Editing Avram Iancu (section)

== Conflict ==
{{Infobox military conflict
| conflict          = Transylvanian Revolution
| partof            = the [[Hungarian Revolution of 1848]] and the [[1848–1849 massacres in Transylvania]]
| image             = {{CSS image crop|Image=1848.10.20PRINCIPATE.png|Location=center|cHeight=230|cWidth=260|bSize=750|oLeft=200|oTop=50}}
| caption           = 
| date              = 8 November 1848 – 29 July 1849
| place             = [[Principality of Transylvania (1711–1867)|Principality of Transylvania]], [[Austrian Empire]], now [[Transylvania]], [[Romania]]
| result            = Austro-Romanian victory
| combatant1        = {{flagicon image|Flag of Romania Oldest.jpg}} [[Romanians|Transylvanian Romanians]]<br />
{{flagicon|Austrian Empire }} Austrian Empire<br />{{flag|Russian Empire}}
| combatant2        = {{flagicon|Hungary}} [[Hungarian State (1849)|Hungary]]<br />{{flagicon|Poland}} Polish volunteers
| commander1        = {{flagicon image|Flag of Romania Oldest.jpg}} Avram Iancu<br>{{flagicon|Russian Empire}} [[Alexander von Lüders]]
| commander2        = {{flagicon|Hungary}} {{ill|Imre Hatvany|ro|Imre Hatvani}}<br />{{flagicon|Poland}} [[Józef Bem]]
| strength1         = 4,000 troops of the "Auraria Gemina" Legion<ref>Dragomir 1968, pp. 104-105</ref>
10,000 Russians<ref>{{cite book |last=Егоршина |first=Петрова |lang=ru |script-title=ru:История русской армии |trans-title=The history of the Russian Army |location=Moscow |publisher=Edition of the Russian Imperial Library |date=2023 |isbn=978-5-699-42397-2 |page=409 }}</ref>
| strength2         = 10,000<ref name="auto">Czecz János (1850), Bem’s Feldzug in Siebenbürgen in den Jahren 1848 und 1849, Hamburg, p. 32</ref>–32,000<ref>{{cite book |last=Егоршина |first=Петрова |lang=ru |script-title=ru:История русской армии |trans-title=The history of the Russian Army |location=Moscow |publisher=Edition of the Russian Imperial Library |date=2023 |isbn=978-5-699-42397-2 |page=409 }}</ref>
| casualties1       = Unknown
| casualties2       = 5,500<ref name="auto1">Dragomir 1968, pp. 188-192</ref><ref name="auto2">Dragomir 1968, pp. 209-216</ref>
}}
{{Campaignbox Hungarian Revolution of 1848}}

=== Outbreak ===
The Austrians clearly rejected the October demand that ethnic criteria become the basis for internal borders, with the goal of creating a province for Romanians (Transylvania grouped alongside [[Banat]] and [[Bukovina]]), as they did not want to replace the threat of Hungarian nationalism with the potential of Romanian [[separatism]]. Yet they did not declare themselves hostile to the rapid creation of Romanian administrative offices within Transylvania.

The territory was organized in {{lang|ro|prefecturi}} ("prefectures"), with Iancu and Buteanu as two prefects in the Apuseni. Iancu's prefecture, the ''Auraria Gemina'' (a name charged with [[Latin]] symbolism), became the most important one as it took over from bordering areas that were never fully organized.

In the same month, the administrative efforts were halted, as Hungarians under [[Józef Bem]] carried out a sweeping offensive through Transylvania. With the discreet assistance of [[Russian Empire|Imperial Russian]] troops, the Austrian army (except for the garrisons at [[Alba Iulia]] and [[Deva, Romania|Deva]]) and the Austrian-Romanian administration retreated to [[Wallachia]] and Wallachian [[Oltenia]] (both were, at the time, under Russia's occupation).

=== Attrition ===
On 8 November, Iancu, along with his 4,000 combatants of the "Auraria Gemina" Legion took part in joint military actions with Austrian forces. The Legion reached [[Turda]], and the city surrendered without a fight on 20 November. Then, he and his troops returned to the mountains.<ref name="auto3">Dragomir 1968, p. 118</ref> On 29 November, Iancu had another 1,500 troops mobilized for action. On 4 December, he reached [[Săcuieu]], and on 6–7 December, he and his men were ordered to attack the enemy lines by surprise. However, the attack failed, due to the incompetence of an Austrian officer, and the Romanians were forced to withdraw by 10 December.<ref name="auto3" /> By early January 1849, the control over Transylvania was almost entirely regained by the Hungarian army. The Romanian fighters holding out in their mountains stronghold were running low of supplies, having only 800 rifles to arm a few thousand men, and were completely surrounded by Hungarian troops by the end of March.<ref>Dragomir 1968, p. 117</ref><ref name="auto3" />

