After the lost battle of Komárom from 11 July 1849, Görgei tried to lead his army to the planned concentration point of the Hungarian troops around Szeged, but the Russians cut his road at Vác.

Fearing that Görgei will cut their supply lines, after the battle, the four times bigger Russian army, instead of marching towards Szeged in order to unite with the Austrian main army of Field Marshal Julius Jacob von Haynau, and to crush the much weaker Hungarian forces which were gathering there, followed Görgei's retreating troops, enabling them to arrive to the Hungarian concentration point with several days in front of them, creating the condition to unite with the Southern Hungarian troops, and crush the Austrian army of Haynau before the Russians arrived (it was not Görgei's fault that this opportunity failed, but mainly Henryk Dembiński's who, as the Hungarian commander of the Southern main forces, instead of North, he marched towards South, and met Haynau alone in the Battle of Temesvár).

After the Hungarian defeat at Third Battle of Komárom (11 July), it had become clear for Görgei's, that his plan, expressed by him, in front of his officers, during the deliberations from 6 July, to remain, with his troops in Western Hungary, operating independently, and defying Governor Lajos Kossuth's orders to move with the Army of the Upper Dunabe to the concentration point of all the Hungarian armies to Szeged, could not be fulfilled.

[3] On 17 June the Russian independent detachment, numbering 18,000 soldiers, led by Lieutenant General Pavel Grabbe entered in Hungary at Alsókubin, defeating on 22 June the 3,500 soldiers of Ármin Görgey (Artúr Görgei's brother) at Túrócszentmárton, and occupied the mining towns from Northern Hungary (Besztercebánya, Körmöcbánya, Igló, Selmecbánya, etc.).

[3] On 28 June the Russian troops reached Miskolc and Tokaj, where, after a successful battle, they took control over the crossing point over the river Tisza.

[2] On the 13th Artúr Görgei was still very ill as a result of his serious wounding in the battle of Komárom on 2 July, and because of this he could not lead his troops from horseback but followed them in a light carriage.

corps led by Tscheodayev to Miskolc, considering the eventuality that Görgei wanted to march in that direction to cut off the Russians supply routes.

Major General Ivan Petrovics Miller Other units 15 July On the morning of 15 July, the Hungarian vanguard formed by the detachment of Ármin Görgey approaching Vác found the Transcaucasian Muslim cavalry led by prince Colonel David Osipovich Bebutov at Nagymaros and Verőce, and in the fight which followed, they chased them out of these localities[8] and also from Vác,[7] pursuing them until Újfalu.

[2] At 10 a.m. the I. Hungarian corps arrived in Vác and occupied their defensive positions in front of the Seven Chapels hill (Hétkápolna domb), between the Gombás creek and the Danube.

[7] Finally Rüdiger, seeing that his artillery is inferior to the Hungarians, he retreated his troops, leaving only small vanguards on the Duka hill and in the wineyards from Sződ.

[13] 16 July Paskevich was angered when he heard that Zass, defying Rüdiger's order, took also his infantry on his march towards Vác, believing that this decision could put his troops in danger of annihilation.

[13] On the morning of this day Görgei's medic, Lajos Markusovszky noticed that the headwound of the Hungarian commander became festered, so he had to open his wound, clean it, and sew it back.

[13] He planned to send at 4 p.m. Ármin Görgey to do this task by advancing towards Hartyán, but shortly before that it was reported to him that Russian columns advance in compact order through the wineyards from Sződ and on the Duka hill, hearing also some rumours about the approach of an Austrian corps from Pest towards Vác,[14] which convinced him that he faces from South and South-East much superior enemy forces, and against them a break through towards South is impossible.

[13] So he decided to avoid the confrontation with the much superior enemy, bypassing them by marching towards North-East through Rétság, Balassagyarmat, Losonc and Rimaszombat to Miskolc, and to cross the Tisza river there.

[13] Another circumstance which urged Görgey's retreat from Vác was the approach from the North-West, from the direction of Garamszentbenedek of the 18,000 strong Russian detachment of General Pavel Grabbe, which threatened his troops of being totally encircled and annihilated.

[17] Although the plan of the retreat towards Miskolc was risky, but it could make the Russian main forces to follow him, instead of marching Southwards against the Hungarian troops from Szeged, enabling the latters to face only Haynau's Austrian troops, instead of fighting against the united Austrian and Russian armies in a hopeless battle, which could result undoubtedly the annihilation of the Hungarian resistance.

Forgetting about Görgei's order to leave their vanguards on their positions until the withdrawal from Vác was completed, the commander of the I. corps József Nagysándor retreated his outposts from the entrance of the city.

[14] Ármin Görgey stopped his retreating soldiers, and positioning them at Hétkápolna (the Southern entrance of Vác), shooting with his artillery in the Russian cavalry.

corps and a part of Ármin Görgey's detachments infantry, who counterattacked, entering from north in the city pushing out the enemy from the town, and took back three cannons.

[18] Here, under heavy Russian volleys, Artúr Görgei led personally the crossing of his troops on the bridge, then supervised its disassembling, then retreating towards North, passing by Ármin Görgey's defensive positions at the Kis Hermán mountain.

[18] In the meantime General Artúr Görgei led the retreat of his troops and the civilian convoys towards Vadkert, setting up camp at the Kormos inn between the two localities.

Luckily the Russian pursuit stopped earlier at Rétság, so, except from a scare, nothing serious happened to the Hungarian troops, which could continue their march until Losonc, where they were finally reorganized.

[14] To see who won the battle of Vác from 15 to 17 July 1849, it is important to see what were the plans of the two commanders, how they managed to accomplish their objectives, and what were the consequences of its outcome, regarding the fate of the Hungarian Freedom War?

But in the case if Görgei accomplished this task, breaking through the Russian lines, he would had had the four times bigger Russian army following him closely, plus Haynau's twice bigger main army following as well his troops from a very close distance, resulting the joining of the forces of the two main enemy commanders against the remaining Hungarian forces in a decisive battle, with almost no chance for the Hungarians to win.

The plan of Paskevich to make the Hungarians to believe that they face inferior troops, luring them in a trap South from Vác, and attacking them with his whole army, failed because of Görgei's caution, as a result of the fights from 15 July.

[19] The slow Russian deployment from the morning of 17 July prevented them to take advantage of the confusion among the retreating Hungarian troops, although with the concentrated attack of superior forces, the whole enemy army could have been annihilated.

[20] After seeing that he cannot accomplish Kossuth's order to march South through Vác, his plan became to head North-West to the Tisza river, and after crossing it, he wanted to turn towards Southern Hungary, luring the four times bigger Russian army after him, winning in this way time for the Hungarian main army from South to deal, in the meantime, with Haynau's Austrian troops of approximately similar size.

[14] But knowing that the detachment of Grabbe will arrive only after a couple of days, Paskevich sent Lieutenant General Zass in support of Chrulov with three cavalry regiment and 8 guns.

[14] Grabbe who in 7 July to Szentkereszt, where he received reinforcements, after hearing about the retreat of Görgei from Vác, leaving garrisons in the important towns occupied by him, headed to Balassagyarmat.

corps to support Grabbe, but this, for now, marched from Kápolna to Mezőkövesd, sending only a stronger cavalry vanguard, to observe the Hungarian armies movements.