The Russian Invasion – The Serbs

Hungary. February 28, 1849  
No. 233, February 28, 1849  

New reports from the theatre of war are entirely lacking. On the other hand, reports are arriving from all sides confirming yesterday’s description of the dire situation in which the Imperial troops find themselves everywhere, except in Transylvania, where they have been disengaged by Russian aid. By way of proof, we print below a Pressburg correspondence of the *Breslauer Zeitung* and the conclusion of the “Communications of a Hungarian” from the *Allgemeine Oder-Zeitung*.

The Austrians have beyond doubt only brought themselves with great difficulty to make the appeal to the Russians. It is as clear as daylight that the Russian invasion must give an altogether new impetus to the Pan-Slavist movements of the Czechs and South Slavs. These tribal groups, long accustomed to looking up to the Tsar as their natural protector and eventual liberator, now receive striking proof that Austria has neither the strength nor the will to secure national development for them; and now, for the first time, the Russian Tsar acts on their behalf at the decisive moment and proves by deeds the hopes they placed in him. As he previously did for the German Serbs, the Tsar now demonstrates vis-à-vis the Austrian Serbs, Croats, Czechs, etc., that he is the supreme patron of Slav nationality. And we have repeatedly seen that it is precisely the Slav national strivings that threaten the Austrian “total monarchy” just as much as the armed resistance of the Magyars. By the Russian invasion of Transylvania, the Tsar has taken a new step towards the realisation of Pan-Slavism; he has proclaimed the alliance of the Russians and the Austrian Slavs and made himself the de facto sovereign of the Austrian Slavs as well. All the rest he has long held under his dominion; the Poles are his bondsmen, the Turkish Slavs his vassals; now he also steps forward as the protector of the Austrian Slavs. One more step and Austria, just like Turkey, will fall entirely under his supreme rule. At this price the “total monarchy” buys itself a few more months’ respite from its downfall through the revolution!

The Serbs in Mitrovica in the Banat have declared the Patriarch, at a popular assembly, the head of their nation and Stratimirovich a rebel, and have proclaimed martial law against all enemies of the emperor. The Patriarch, who is settling the affairs of the Vojvodina in Temesvar with Todorovich and the Serbian deputies, is expected to confirm these resolutions. In the engagement at Arad, the very popular Serbian Major Jovanovich fell into the hands of the Magyars. That the Magyars were by no means so decisively defeated in this affair as the bulletins assert is proved by the following: The Patriarch proposed to the Hungarian General Damjanich (who therefore, as we learn by chance, has successfully arrived at the Banat army across the Danube and the Theiss) the exchange of Jovanovich for 200 Magyars. Damjanich replied that, to his knowledge, there were not 200 Hungarian prisoners in the hands of the Serbs! The Serbs are, moreover, arming significantly in Serbia as well as in the Banat, and in the Principality of Serbia a national convention has been convened to deliberate on the levying of 1,000 auxiliary troops in each of the country’s 18 districts.

So that one may see, however, what a tiny little country with a mixed population this new Serbian Vojvodina is, and how foolish the pretensions of the Pan-Slavists are to fabricate small Slav states at every corner and end of Hungary, we provide the following statistical notes according to the Belgrade *Serbske Novine*:

“The Vojvodina comprises, in terms of its area: 1) Syrmia County; 2) the Petrovaradin Regiment; 3) Bačka County; 4) the Šajkaši Battalion; 5) Torontál County; 6) the former German-Banat Regiment (now called Pančevo); 7) the former Illyrian-Banat Regiment (now called Weißkirchen) and Temesvar County. The area amounts to 719 square miles, with 75 towns and market towns, 706 villages, 221,182 houses and 1,605,808 inhabitants. According to their ethnic origin, the inhabitants break down into 917,916 Serbs, 26,200 Slovaks, 13,000 Bulgarians, 283,000 Wallachians, 278,400 Germans, 6,160 French, and 81,132 Magyars. Of these, 877,620 profess the Greek, 627,994 the Roman Catholic cult; 12,494 are Uniate Catholics, 46,311 Lutherans, 30,642 Calvinists, 17 Arians and 10,730 Jews. Included in the number of the 917,916 Serbs are also the Catholic South Slavs. The former

Wallachian-Banat Border Regiment lies outside the territory of the Vojvodina and will be incorporated into the Transylvanian Romanians (Wallachians).”

This so-called national-Serbian little country thus numbers 700,000 Germans, Wallachians, Magyars, etc., to 900,000 Serbs. And the 900,000 Serbs are not even pure Serbs, but also include the “Catholic South Slavs”, i.e., the Šokci of Syrmia and Bačka County, who are by no means Serbs! And this is supposed to be a nation with national needs, and above all with the need for separation from Hungary!

