Battle of Smolenice

The Battle of Smolenice (Szomolányi csata, Schlacht bei Smolenitz, Bitka pri Smoleniciach) took place on the 28th May 1704 at Smolenice in Upper Hungary between the Kuruc army and the forces of the Habsburg Empire, contingents of the Holy Roman Empire, and auxiliaries of Denmark. The Kuruc army routed the Imperial forces and captured the Austrian commander. For a short time the rebels threatened the safety of Vienna, marauding in a number of villages in Lower Austria, Marchfeld and Moravia.

Prelude
In May of 1704, General Simon Forgach crossed the Danube river with 4,000 men hoping to lure Heister's army into a battle Miklós Bercsényi. In April, Bercsényi created an uprising among the Hungarian and Slovak peasants in Upper Hungary, promising the serfs freedom on behalf of Rákóczi. The Bercsényi's goal was the destruction of the Austrian general Johann von Ritschan.

General von Ritschan departed from Moravia with the aim of reaching Pressburg (Bratislava)

Opposing forces
The Bercsényi's force was approximately 15,000 untrained fighters. Kuruc commanded the light horsemen and a small number of infantry, as well as Slovak and Hungarian peasant rebels. The majority of the peasants used agricultural tools as weapons along with low-grade rifles.

Opposing Bercsényi's force, Ritschan's army consisted of 2331 infantry, 250 cavalry and 4 cannons from Austria, Bohemia, Moravia, Denmark, and Germany.
 * 473 infantry under von Deutschmeister from Vienna
 * 129 infantry under John Adolphus, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Plön
 * 625 infantry under Guido von Starhemberg
 * 468 infantry under Baron Georg Friedrich von Kriechbaum
 * 454 infantry under command of Jung-Daun
 * 182 Danish infantry under Colonel Leopold Maltzan
 * 150 Cuirassiers under Captain Giordani Visconti
 * 50 Cuirassiers under Graf Francis Taaffe
 * 50 Dragoons under Captain Joseph-Paul de Vaubonne Marquis

The imperial army was a highly trained, elite, well-equipped force and significantly outnumbered Kurac's forces.

The battle
The Austrian army moved to Smolenice and encamped there on the 26th of May. On the 27th, Ritschan ordered his troops to rest, as Hungarian troops had not been located anywhere in the vicinity. The imperial army was fatigued from their previous crossing of the Carpathian Mountains. Ritschan wanted to wait at Smolenice until reinforcements arrived from another Austrian-Royalist army under János Wolfy.

The imperial army hesitates
Because the Austrians had still not heard from the Kurucs, he didn't prepare to attack. However, the Slovak rebels were gathering in the forests. Although the Kurucs' attack had been reported, called together the council and proposed an advance by Červený Kane. However, Altman, Viscount, and Deutschmark rejected this plan. The region was under the strong control of the Ruckus and the other commanders feared for the safety of Moravia and Vienna.

The Kurucs attack
In the first stage of the battle, Brigadier László Ocskay and the Slovak rebels attacked Starhemberg's Austrian force, stopping Starhamberg's advance. The cavalry followed under Sandor Károlyi. Ocskay's Hussars were on alert near Smolenice as the most of the Slovaks remained in the forests and the Ruckus infantry were on their way to Smolenice.

The Austrians counterattack
Ritschan along with the skirmishers launched a counterattack and the Kuruc fusiliers retreated to the woods. Then 2,000 Kuruc horsemen arrived, pushing back the Austrian cavalry. Starhemberg and his forces were in total confusion because of the surprise attacks and the commanders recalled the Deutschmark regiment and the Danish infantries. In this clash the Deutschmark regiment was successful, forcing the Kuruc cavalry to retire after one and a half hours.

Kuruc victory
Nevertheless, the Ruckus surprise attacks had disrupted the Austrian army, which split into two. The Kuruc army one by one routed the Austrian, German, and Danish troops. Ritschan was wounded in the battle. Ritschan with the Danish and Kierchbaum troops tried to escape the encircling Kuruc forces. Subsequently, the Danish contingent was caught and tried to back the Jung Dan troop.

Ritschan had made a tactical error. After the success of the Deutschmark regiment he concentrated on the defense of equipment and the skirmishers. In doing so, Ritschan had to cross the mountains between Trnava and Jablonica and this crossing exhausted his soldiers.

The Kuruc attacks and movement disrupted the Austrians, allowing the Kurucs to surround them and defeat the enemy forces. Ritschan and a small troop escaped and reached Jablonica, but later Christan was also captured.

Casualties and captives
The majority of the Austrian army was killed, with 700 taken captive. The Hungarian strength was reduced by around 300-400 soldiers either injured or killed.

Further campaigns
After the Battle of Smolenice, Ocskay invaded Moravia and Károlyi took Lower Austria. Leopold I was forced to cancel his vacation in Laxenburg. In 9 June (on Leopold's birthday) Károlyi's cavalry set fire to the German and Croatian villages near Vienna (at that time few Chakavian Croatians lived in Lower Austria). Károlyi's men also destroyed the Imperial Zoo near Vienna.

On 10 June, Károlyi returned to Hungary with a significant haul of the war spoils. Károlyi and Forgách's army tried to unite against Heister, but Heister was faster and in the battle of Koroncó Forgách was defeated. The victory near Smolenice became inconsequential and the Kurucs were defeated in Transdanubia. It wasn't until 1705, in the battle of Szentgotthárd that Blind Bottyán regained the region.

Literature

 * R. Várkonyi Ágnes. Megújulások kora. Magyar Könyvklub. ISBN 963-548-471-2 (2001)