Battle of Debrecen (1849)

Battle of Debrecen
Part of the Hungarian Revolution of 1848
The Battle of Debrecen (by Mihály Zichy): Battle of Debrecen
Date 31 July 1849 Location Debrecen, Hungary Result Russian Victory
Belligerents
Hungarian Revolutionary Army	Russian Empire
Commanders and leaders
József Nagysándor	Ivan Paskevich Pavel Jakovlevich Kupriyanov (WIA)
Strength
Total: 11,338 men, 47 cannons I. corps: 8,838 men (61 infantry companies, 12 cavalry companies) 43 cannons Division of Col. János Korponay: 2,500 men (6+? infantry companies, 1 1/2 cavalry companies) 4 cannons	Total: 62,427 men, 301 cannons II. corps: 22,312 men (113 infantry companies, 33 cavalry companies) 122 cannons III. corps: 27,236 men (116 infantry companies, 44 cavalry companies) 112 cannons Other units: 12,879 men (59 infantry companies, 26 cavalry companies) 67 cannons
Casualties and losses
~1,901 men (dead, wounded and missing) 8 cannons	Total: 337 men (60 dead, 277 wounded) 205 wounded[1]

The Battle of Debrecen was fought on August 2, 1849, between the Hungarian Revolutionary Army and forces of the Russian Empire, which intervened on behalf of the Austrian Empire to suppress the Hungarian revolution. On 30 July 1849, the commander of the Hungarian Army of the Northern Danube, General Artúr Görgei split his army in two, while he and the main part of his army marched towards Arad, he ordered to the I corps under the leadership of József Nagysándor to flank him from West against the Russians, by marching parallelly with his troops towards Debrecen. Nagysándor's I. corps was attacked and defeated by the hugely outnumbering Russian main army under Marshal Ivan Paskevich. This battle enabled Görgei to win a distance of several days from the Russian army, creating the possibility for him to join his armies with the Hungarian troops concentrated in Southern Hungary, and to defeat the Austrian main army of Field Marshal Julius Jacob von Haynau, before the Russians arrived. It was not Görgei's fault that this plan did not materialize.