page_title: Artúr Görgei
section_title: In the Autumn and the Winter Campaign
hierarchical_section_title: Artúr Görgei / Görgei's military career / In the Autumn and the Winter Campaign
caption_attribution_description: Magyar: Az ozorai fegyverletétel
context_page_description: Artúr Görgei de Görgő et Toporc was a Hungarian military leader renowned for being one of the greatest generals of the Hungarian Revolutionary Army.
  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, 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 army, the leader of the victorious Spring Campaign, which liberated almost all Western Hungary from the Austrian occupation. As a recognition of his military successes, he was decorated by the Hungarian Government, and given him also political positions: he became Minister of War, and in the last few days of the revolution, he was appointed the dictator of Hungary, which meant that he gathered in his hands all military and political powers of Hungary. Seeing that he could not withstand the numerically and technologically 4–5 times superior Austrian and Russian armies, on 13 August 1849 he surrendered his troops to the Russians at Világos, thus ending the Hungarian revolution.
context_section_description: After the Battle of Pákozd, in which on 29 September 1848 the Hungarian troops led by János Móga defeated the troops of Jelačić, saving the Hungarian capitals (Buda and Pest), Görgei's 2,500 troops, reinforced with 16,500 peasant militia from Tolna county, watched the movements of the Croatian reinforcements troops led by Roth and Philipovich, blocked their retreat, and eventually forced them to surrender. Görgei's superior was General Mór Perczel, a nobleman with almost no military experience, lacked Görgei's knowledge in the theory and practice of warfare. Seeing that some of Perczel's orders were wrong, and could allow the escape of the enemy, Görgei gave the right orders, issuing them directly to his troops, thus contradicting Perczel's orders. Perczel became angry, and wanted to put Görgei in front of an execution squad, but when the latter explained to the officers' council the reasons for his actions, Perczel pardoned him and accepted his plans, putting them into effect, but he did not like him afterwards. On 7 October 1848, thanks to Görgei's plans, the Croatian troops led by Roth and Philipovich were forced to surrender at Ozora, the Hungarians taking almost 9,000 prisoners, together with their weapons, 12 guns, and ammunition, this being the most successful pincer maneuver of the Hungarian Freedom War.
  After the defeat of Jelačić, the people of Vienna revolted on 6 October, forcing the emperor to flee to Olmütz. 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 in aid of the revolutionaries from the imperial capital, which was at that time surrounded only by the troops of Jelačić, but the officers from the Hungarian army, many of whom were foreign and unsure what to do, said that they would agree this only if the people of Vienna asked them to do it. But although the Viennese revolutionaries thought about this, they were reluctant to officially ask for Hungarian aid. In the meantime, the Austrian commander Windisch-Grätz crushed the revolution from Prague, then came with the imperial army to Vienna to crush the revolution there, bringing the overwhelming superiority of the imperial army (80,000 Austrian soldiers against 27,000 Hungarians). Kossuth, waiting in vain for the Hungarian troops to cross the Austrian border, decided to personally go there to convince them. In the 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 superiority of the enemy. Kossuth argued, "Our cause is linked with Vienna – separated from it, nobody will give us any importance." He also said that the conscription period of the national guards from the Hungarian army would be over 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 give the leadership to that person. 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 main command, Görgei refused. So in the end Móga remained the main commander until the end of the battle. In the Battle of Schwechat the 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 sealed the fate of the battle.
  During the skirmishes before the battle of Schwechat and the battle, Görgei, although he was mostly in the second plan, by his successful engagements with the enemies vanguards, than by successfully protecting the retreat of the Hungarian troops, preventing their disaster.
  
  On 9 October, G
caption: The Croatian troops surrender at Ozora at 7 October 1848
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