1788 Austrian army attacks. Historical mistakes that led to fatal consequences

This military disaster was perhaps the largest in history of those that were committed by their own sloppiness. Near the city of Karansebes, the Austrian army managed to defeat itself. Here is how it was.

By September 17, 1788, Austria had been at war with Turkey for about a year in alliance with Russia. The assembled army of about 100 thousand people approached the city of Caransebes, now located on the territory of Romania.

In the evening, the vanguard of the hussars crossed the Timish River, where, as expected, the Turkish camp was located. But instead of the Turkish camp, a gypsy camp was discovered. It was fun in the camp, and most importantly, there was a lot of wine, which the gypsies shared with the soldiers.

While the hussars were having fun, the first infantry detachments approached the camp. The infantrymen demanded that drinks be shared with them as well. But the hussars refused in a rude manner, or, more simply, sent the infantry through the forest, for whoever is ahead of him and slippers. And in general - the French will come up with equality and fraternity and only in a few years, and the brave Austrian hussars will drink everything themselves.

The infantrymen did not like this situation either, and they took up defensive positions behind the gypsy carts, saying that if the infantrymen climbed, they would start shooting. And the shooting started. It is not clear who fired first, but in any case, a fight ensued between their units.

And then someone, not understanding what was happening, shouted "Turks!". The cry was picked up and panic began. The mess was also intensified due to the fact that in the army there were representatives of different peoples united in the Austrian Empire. The Germans, Slavs, Hungarians, Italians, Romanians did not understand well, but everyone ran together.

The officers were mostly Germans and it was customary to give commands in German. Runners were stopped by shouting “Halt! Halt!”, which in the minds of panicked soldiers who did not know German was perceived as “Allah! Allah!". On top of that, the commander of one artillery unit, mistook the fleeing cavalry for the advancing Turks, deployed the guns and opened fire with grapeshot.

In general, those who could, fought with their own fleeing troops, but most of them simply fled. And so quickly that they almost trampled their own emperor Joseph, who took part in the campaign. With that, his adjutant was trampled, and Joseph himself was saved only by falling into a ditch.

Two days later, the Turkish army approached the same city, discovering a field strewn with the bodies of the Austrians. The army fled, and the losses in the battle with themselves amounted to about 10 thousand people.

To the honor of Emperor Joseph, it should be noted that Austria did not withdraw from the war, but continued the war, gathering the remnants of its forces and recruiting a new army in the future.

Under the cut, a small but instructive story about how a gypsy camp, which accidentally had a barrel of alcohol, determined the fate of mankind.

In 1788, the Austrian emperor Joseph II decided for no reason at all to liberate the Balkans from the Turkish yoke - an intention worthy of a Christian, but based, of course, not on pious intentions, but on the desire to extend the influence of Austria to the so-called "underbelly of Europe". Having gathered a huge army, the Austrians crossed the border.

After marches, transitions, large and small skirmishes with varying success, both sides prepared for the decisive battle.

On a moonless night on September 19, 100,000 Austrians were moving closer to the 70,000th Turkish army in order to fight, which was to determine the fate of the war.

A company of hussars, marching at the forefront of the Austrians, crossed the small river Temesh, near the town of Karansebes, but there were no Turkish troops on the shore - they had not yet approached. However, the hussars saw a gypsy camp. Pleased with the opportunity to earn extra money, the gypsies offered the hussars to refresh themselves after the crossing - for money, of course. For a few coins, the cavalry bought a barrel of alcohol from the gypsies and began to quench their thirst.

In the meantime, several infantry companies crossed in the same place, which didn’t get alcohol, but they wanted to drink ... A squabble began between the hussars and infantrymen, during which one cavalryman either accidentally or out of anger shot a soldier. He collapsed, after which a general dump began. All the hussars and all the foot soldiers who were nearby intervened in the fight.

