Battle of Kápolna 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 Constitution of Omnütz on 4 March 1849 . Pretext . Dembiński , the Polish supreme commander . László Teleki sent Henryk Dembiński , the Supreme Commander of the Polish November uprising , from Paris to the Kingdom of Hungary . Lajos Kossuth knew Dembiński well after his Lithuanian retreat . Mad plan , bad tactics . Dembiński ' s appointment was misguided , because he was introverted , short - tempered , and distrustful . The Hungarian commanding officers did not like it . Dembiński had an argument with Mór Perczel , stood down György Klapka , and later had an argument with Artúr Görgey . Dembiński ’ s plans were to fight the final battle at Mezőkövesd and Eger , but before this to attack the Austrian army at Szolnok . He was so obsessive about his plans that he even refused to attack Franz Schlik , even though Shlik was completely isolated . Dembiński ' s explanation was that if he did , Winfisch - Grätz still wanted control in Buda , which meant that the battle plans for Mezőkövesd and Eger were null and void . Dembiński stuck to his plan and drew back one of his legions from Pétervására when Klapka wanted to attack Schlik on 24 February . Balance of forces . 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 . Battle . Demolished bridges on the River Tarna . Ernő Poeltenberg ( ) and his Seventh Legion marched into Feldebrő around noon , and at 2 p . m . Poeltenberg moved his legion and crossed the River Tarna . First they fought with Major General Colloredo at the forest of Aldebrő . At first neither of the armies could get a decisive victory , but Colloredo got more and more reinforcements , and Poeltenberg had to retreat . Poeltenberg got no news from his messenger , who he had sent to Káplona , so he crossed the Tarna in the middle of Austrian fire . He demolished the bridges on the Tarna , emptied Aldebrő ( Lower Debrő ) and Feldebrő ( Upper Debrő ) and retreated in the direction of Kerecsend . The Austrian army occupied the forest but they did not cross the Tarna , or occupy Aldebrő or Feldebrő . In the meantime Dembiński arrived and gave an order to Poeltenberg to go back to the two villages . The next morning Poeltenberg was stationed at Aldebrő and Feldebrő . Belated order . Colonel János Máriássy ’ s Driquet brigade , part of the First Hungarian Division , crossed the Tarna at the beginning of the battle and was stationed between the Kompolt Forest and the Kápolna vineyard . There was a legion available for Máriássy , and with it he tried a covert attack to the rear of Franz Wyss , but it was discovered and repelled . But Máriássy ’ s cavalrymen still managed to blockade the Austrian army . The Hungarian army retreated in the direction of Tarna . The Second Hungarian Legion under the command of Móric Kisfaludy was stationed at Kál . Kisfaludy crossed the river after he heard the first cannon fire and attacked the Austrian army . Even though Kisfaludy ’ s army was weaker than the Austrian army , the Hungarian army defended its position and defeated Wyss . Dembiński was in conference with Görgei in Eger when he heard the cannon , and they both immediately went to Kápolna . Dembiński gave an order for the rear army to advance , but only two of the legions received the order in time . Thus the legion under the command of Sulcz joined together with the legions at Verpelét , and Lajos Aulich ’ s legion advanced to Kál . Sirok Channel . During the night the Hungarian army ' s position became worse because Schlik took control of the Sirok Channel without a fight and he was nearer to the Hungarian army at Verpelét . The battle continued on 27 February . Wyss ' main aim was to occupied Kápolna which meant that he would cross through the Hungarian army and destroy its right flank , because he knew that Schlik occupied Sirok canal and was advancing towards the right flank . Klapka had to defend Verpelét with only one division . Dembiński gave an order to Klapka to reoccupy the Sirok Channel and sent reinforcements under the command of Poeltenberg . At the same time Dembiński ordered Görgei to lead the Hungarians at Verpelét and stop the separated divisions of the Austrian army coming together . Poeltenberg had just arrived at Verpelét when Schlik occupied it , and he tried to attack the Austrian army . Klapla , seeing the Hungarian army ’ s success , tried to reoccupy Verpelét , but it wasn ' t successful . Ineffective attack . By this time Görgei had arrived in Verpelét . As the commander of the Dessewffy and Poeltenberg legions , Görgei held up Schlik , but he needed to retreat in the direction of Kerecsend because he did not want the Austrian army to get trapped . Dembiński commanded the Márriássy legion in a retreat from Kápolna eastwards towards the Tarna riverbank and blockaded the bridge too . Máriássy warned Dembiński that defence of Kápolna would be almost impossible , because the Austrian army , who were on the other bank of the river , still controlled Dembiński ’ s side too . Dembiński ignored Máriássy ' s warning , and started to attack to retake Kápolna . The Hungarian divisions , commanded by Móric Psotta and Cézár Mednyánszky , were advancing to the bridgehead , but there they encountered the Austrians and capitulated . Máriássy also attacked the Austrians at a pub they were occupying in Kápolna . Because Psotta and Mednyánszky capitulated , Wyss could concentrate on Máriássy ’ s army and expelled it from the pub . Máriássy tried to retake , but he had to retreat in the direction of Kerecsend . However , the Austrian attack got stuck here and Windisch - Grätz tried a covert attack against the Hungarians at Tófalu . Relief of supreme commander . Dembiński drew back the Hungarian army from Kál in the direction of the eastern bank of the Tarna . On 27 February Aulich ' s legions defended against the Austrian army , but before he went to reoccupy Kápolna , Aulich received an order from Dembiński to advance north and attack from there . Aulich was advancing there when he received the news that the Austrian army had defeated the Hungarian army at Kál . Because of this Aulich turned back towards Kál , but before he arrived Dembiński ordered him to retreat . At the same time that Guyon and György Kmety ' s legions arrived to Kerecsend , but Dembiński didn ' t continue the battle and gave the order for retreat . Klapka ' s legion ' s officers didn ' t want to follow Dembiński ' s advice unless one of the commanding officers confirmed it . On 3 March Bertalan Szemere arrived at Tiszafüred for a debriefing military meeting where he became the intermediary between Dembiński and the Hungarian army . Szemere visited Dembiński and tried to convince him to hold another debriefing . Because Dembiński didn ' t want to , Szemere relieved him of his command and gave his post to Görgey , who became the supreme commander .