We now print the report of the *Breslauer Zeitung*:

Pressburg, February 18. The wet and stormy weather has made the notorious roads of our country so bottomless that large army corps can only move forward with indescribable difficulties, and the heavy artillery and other heavy vehicles simply get stuck. Under these conditions the many Hungarian raiding parties gain one advantage after another and the Austrian army is duped in manifold ways. Their generalissimo seems now gradually to be growing impatient and would like to strike a decisive blow, for which purpose he has dispatched large forces towards Szolnok. In consequence, the rumour runs that a serious engagement has taken place there, and that the Magyars have been thrown back behind the Theiss. – One may, however, harbour a modest doubt as to this report; for the Hungarians are at present far too well led not to make use of the great advantage of luring the enemy into the swamps along the Theiss and not wearing him out with very great exertion. The many raiding parties emerging in Lower Hungary as if out of the ground will not fail, should he venture too far forward, to harass him on all sides, to cut off his supplies, and to pick up and annihilate every troop that strays from the main army. The war in Lower Hungary can in a certain way be compared to Napoleon’s campaign in Russia, and the Austrian army, were it to advance too far, could experience a fate similar to that of the French at that time. – Windischgraetz will under these circumstances have a hard time of it. To act swiftly and give his cause a favourable turn with a decisive blow is simply impossible; but if he delays, the power of the Magyars continues to grow. It is said that capitulation has been offered, which the Magyars, however, proudly rejected. – If we glance at the map, we see that the Austrian army, despite its advances and despite its victory reports, is surrounded by the

Hungarian large and small troop formations as if with a net. From the Styrian frontier down past the Plattensee as far as Esseg in Croatia, the country is, to be sure, apparently subjugated, but raiding parties are everywhere causing the Austrians great trouble. On the other side, i.e., from the Danube up to the Carpathians, it is no better, as can be seen by reading the reports of how the Austrians are hunted to and fro there in constant fighting. And here the Hungarian raiding parties have terrain that is especially favourable to them, and most of the inhabitants, even the majority of the Slovaks, secretly side with them. Only by this can it be explained why the Magyars are able to carry out their raids far up towards Galicia with almost impunity. In the east, the Theiss is the great bulwark protecting the Magyars, and wherever the Austrians have so far attempted to press across it, they have always been thrown back with losses.

If it should now come to a major battle, and the Austrians should lose it, which is not indeed impossible, then their retreat would be an extremely dangerous one, because it is to be feared that then the people would rise up everywhere. The generalissimo does not appear to conceal from himself what is dubious about his situation.

The following is the conclusion of the “Communications of a Hungarian” from the *Allgemeine Oder-Ztg.* It could also serve as proof of how little the Hungarian reports “exaggerate”.

Thanks to the wise measures of Kossuth, the entire youth of Pesth has moved to Debreczin. Persons who have exact knowledge of events beyond the Theiss assert that the Hungarian army is 120 to 150,000 men strong, commanded by three able Polish generals, supported by a considerable artillery park, and can, if need be, be reinforced by 100,000 men of the Hungarian *Landsturm*. The well-known Rosa holds the Bakony Forest with his bands.

The Austrians had thrown three bridges; one at Szolnok, one at Tisza-Füred and another at Zibok; the Hungarians made use of these to cross the Theiss and, on the 11th of this month, to defeat the enemy.

Order and the strictest discipline prevail throughout the Hungarian army, particularly since the Polish generals assumed the supreme command. The counties beyond the Theiss are resolved to defend themselves to the last man, and the majority of the young people who fled from Pesth to Debreczin at the time of the Austrian entry have joined the Hungarian army, whose soldiers

Hungary. 28 February 1849

ranging in age from 17 to 40, a few even 60 years, all of them filled with love of the fatherland.

Kossuth, as I learned from a reliable source, recently delivered a speech in Debreczin the like of which has never been heard.
The hall was filled with deputies and other persons, the gallery with ladies; he made the deputies and all those present swear to support him in the struggle against Austria; all hands were raised for the oath. A long silence followed this oath-taking, then he said in a powerful voice just the words: “Now the fatherland is saved.”
The majority of the Imperial-Royal troops stationed in Pesth and Buda were withdrawn in the direction of Erlau and Szegled, and only about 4,000 men remained; it was even said that Prince Windischgrätz’s headquarters would be moved to Erlau. Despite the great victories which the Austrians claim to have won, but which the Hungarians have won, they still did not fail to train the guns of the fortress of Buda on the town of Pesth; an order to the inhabitants of the fortress even required them to lay in provisions for three months. Those who were unable to do so were to leave their dwellings.
What is the point of all these preparations betraying fear, in the most complete contradiction with the absurd reports according to which the Austrian army is operating now near Debreczin, now in Transylvania! The soldiers themselves are demoralised. Officers and soldiers complain loudly that they have been forced to bear arms against the Hungarians, who have done nothing to them. The most stupid and at the same time the most cruel are the Bohemians.
The former prime minister, Count Louis Bathiany, summoned fourteen times, refused fourteen times to give any answer to his improvised judges, saying: “I was a minister and shall answer only when I am summoned before a tribunal of Hungarian magnates.”
General Moga and Hrabowsky, two old men whose lives were without blemish, were sentenced to 20 years’ fortress imprisonment; the son-in-law of General Moga, Count Lazar, colonel of the Honvéd, was to suffer death, when the magnanimous Prince Windischgrätz commuted his sentence to 10 years’ incarceration in chains, loss of his nobility and infamous degradation!!