolna. After the defeat he lost his position.
exif: {}