In April 1849, Iancu was approached by the Hungarian envoy {{ill|Ioan Dragoș|ro}} (in fact, a Romanian deputy in the Hungarian Parliament). Dragoș appeared to have been acting out of his own desire for peace, since Iancu's troops were tying down too many Hungarian troops: about 10,000, a third of its army in Transylvania, according to Hungarian general [[János Czetz]].<ref name="auto" /> He worked hard to get the Romanian leaders to meet him in [[Abrud]] and listen to the Hungarian demands. Iancu's direct adversary, Hungarian commander {{ill|Imre Hatvany|ro|Imre Hatvani}}, seems to have taken advantage of the provisional [[armistice]] to attack the Romanians in Abrud.<ref name="ReferenceC">[[Keith Hitchins]], ''Românii 1774–1866'', Bucharest, [[Humanitas (publishing house)|Humanitas]], 1996</ref> He did not, however, benefit from a surprise, as Iancu and his men retreated and then encircled him. Meanwhile, Dragoș was lynched by the Abrud crowds, in the belief that he was part of Hatvany's ruse.

Hatvany also angered the Romanians by having Buteanu captured and murdered. While his position became weaker, he was permanently attacked by Iancu's men, until the major defeat of May 22. Hatvany and most of his armed group were massacred by their adversaries, as Iancu captured their [[cannon]]s, switching the tactical advantage for the next months. Hatvany's troops lost 5,000 soldiers and all of their artillery.<ref name="auto1" /><ref name="ReferenceB" /><ref name="ReferenceC" /> Kossuth was angered by Hatvany's gesture (an inspection of the time dismissed all of Hatvany's close collaborators), especially since it made future negotiations unlikely.

On 8 June, the Romanian stronghold in the mountains was attacked by the largest Hungarian force yet: 4,000 men supported by 19 cannons led by General {{ill|Farkas Kemény|hu|Kemény Farkas}}. The battle lasted between 11 and 17 June and ended in a crushing victory for the Romanians, the Hungarians having at least 500 troops killed during the battle.<ref name="auto2" />

The Russian intervention in June precipitated events, especially since [[Polish people|Poles]] fighting in the Hungarian revolutionary contingents wanted to see an all-out resistance to the [[Tsarist]] armies. People like [[Henryk Dembiński]] mediated for an understanding between Kossuth and the Wallachian émigré revolutionaries. The latter, understandably close to Avram Iancu (especially [[Nicolae Bălcescu]], [[Gheorghe Magheru]], [[Alexandru G. Golescu]], and [[Ion Ghica]]), were also keen to inflict a defeat on the Russian armies that had crushed their movement in September 1848. Fighting also continued in July, during the peace negotiations, on 2, 4, and 22 July, all Hungarian attacks being repulsed yet again. Finally, the conflict ended on 29 July, as Iancu offered a guarantee to the Hungarian troops that he would not attack them, allowing them to withdraw in front of the Austro-Russian offensive.<ref>Dragomir 1968, pp. 270-271</ref>

=== Negotiations ===
[[Nicolae Bălcescu|Bălcescu]] and [[Lajos Kossuth|Kossuth]] met in May 1849, in [[Debrecen]]. The contact has long been celebrated by Romanian [[Marxism|Marxist]] historians and politicians: [[Karl Marx]]'s condemnation of everything opposing Kossuth had led to any Romanian initiative being automatically considered "[[reactionary]]". In fact, it appears that the agreement was in no way a pact: Kossuth meant to flatter the Wallachians, by getting them to champion the idea of Iancu's armies leaving Transylvania for good, in order to help Bălcescu in [[Bucharest]]. While agreeing to mediate for peace, Bălcescu never presented these terms to the fighters in the [[Apuseni Mountains]]. His personal documents (commented by {{ill|Liviu Maior|ro}}) show that the un-realistic assumptions of Kossuth had made him view the Hungarian leader as a [[demagogue]].<ref name="Liviu Maior 1849">{{ill|Liviu Maior|ro}}, ''1848–1849. Români și unguri în revoluție'', Bucharest, Editura Enciclopedică, 1998</ref>

Even more contradictory, the only thing Iancu agreed to (and which no party had asked for) was his forces' neutrality in the conflict between Russia and Hungary.<ref name="Liviu Maior 1849" /> Thus, he secured his position as the Hungarian armies suffered defeats in July, culminating in the [[Battle of Segesvár]] ([[Sighișoara]]), and then the capitulation of August 13.