And the drunken hussars, and the infantry languishing with thirst, heated up by the massacre, did not want to yield. Finally, one of the sides took over - the defeated shamefully fled to their shore, pursued by a jubilant enemy. Who was broken? - history is silent, more precisely, the information is contradictory. It is quite possible that in some places the hussars won, and in others the foot soldiers. Be that as it may, the troops approaching the crossing suddenly saw frightened, fleeing soldiers and hussars, crumpled, bruised, covered in blood ... Victorious cries of the pursuers were heard behind.

Meanwhile, the hussar colonel, trying to stop his fighters, yelled in German: “Halt! Halt!” Since there were many Hungarians, Slovaks, Lombards and others who did not understand German well in the ranks of the Austrian army, some soldiers heard - “Allah! Allah!", after which the panic became general. During the general bustle and noise, several hundred cavalry horses that were in the corral broke out from behind the fence. So it happened late at night, everyone decided that the Turkish cavalry had broken into the army. The commander of one corps, having heard the formidable noise of the "advancing cavalry", gave the order to the artillerymen to open fire. Shells exploded in the crowd of distraught soldiers. The officers who tried to organize resistance built their regiments and threw them into an attack on artillery, in full confidence that they were fighting the Turks. In the end, everyone fled.

The emperor, who did not understand anything, was also convinced that the Turkish army had attacked the camp, tried to take control of the situation, but the fleeing crowd threw him off his horse. The emperor's adjutant was trampled on. Joseph himself escaped by jumping into the river.

By morning everything was quiet. The whole space was littered with guns, dead horses, saddles, provisions, broken ammunition boxes and overturned cannons - in a word, everything that a utterly defeated army throws. On the field of the strangest battle in the history of mankind, 10 thousand dead soldiers remained lying - that is, in terms of the number of dead, the battle is among the largest battles of mankind (in the famous battles of Hastings, Agincourt, Valmy, in the Valley of Abraham and many others, the death toll is much smaller). The Austrian army ceased to exist, as the survivors fled in horror.

Two days later, the Turkish army approached. The Turks looked with surprise at the piles of corpses, wandered among the wounded, groaning in delirium soldiers, puzzling over the question - what unknown enemy utterly defeated one of the most powerful armies in the world and saved Turkey from defeat. The Christian world failed to acquire the Balkans. Austria did not become the strongest state in Europe, could not stop the French Revolution, the world followed the path of France ...

A small gypsy camp, which accidentally turned out to have a barrel of alcohol, determined the fate of mankind.

The original article is on the website InfoGlaz.rf Link to the article from which this copy is made -

The war of 1787-1792 between the coalition of Austria and Russia on the one hand and the Ottoman Empire on the other threatened the Turks with a war on two fronts. Russian troops were advancing in the southern Black Sea region and in the Kuban, and the Austrians launched a direct attack on Istanbul through Belgrade.

In this situation, the Ottomans concentrated their main forces against the Austrians in order to remove the immediate threat to their capital.

Austrian troops numbering up to 100 thousand people were sent to cut across the Ottoman army, intending to give battle. Reconnaissance patrols of the light cavalry were sent ahead, which, having crossed the Temesh River, began to search for the Turkish army. However, after a vain search for Ottoman troops, the Austrian hussars stumbled upon a gypsy camp. The servants were tired and rather wet, so when the hospitable gypsies offered them schnapps, they did not refuse. The drunkenness of the servicemen of this kind of troops entered poetry and prose. How can one not recall Pushkin's "Shot" and the words of its main character Silvio, who served in the hussars: "We boasted of drunkenness."

In general, the feast was in full swing when parts of the infantry crossed the river. Seeing the hussars having fun, the infantrymen demanded their share of refreshments. They refused and there was a quarrel. It is not known who first threatened to use weapons, but as a result, the hussars took up defensive positions behind the gypsy carts, someone pulled the trigger, one infantryman was killed and a shootout began. The Austrian infantry and hussars entered into battle among themselves.

The matter was further complicated by the fact that the Austrian infantry, unable to withstand the pressure of the hussars, began to retreat, and the hussars, heated by the fight, began to pursue them.

