The Battle of Karansebes
An 18th-century army reportedly fought and defeated itself in the dark, in a single night, without a single enemy soldier present — the confusion allegedly started with an argument over schnapps between soldiers and cavalry.
The Battle of Karansebes was a reported 1788 incident in which the Austrian army, during a campaign against the Ottoman Empire, allegedly engaged in a chaotic nighttime friendly-fire battle against itself due to a confused misunderstanding, resulting in significant self-inflicted casualties without any actual enemy engagement. While the core incident is documented in period and later historical accounts, some historians have questioned the specific dramatic details and casualty figures as likely exaggerated in the story's popular retelling.
- →The incident reportedly occurred on the night of September 21-22, 1788, during an Austrian military campaign against the Ottoman Empire near the town of Karansebes in present-day Romania.
- →According to the most commonly told version, a dispute between Austrian infantry and cavalry over alcohol escalated into confusion in the darkness, with different units mistakenly believing they were under Ottoman attack and firing on each other.
- →Some historical accounts describe the resulting chaos as causing the Austrian army to retreat in disarray, with the Ottoman army arriving days later to find and easily capture the town, which the confused Austrians had already effectively abandoned.
- →Modern historians studying the available period sources have found the core incident is documented, though they generally consider the most dramatic specific details and casualty figures commonly repeated in popular retellings to be likely exaggerated compared to what contemporary evidence actually supports.