The Battle of Temesvár (now Timișoara, Romania) was a key battle in the Hungarian Revolution of 1848, fought on 9 August 1849 between the Austrian Empire, led by Field Marshal Julius Jacob von Haynau, and the Hungarian Revolutionary Army (supplemented by Polish volunteers), led by Lieutenant General Józef Bem. Hungarian forces under Bem, together with siege corps led by Major General Károly Vécsey, totalled 55,000 soldiers. Austrian forces under Haynau totalled 38,000 soldiers, although their numerical disadvantage was mitigated by superior artillery. The battle resulted in an Austrian victory and was the decisive engagement of the war, which ended in defeat for the Hungarians.
After the Hungarian defeat at the Battle of Szőreg, Lieutenant General Henryk Dembiński led his Hungarian troops to Temesvár and was about to give the order to retreat toward Lugos when Lieutenant General Józef Bem arrived at the camp with an order from Governor Lajos Kossuth to replace Dembiński. Bem wanted to march toward Arad, but changed his mind on hearing that the Austrian army led by Haynau was nearby. He gave an order to attack, hoping to boost the morale of his demoralized army with a victory.
The battle started well for the Hungarians, with Bem repulsing Haynau's initial attack. However, Vécsey's siege corps ran out of artillery ammunition early on, as Dembiński had previously sent it ahead to Lugos and failed to inform Bem. The Polish general still hoped to win the battle and rode with the first line of his troops, but suffered a serious injury when he fell from his horse, resulting in his removal from the battlefield and further demoralization of the Hungarian troops. During a retreat, panic broke out among the Hungarian rookies and spread to the whole army, causing a rout. The Austrians took 6,000–7,000 prisoners and only about 20,000–30,000 men from the Hungarian army could be regathered at Lugos.
The defeat prevented the Hungarian main army from joining together with the Army of the Upper Danube (under General Artúr Görgei), which had been the last hope of Kossuth and Görgei for continuing the resistance. When he heard about the defeat, Kossuth resigned. In order to avoid further bloodshed, the Hungarian council of war decided on 11 August to surrender to Russian troops (which had entered the conflict on the side of the Austrians). On 13 August, Görgei signed official terms of surrender at Világos (now Șiria, Romania), ending the revolution.
Background
After his defeat at the Battle of Szőreg on 5 August 1849, the Hungarian government ordered Lieutenant General Henryk Dembiński to march toward Arad to join his troops with the Army of the Upper Danube led by General Artúr Görgei, after which they would be able to fight a decisive battle against the army of Field Marshal Julius Jacob von Haynau. However, Dembiński, on the basis that he wished to join together with Major General Vécsey's siege corps and a division under the command of General György Kmety, instead marched from Óbesenyő toward Temesvár.
Haynau realised that Dembiński was cutting himself from Görgei's troops and started to pursue him, preventing the two Hungarian armies from joining together. He hoped to defeat Dembiński decisively before the Russian main army arrived, enabling him to claim victory over the Hungarians solely for the Austrian army; there was a degree of shame felt by the Austrians that they had been forced to ask for outside help in order to put down an insurrection in their own state. To be sure of victory, he deposed Lieutenant General Philipp von Bechtold, whom he accused of lack of determination in the third battle of Komárom and the Battle of Szőreg, from the leadership of the cavalry division, replacing him with Lieutenant Field Marshal Karl von Wallmoden-Gimborn.
On 6 August, the Austrian Reserve Corps advanced to Zombor, establishing a connection with the I. corps at Makó. The Russian Panyutyin division advanced to Klárafalva, the Wallmoden division to Keresztúr and Porgány, and the III. corps marched to Óbesenyő, where they entered in battle with the Hungarian cavalry of Dembiński's army led by Major General Arisztid Dessewffy. Dessewffy attacked in order to give time for Dembiński's army to retreat. After the commander of the Austrian III. corps Lieutenant General Georg von Ramberg repulsed him, he joined the retreating Hungarian army at Bánátkomlós. During the retreat, Dessewffy stopped and tried again to hold back Ramberg's troops, but he was defeated at Kisteremia, leading to the capture of 700 soldiers by the Austrians.