Károly Vécsey

Count Károly Vécsey de Hernádvécse et Hajnácskő (24 November 1803 – 6 October 1849) was a Honvéd general in the Hungarian Army.

The Vécsey family originated from Ugocsa and Abaúj counties, tracing its ancestry back to the 15th century.

During the mid-1840s, he assumed command of the King of Hanover's Imperial Army unit, serving under Colonel Ernő Kiss, one of the 13 Martyrs of Arad.

Vécsey did not particularly distinguish himself during this campaign, but as Sebő Vukovics noted, he was "without notable actions, but sufficiently fulfilled his duty".

This decision led to a morale crisis, as the soldiers began to question their ability to face Imperial troops rather than Serb rebels.

To address this issue, the officers of the Verbász Bácska Corps held a meeting led by Count Sándor Esterházy.

[citation needed] The corps faced potential destruction due to an attempted coup until Vécsey, Colonel János Lenkey, and József Baudisz intervened.

As a result, Esterházy Maj and approximately forty officers departed, while the majority of the troops chose to remain with the Hungarian army convoy.

Lajos Kossuth expressed his gratitude to Vécsey in a letter, acknowledging the efforts of the officers in preserving the unity of the forces.

[citation needed] Following Esterházy's departure on 17 January, Vécsey assumed command of the corps for the evacuation of Bačka and subsequently joined the main army.

During this time, the standing army, under the leadership of János Damjanich, dispatched reinforcements to Major General Józef Bem in the Transylvanian theater.

This plan involved using the army's two primary divisions to assault the Szolnok bridgehead while diverting Windisch-Grätz's attention elsewhere.

For his role in the victory at Szolnok, Vécsey was awarded the Hungarian Order of Military Merit, III Class.

This rivalry escalated into a serious dispute between the two generals, with both refusing to cooperate—a situation that highlighted the shortcomings of the Hungarian high command.

Initially, the position seemed unsuitable for him, as his background as a cavalry commander left him with little technical knowledge of siege tactics.

Vécsey also managed to slow Major General Johann Berger's attempts to blockade the Maros River canal leading into the fort.

Although the government resolved the case, Vécsey demanded that the military courts examine the accuracy of Bem's statements.

[7] The Hungarian leadership was critical of Vécsey, believing him to be temperamental and prone to misusing his military talent.

At this point, Vécsey and his approximately 4,400 men were unable to advance further due to a lack of munitions and unfavorable positioning.

Vécsey performed well given the circumstances, but he was once again in a dire situation while under siege, with supplies cut off and no fresh Imperial reinforcements.

Henryk Dembiński, the Hungarian Supreme Commander, attempted to push through Temesvár to relieve Arad by force.

Bem planned to move towards the Transylvanian mountain ranges to continue the fight and reunite the remaining Hungarian forces.

After Vécsey's army crossed the Maros River near Tótvárad, he attacked an Imperial brigade, but his forces suffered heavy losses at the hands of Austrian cavalry.

The Hungarian army, already battered and depleted of supplies, struggled to perform against the fresh Imperial and Russian troops.

Lieutenant General Nikolai Leontyin Pavlovich, the Russian adjutant, noted, "a small Hungarian cavalry regiment arrived in Nagyvárad [and] laid down their weapons in our presence.

When it became apparent that the revolution would fail, the Hungarians believed they had defeated the Austrians and only lost to the overwhelming Russian forces.

Nicholas I of Russia advised Franz Joseph to be lenient with the vanquished Hungarians for political reasons and to ease reconciliation.

This confession also contradicted his enrollment form at the Military Engineering Academy of Vienna, which stated: "Vécsey, Károly.

Count Grünne, an influential member of the privy council, did everything in his power to ensure that Vécsey and the other martyrs received the harshest punishment, as his father had demanded that the rebels be treated as criminals.

Vécsey's remains were retrieved by the widow of an Arad lawyer, Catherine Urbányi Andrásné Hegyessy, who delivered them to his wife, Carolina.