Battle of Trenčín

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Battle of Trenčín

Part of the Francis II Rákoczi Kuruc uprisings

Memorial of the Battle of Trenčín

Date	3 August 1708
Location	near the villages of Trenčianska Turná, Soblahov, Mníchova Lehota, present-day Slovakia
Result	Imperial troops victory

Combatants

Kuruc Army of Francis II Rakoczi

Habsburg Imperial Army

Commanders

Francis II Rakoczi
de la Motte
Laurinc Pekri

Siegbert Heister
John Pálfi

Strength

15,000 infantry and cavalrymen, 12 cannons

around 5,000 infantry and cavalrymen

Casualties

3,000 dead or wounded, 500 POW
12 cannons captured

200 dead or wounded

The Battle of Trenčín (Hungarian: Trencséni csata, Slovak: Bitka pri Trenčíne) was battle between the Kuruc forces of Francis II Rákóczi and the Imperial Army of the Habsburgs. The battle meant great loss for the Anti-Habsburg rebels, and had to give up some of its plans. It also meant the beginning of the end of the Anti-Habsburg uprisings.

1 Background
2 The Battle
3 Aftermath
4 References

[edit] Background

In the year 1708, Francis II Rákóczi decided to organize march of his troops to Silesia, to pave way for the plans of Friedrich Wilhelm I of Prussia to take the Hungarian throne. It would reinforce the Silesian protestants as well by this way. His army started to march down the Váh river, and planned near the town of Trenčín (known as Trencsén at that time) to go to Moravia. However, Trenčín was in the hands of reinforced Habsburg garrison. At first, Rákóczi didn't wanted to siege Trenčín, to not weak his army, but under pressure of other Kuruc commanders, he decided to do so. The commander of the garrison, Siegbert Heister, found out about moves of the Kuruc army, and started preparing his soldiers for attack.

[edit] The Battle

At the morning of 3 August 1703, 5,000 Habsburg soldiers faced 15,000 Kuruc soldiers, with 12 cannons.^[1] The right wing of the Kuruc army was composed of light cavalry and part of infantry under command of Laurinc Pekri. The middle was composed from artillery, protected by the German cavalry, as well as with the Polish and German carabiniers under command of colonel de la Motte. The left wing was made of the rest of the infantry. The terrain ahead of them, however, was unclear, with moat going through it. When Siegbert Heister saw the number of Kuruc troops, and their advantageous standing, he decided to retreat into the Trenčín Castle. At the moment of giving this order, the Kuruc artillery started firing, with Pekri's wing advancing forward to attack Habsburg soldiers while they were organising.

But the terrain was unsuitable for attack. The terrain was rugged, with two man-made ponds being next to each other, with an embankment between them. Pekri's cavalry started to go through the embankment at a trot speed. Meanwhile, Pekri was warned to rather retreat from those positions. While his cavalry started to turn back, it was unorganized, what the troops of Imperial commander Ján Pálfi took advantage of and came to counter-attack. The unorganized horsemen started to flee.

The middle and left wing meanwhile fought off Imperial mercenaries, but the flee of the right wing brought uncertainty to them. Rákóczi finally decide to make impression to his soldiers and took part of the fight. While he was jumping one of the moats, however, he fell from his horse and lost conciousness. Rumors about his death started to spread between his soldiers, and even the fighting troops started to flee. The Heister's cavalry during the next three hours broke originally three times bigger Kuruc army. As a result around 3,000 Kuruc soldiers died, 500 were captured, along with all their 12 cannons.

[edit] Aftermath

The Kuruc troops were heavily defeated in the Battle of Trenčín, revealing that they have smaller fighting capability than their foes. The Heister's troops started to chase the remainder of Rákoczi's soldiers, capture Slovak mining towns, took Nitra, and started to siege Nové Zámky. By the end of the year 1708, Kuruc rebels lost all of the western Slovakia, even with a part of Kuruc soldiers joining the Habsburgs army. Soon, the rebels lost Tekov, Hont, the town of Zvolen and at the beginning of 1709, had to retreat from Liptov.

On December 1708, Rákoczi tried to save situation of his declining army, by promising to peasants in his army freedom and land grants if they will stay in his army until the end, but this resolution had no effect on the peasants, which even started to leave his army.