The commander of the hussar regiment, trying to stop his subordinates, shouted in German: “Halt, halt” (“Stop, stop”), and some Austrian soldiers heard that the Turks were shouting their battle cry “Allah, Allah”.

The new infantry units that came up behind them, not understanding the situation, began to shout “Turks, Turks!” The situation was further complicated by the fact that the infantry units of the Austrian army were recruited from representatives of different peoples who inhabited the "patchwork empire" and often did not know the state German language well. The panicked soldiers could not really explain anything to the officers, and they began to report to their higher authorities that the Austrian vanguard had unexpectedly run into the Turkish army.

Hussar horses were also added to the panic, which the drunken hussars tied loosely and, having heard the shots, broke off their slings and galloped towards the Austrians. The situation was aggravated by the fact that it was evening and dusk was approaching, in which it was difficult to see what was happening.

The commander of one of the Austrian corps decided that the Turkish cavalry was attacking the Austrian troops on the march and, "saving" the army, deployed his artillery and opened fire on the horses and the crowd of fleeing soldiers. Panic reached its climax.

Distraught with fear, the soldiers rushed to the camp where the main forces of the Austrian army were stationed. It was already night and the troops, who were in the camp in full confidence that they were attacked by the Turks, opened fire on their own fleeing soldiers.

The Austrian emperor Joseph II, who commanded the army, tried to sort out the situation and restore command, but the fleeing soldiers threw him and his horse into the river. He received serious bruises and broke his leg. His adjutant was trampled to death.

By morning the battle was over. The Austrian army scattered over the fields and forests, and 10 thousand killed and wounded Austrians, broken cannons, dead and crippled horses and shell boxes remained on the battlefield.

The Ottoman army, under the command of Koji Yusuf Pasha, approached the scene of the incident and examined it with amazement. Yusuf Pasha at first did not understand what had happened, but when it dawned on him that the Austrian army had miraculously dispersed, he seized the initiative and easily occupied the city of Caransebes itself. After the victories won by the Turks at Megadia and Slatina, Joseph II agreed to a three-month truce.

This war was generally not very successful for the Austrians: successes were followed by defeats. The help of the allies did not help much either. The injuries received in the ill-fated campaign of 1788 did not pass without a trace for the Austrian emperor: he died in February 1790. His successor concluded a separate peace with the Ottoman Empire and never again, until its very end, Austria-Hungary fought the Ottomans.

For the Russians, on the contrary, this war was very successful: the Ottomans were defeated at Kinburn, Focsani, Rymnik. Important strongholds of the Ottomans in the Black Sea region were taken - Ochakov and Izmail. In the Caucasian theater of operations, the Russians stormed the fortress of Anapa. The naval battle at Cape Kaliakria completed the complete defeat of the Ottoman forces.

As a result, the Ottoman Empire in 1791 was forced to sign the Iasi Peace Treaty, which secured the Crimea and Ochakov for Russia, and also moved the border between the two empires to the Dniester. The Ottomans confirmed the Kyuchuk-Kainarji Treaty and ceded the Crimea and Taman forever.

Ildar Mukhamedzhanov

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In 1788, the Austrian Emperor Joseph II decided, for no apparent reason, to liberate the Balkans from the Turkish yoke - a desire worthy of a Christian, but based, of course, not on pious intentions, but on the desire to extend Austrian influence to the so-called "underbelly of Europe". Having gathered a huge army, the Austrians crossed the border.

After marches, transitions, large and small skirmishes with varying success, both sides prepared for the decisive battle.

On a moonless night on September 19, 100,000 Austrians were moving closer to the 70,000-strong Turkish army in order to fight, which was to determine the fate of the war.

A company of hussars, marching at the forefront of the Austrians, crossed the small river Temesh, near the town of Karansebes, but there were no Turkish troops on the shore - they had not yet approached. However, the hussars saw a gypsy camp. Pleased with the opportunity to earn extra money, the gypsies offered the hussars to refresh themselves after the crossing - for money, of course. For a few coins, the cavalrymen bought a barrel of alcohol from the gypsies and started drinking water.

