Károlyi Sándor is known as a Kuruc and later as an Imperial general, and his character is therefore divisive for the Hungarian public interested in the period.
He was born in Olcsvaapáti on 1 or 2 July 1669, the child of Baron Károlyi László, the chief comes of Szatmár County, and Sennyey Erzsébet. After the premature death of his brothers, he inherited the title of the hereditary Chief Comes of the county at the age of 18. In the same year, 1687, he married Barkóczy Krisztina, who remained his faithful spouse until her death. They had six children, but only two of them, Klára and Ferenc, lived to adulthood.
Already during the Reconquest Wars against the Turks, Károlyi had witnessed the misdeeds of the Imperial soldiers and officers, which pained him greatly, and he tried to do something about it. In particular, he argued with the commander of Szatmár Castle, a man called Löffelholz.
He formed his army against the thieves who roamed the forests and marshes, the debauched and neglected Borderland warriors, and the former anti-Habsburg Kuruc soldiers. He also recruited Thököly’s former lieutenant, Kis Albert, into his army. In the summer of 1697, he captured and imprisoned Kis, who was also in hiding for non-payment of wages, along with Esze Tamás, who had joined him. Both were in prison when the Hegyalja uprising broke out in July of that year, which was quickly crushed by the Imperial Army, which then retaliated with bloody reprisals.
The population, however, continued to grumble, burdened with high taxes and the forced accommodation of the mercenaries, and the nobility with the neoaquistica, the obligation to prove claims to land in former conquered territories. Rákóczi and Bercsényi’s conspiracy was exposed and Rákóczi was imprisoned, from which he escaped. Meanwhile, Esze and Kis were released and took part in recruiting soldiers for the Spanish War of Succession, which began in 1701. When their regiment left for the battlefield in the spring of 1703, they escaped and sent a message to Rákóczi in Poland.
Rákóczi took the lead in the rebellion and sent them a flag, which they unfurled in May 1703. To put down the uprising in north-eastern Hungary, the nobles of the counties and the Imperial army were ordered to rise. On 7 June, Károlyi defeated the unwary rebels at Dolha and captured their flags.
He set off for Vienna with the captured flags but was met with a cold, hostile reception, and the uprising was belittled. The aggrieved Károlyi returned home to find that the uprising had already spread and his estates had been taken by the Kuruc troops. On 9 October, he swore an oath of allegiance to Rákóczi, who made him a field general on the 18th. In November, his army, which had been gathering between the Danube and the Tisza rivers, was sent to the Highlands to help Ocskay and Bercsényi. They drove the Imperials to the border, and Károlyi penetrated Moravia and Austria.
On 11 January, he crossed the Danube and occupied the Transdanubian region within a month. He was appointed the general-in-chief of the part of the country. In early March he was appointed lieutenant-general, but by the end of the month, Heister had driven him out of the Transdanubian. On 28 May, he took part in the successful battle of Szomolány, and then crossed the Transdanubian again, in support of Forgách Simon. Although he was in the vicinity, he did not take part in the battle of Koroncó.
He generally avoided open battles, perhaps because he realized that the undisciplined army of the Kuruc forces, unaccustomed to regular fighting, was unable to provide an equal opponent to the trained Imperial troops. On 4 July, he defeated General Joseph Rabatta’s troops at Szentgotthárd by a raid. But by the end of the month, the concentrated Labanc (pro-Habsburg) offensive in August had again driven the rebels from the Transdanubian region.
Rákóczi then ordered Károlyi to the Trans-Tisza Region, and on 2 January 1705, he was appointed a Field Marshal. At the end of February, he tried again to retake the Danube region, but he retreated from Heister, and on 31 March his troops camped at Balatonkiliti where they were crushed by the Imperial troops.
He did not return to Transdanubia, but the prince entrusted him with the command of the Trans-Tisza region. On 25 May, he had already won a victory over the Serbs at Szentandráspuszta and was ordered to besiege Gyula and Arad. At the assembly of Szécsény in September, Károlyi was elected to the Senate and was given the task of keeping an eye on the army of Field Marshal Louis Herbeville, which was advancing towards Transylvania. He did not attack the otherwise starving enemy, so they were able to reach the borders of the principality unhindered. Rákóczi clashed with Herbeville at Zsibó and ordered Károlyi to attack the Imperials from the rear. But the Field Marshal refused to obey and the battle was lost.
If less so as a general, he achieved much more as an organizer. He organized the defense of Transylvania, the supply of troops, which had always been a problem for the Kuruc army. Twice appointed commander-in-chief of Transylvania, he regained the western half of the province in the spring of 1706. Returning to the Trans-Tisza region in the summer, he successfully prevented the union of the Serbians’ and Rabutin’s armies and delayed the merging of the Imperial forces.
In July 1707, he became administrator and later de facto captain-general of the Kassa Capticiancy. At the Assembly of Ónod, he was one of those who attacked the pro-peace envoys from Turóc County with the sword. In the spring of 1708, he was again successful in Transylvania, but his conquests were soon lost. After the Battle of Trencsén (3 August 1708), the Kuruc cause took a final turn for the worse. Escapes and defections began, and the field marshal could do nothing about it.
Although Rákóczi and his circle often criticized him for his hesitant, non-combative attitude, the resistance of his troops at the Battle of Romhány (22 January 1710), which was also lost, convinced the prince of Károlyi’s organizational skills and prudence. The field marshal, however, found it increasingly hopeless to continue the fight. When Rákóczi and Bercsényi left for Poland at the end of the year to negotiate with the Russian Tsar Peter I, Károlyi was left with the task of keeping alive the flame of the revolt, which was dwindling.
However, his soldiers wanted peace, and he also realized that a total Imperial victory would wipe out eight years of struggle. Fortunately, he found a partner in his opponent, Imperial Field Marshal Pálffy János, and negotiations began. The result was the Treaty of Szatmár, which he was the first to sign on behalf of the Confederation.
In gratitude, the new emperor, Charles III, made him a lieutenant-general and rewarded him with the title of count. He was rewarded with other lands, especially those confiscated from the exiled Kuruc leaders. In 1717 he repelled the last Crimean Tatar invasion, in which several former Kuruc, including General Esterházy Antal, took part.
He was a careful master of his estates, trying to protect the serfs and make their burdens bearable. He settled foreign immigrants in his villages. He also tried to set up manufactories. He built the family manor house in Nagykároly, and he and his wife founded several churches. His church in Kaplony became his final resting place after his death.
Maria Theresa gave him the rank of Major General, the highest military rank available. He was also the owner of a Hussar regiment, which he later ceded to his son. In 1722, he also resigned his title of Chief Comes, which he also transferred to Károlyi Ferenc. He died on 8 September 1743 in his manor in Erdőd.
Rákóczi had already hinted at his treachery, but Marxist historiography has elevated him to the ranks of those who betrayed the Hungarian cause, along with Görgei and others. But Károlyi cannot be considered a traitor, since Rákóczi knew of his negotiations, although the agreement was signed without his knowledge. But Károlyi, a real politician, had no choice.
If he opted for further resistance, he would have risked the gains of the War of Independence, as the outnumbering Imperials could have quickly crushed the uprising, followed by bloody reprisals. In this way, however, the national constitution was saved for the following decades, the Hungarian parliament and the separation of the Estates were preserved, and Hungary was not abandoned to the fate of Bohemia after 1620. And for this, apart from the heroic struggle of Rákóczi and the Kuruc forces, Károlyi and Pálffy János also deserve credit.
Source: Szibler Gábor
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