Usually during the course of a battle, two or more enemy armies engage and fight each other. This was not the case at the Battle of Karánsebes during the Austro-Turkish War of 1787-1791. Hoping to check an Ottoman invasion force in the Balkans, Habsburg Emperor Joseph II led an army of 100,000 men into present day Romania. In a foolish move, he decided to divide his force into two contingents, with one crossing the river Timis. During the night, the soldiers on both sides became hopelessly drunk and got into a brawl. Gunfire broke out, which alarmed the Austrian high command into thinking they were being attacked by the Turks. One account tells that an officer shouting ”Halt! Halt!”was misheard from the soldiers who didn’t speak German as ”Allah! Allah!” Both Austrian armies, thinking the enemy was across the river fired on their own troops. In the ensuing chaos, 10,000 soldiers died, and the Emperor Joseph II ordered a retreat. Days later the Ottoman Army arrived at Karánsebes and was shocked by the carnage. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Kar%C3%A1nsebes
Posted on: Fri, 13 Jun 2014 14:04:36 +0000
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