In the meantime, several infantry companies crossed in the same place, which did not get the water, but wanted to bang ... A squabble began between the hussars and infantrymen, during which one cavalryman either accidentally or out of anger shot a soldier. He collapsed, after which a general dump began. All the hussars and all the foot soldiers who were nearby intervened in the fight.

Meanwhile, the hussar colonel, trying to stop his fighters, yelled in German: “Halt! Halt! Since there were many Hungarians, Slovaks, Lombards and others in the ranks of the Austrian army who did not understand the German language well (HERE IS THE MINUS OF BIG STATES), some soldiers heard - “Allah! Allah!", after which the panic became general.

During the general bustle and noise, several hundred cavalry horses that were in the corral broke out from behind the fence. Since it happened late at night, everyone decided that the Turkish cavalry had broken into the army. The commander of one corps, having heard the formidable noise of the "advancing cavalry", gave the order to the artillerymen to open fire. Shells exploded in the crowd of distraught soldiers. The officers who tried to organize resistance built their regiments and threw them into an attack on artillery, in full confidence that they were fighting the Turks. In the end, everyone fled.

This event took place in 1788. The Turks declared war on Russia and Austria, within the framework of an agreement on military assistance, moved with a hundred thousandth army against the seventy thousandth army of the Turks.

After lengthy transitions, marches and small fights, both opponents were preparing for a general battle. On September 17, the Austrian army crossed the small river Temes near the town of Caransebes (now a city in the county of Karash-Severin, in the historical region of Banat, in Romania).

It was expected that the Turkish troops would meet them here, but in fact they came across a gypsy camp, “armed” with barrels of alcohol for sale, which the “liberators of the Balkans” decided to take advantage of. Having bought barrels of schnapps at a low price, the hussars began to cheer themselves up and “relieve fatigue” after the hardships of the journey.

From that moment on, a series of incredible accidents and coincidences ensued.

When the grenadiers of the Austrian cavalry were celebrating the end of the difficult journey, the infantry also began to move up to them, which was also not averse to joining the hussars and "taking a breath." Only the hussars were not happy with this and flatly refused to share alcohol with the infantry who came to the rescue. On this basis, a squabble began, which soon turned into a serious fight.

Seeing the senselessness of what was happening and wishing to stop the outbreak of the conflict, no one from those present fired into the air, which was his fatal mistake. Hearing the sound of a shot, part of the regiment of infantrymen grabbed their weapons, suspecting that the attack of the Turks had begun.

Although the numerical superiority was on the side of the Austrians, they had an important disadvantage. The army consisted of people of various nationalities: Austrians, Hungarians, Slovaks, Czechs, Romanians and others. They spoke each in their own languages and sometimes did not understand each other at all, and this played a cruel joke on them.

Due to the noise of shots and the screams of soldiers, several hundred cavalry horses that were in the paddock jumped out from behind the fence and rushed to the fighting. It was dark and hearing the sound of the cavalry, the commander of one of the artillery corps gave the order to open fire to kill.

The shells began to explode in the crowd of distraught soldiers, the officers built regiments and threw them into the attack, being sure that they were going to meet the Turkish enemy.

In the end, this recklessness ended in a general flight. The distraught crowd of fleeing soldiers almost trampled on their way even Emperor Joseph II himself, who tried to cope with the situation and was also in the firm belief that they were attacked by the Ottoman army. He only escaped by jumping into the river.

By morning, when it was all over, a sad picture appeared before them. The whole space was littered with guns, dead horses, saddles, provisions, smashed ammunition boxes and overturned cannons - in a word, everything that a completely defeated army throws. Ten thousand dead soldiers remained on the field of the most abnormal battle in the history of mankind.

The Turks, who arrived at the point of the supposed battle, saw piles of corpses there, puzzled over the question - what unknown enemy had destroyed their enemy. Indeed, in terms of the number of victims, this massacre surpassed even such major battles as the battles of Hastings, Agincourt, Valmy, in the Valley of Abraham and many others ...

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