Battle of Rika | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Part of the Hungarian Revolution of 1848 | |||||||
| |||||||
Belligerents | |||||||
Székelys from Háromszék Seat | |||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Sándor Gál Ignác Horváth Áron Gábor | August von Heydte | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
Total: 1,480 270 riflemen 900 spearmen 310 hussars 2 cannons[1] (the 310 hussars and the 2 cannons participated effectively in the battle ) |
2,600+ ? men[2] 2 doppelhakens[3] | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
a couple of wounded Hussars |
Total: 297 killed 600 cattle 300 kg gunpowder[4] Heydte's official correspondence[5] |
The Battle of Rika or Battle of Felsőrákos-Rika-Vargyas was a battle in the Hungarian Revolution of 1848, fought on 13 December 1848 at Felsőrákos, Vargyas the valley of the Rika stream Háromszék County in southeastern Transylvania. The Székelys from Háromszék, sustaining the Hungarian revolution, led by Captain Sándor Gál, Captain Ignác Horváth Kovachich and Áron Gábor defeated the troops of the Habsburg Empire Captain August von Heydte reinforced by Transylvanian Romanian and Saxon militias and national guards. This victory forced the Austrian commander with the mission to crush the resistance of the Székelys of Háromszék, Lieutenant General Joseph Gedeon, was forced to ask reinforcements from the Austrian commandement of Transylvania, which weakened in a decissive way the Austrian troops right before the start of their fight with the Army of Transylvania led by General Józef Bem.