Different portions of an Austrian army, which were scouting for forces of the Ottoman Empire, fired on one another by mistake, causing self-inflicted casualties. The battle took place on the night of 21–22 September 1788. The Ottomans took advantage and captured the city of Karánsebes : The army of Austria, approximately 100,000 strong, was setting up camp around the town. The army's vanguard, a contingent of hussars, crossed the Timiș River to scout for the presence of the Ottoman army. There was no sign of the Ottoman forces, but the hussars came across a group of Romani people, who offered to sell schnapps to the weary soldiers. The cavalrymen bought the schnapps and started to drink. Soon afterwards, some infantry crossed the river. When they saw the party going on, the infantrymen demanded alcohol for themselves. The hussars refused to give them any of the schnapps and, still drunk, set up makeshift fortifications around the barrels. A heated argument ensued, and one soldier fired a shot. Immediately, the hussars and infantry engaged in combat with one another. During the conflict, some infantry began shouting, "Turci! Turci!". The hussars fled the scene, thinking that the Ottoman army's attack was imminent. Most of the infantry also ran away; the army comprised Austrians, Serbs, Croats, and Italians from Lombardy, as well as other minorities, many of whom could not understand one another. While it is not clear which one of these groups did so, they gave the false warning without telling the others, who promptly fled. The situation was made worse when officers, in an attempt to restore order, shouted, "Halt! Halt!" which was misheard by soldiers with no knowledge of German as "Allah! Allah!". As the hussars fled through the camps, a corps commander, General of Artillery Colloredo, thought that it was a cavalry charge by the Ottoman army and ordered artillery fire. Meanwhile, the entire camp awoke to the sound of battle; rather than waiting to see what the situation was, everyone fled. The troops fired at every shadow, thinking the Ottomans were everywhere; in reality, they were shooting fellow Austrian soldiers. The incident escalated to the point where the whole army retreated from the imaginary enemy, and Archduke of AustriaJoseph II was pushed off his horse into a small creek. Two days later, the Ottoman army arrived. They discovered dead and wounded soldiers and easily took Karánsebes.
Losses
In determining losses, accounts of this incident do not distinguish between losses that were caused by friendly fire, those that were caused by the Turks, and those that resulted from pillaging by the Austrians or by the local Wallachians. One account states that the Austrian rear guard suffered 150 casualties. Another account states that in the days following the incident, 1,200 wounded men were taken to the fortress at Arad, 60 km north of Timișoara. Another source claims that 538 men, 24 jäger, and one officer went missing after the incident, but most returned to duty. Also lost were 3 cannons and the chest containing the army's payroll. In his account of the incident, Paul Bernard, author of a 1968 biography of the Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II, claimed that the friendly fire incident caused 10,000 casualties; however, he provided no source for this claim. Neither the Austrian war archives' records nor those who have examined them corroborate Bernard's claim. Bernard's account of the war has been dismissed as inaccurate. Nevertheless, Bernard's claim of 10,000 casualties was repeated by Geoffrey Regan. Although tens of thousands of casualties occurred within the Austrians' ranks during their 1787 campaign against the Turks, the vast majority of the casualties were the result of disease, particularly malaria and dysentery.
Published sources
Contemporary sources that attest to the incident include:
, Real Zeitung, 7 October 1788, no. 80, pp. 723–729 ; see especially pp. 726–728.
, Bayreuther Zeitungen, no. 120, pp. 847–848.
, Politisches Journal: nebst Anzeige von gelehrten und andern Sachen, 2 : 1052–1070 ; see especially pp. 1058–1059.
, Oestreichische militärische Zeitschrift, 4 : 58–70 ; see especially pp. 58–65.
Criste, Oskar, Kriege unter Kaiser Josef II. Nach den Feldakten und anderen authentischen Quellen bearbeitet in der kriegsgeschichtlichen Abteilung des k. und k. Kriegsarchivs ,"IX. Rückzug des kaiserlichen Heeres nach Lugos, September 1788.",
The incident was also discussed in a master's thesis and in a doctoral thesis:
Mayer, Matthew Z., "Joseph II and the campaign of 1788 against the Ottoman Turks," Master's thesis: McGill University, 1997 ; see especially pp. 61–62. Available at:
Gramm, Ernst Rainer, "Der unglückliche Mack: Aufsteig und Fall des Karl Mack von Leiberich", Doctoral thesis: Vienna University, 2008 ; see especially pp. 82–84. Available at:
The incident is also mentioned in:
Schlosser, F.C. with Davison, D., trans., History of the Eighteenth Century and of the Nineteenth Century till the Overthrow of the French Empire...., vol. 6,
Gross-Hoffinger, Anton Johann, Geschichte Josephs des Zweiten ,
