Battle of Kraśnik The Battle of Kraśnik started on August 23 , 1914 in the province of Galicia and the adjacent areas across the border in the Russian Empire , in northern Austria ( now in present day Poland ) , and ended two days later . The Austro - Hungarian First Army defeated the Russian Fourth Army . It was the first victory by Austria - Hungary in World War I . As a result the First Army ' s commander , General Viktor Dankl , was ( briefly ) lauded as a national hero for his success . The battle was also the first of a series of engagements between Austria - Hungary and Russia all along the Galicia front . Initial deployment . The battle took place soon after the commencement of hostilities on the Eastern Front . In the East , late August and early September 1914 were characterized by a series of small - scale engagements between the Central Powers , Austria - Hungary and Germany , and the Allies , Serbia and Russia . Both sides rushed to mobilize their armies and thrust them headlong toward their frontiers in order to secure their borders and advance upon enemy territory as early as possible . Most of the early clashes tended to result in Russian and Serbian victories . By August 23 , Russian forces had penetrated fifty miles into Prussia . Austria - Hungary had made minimal advances into Russian Poland by occupying Miechów , unopposed , on August 20 . During this early period the First Army was given orders issued by Austro - Hungarian Chief of Staff , Franz Graf Conrad von Hötzendorf , to head toward Lublin and Brest - Litovsk in Russian Poland in order to make contact with the enemy and reach the strategic Warsaw - Kiev railroad . The First Army moved along the eastern bank of Vistula River and was to cross the San River , in the far northwest corner of Austro - Hungarian Empire . The First Army was accompanied by the Austro - Hungarian Fourth Army on its eastern flank . At the same time Russian commander Nikolai Ivanov had ordered the Russian Fourth and Fifth Armies to strike Austria - Hungary in the north . Dankl ' s First Army would make contact with Salza ' s Fourth Army at Kraśnik while the Austro - Hungarian Fourth Army met the Russian Fifth in the Battle of Komarów . These maneuvers were to become part of a wider battle , the Battle of Galicia . Battle . Going into the battle of Kraśnik , the Austro - Hungarian forces enjoyed two key advantages over their Russian opponents : superior numbers and a better strategic position . Dankl ' s First Army enjoyed a numerical advantage of ten and a half infantry and two cavalry divisions to Baron Salza ' s six and a half infantry and three and a half cavalry divisions . Chief of Staff Conrad ' s orders for the First Army further compounded Austro - Hungarian superiority by placing a larger than expected concentration of force further west than Ivanov and Russian Chief of Staff , General Alexeyev , had expected . On August 22 , Alexeyev issued orders to his Fourth and Fifth Armies in an attempt to improve their position in the crash course they were now headed , aimed at a larger , flanking pair of armies . While these orders probably saved the Russian Fourth Army from a possible much worse defeat , it failed to change the nearly pre - ordained outcome of the battle . The battle raged for the following few days . The fighting was not characteristic of the trench warfare that would define the Western Front , and to a lesser extent the Eastern Front . Long term positions were never constructed since neither army was able to take the time to dig in . Instead the battle was more fluid and involved a great deal of cavalry fighting since both sides had five and a half divisions of horsemen . Aftermath . Once routed the Russians began a retreat towards Lublin with the also defeated Fifth Russian Army which had lost at Komarów . The victorious Austro - Hungarian forces followed , inflicting further losses on the Russians . Dankl would in 1917 be honoured with the highly prestigious Commanders ' Cross of the Military Order of Maria Theresa , which automatically conferred a barony upon him as " Freiherr von Dankl " ; in 1918 he was further advanced to the title of count and took the title of " Graf Dankl von Kraśnik " . His performance handed the Austro - Hungarian Empire its first victory in World War I . However his time as a national hero would be short - lived ; Dankl would later be pressured to withdraw toward Kraków . Later in the war he would be stationed on the Italian front where he would serve with much less distinction . The battle of Kraśnik had set off a chain reaction of engagements along the extensive Galicia front , including the action at Lemberg , in what would be referred to as the Battle of Galicia . Unlike the success enjoyed at Kraśnik , the Austro - Hungarians would eventually cave to Russian forces in a series of defeats . By September 11 they were forced to vacate this corner of their empire for a more secure position further south and west , beyond the San River . On a more individual level , the battle was not only a key moment in the career of Dankl but in that of an up - and - coming cavalry officer of Finnish aristocratic descent , Carl Gustaf Mannerheim . Mannherheim led the Separate Cavalry Brigade of the Guard , a unit attached to Salza ' s Russian Fourth Army . He was awarded with the Sword of St . George for his role at Kraśnik and would later go on to be involved with the various other engagements in the Battle of Galicia .