Karánsebes 1788: Schnapps, a Misheard Halt and an Army That Routed Itself

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On the night of 21 to 22 September 1788, during the Austro-Turkish War, a Habsburg army of about 100,000 under Emperor Joseph II was camped near the Timiș River in what is now Romania, braced for an Ottoman attack. Hussars sent across the river to scout found no enemy, only local Romanians selling schnapps. When infantry crossed and demanded a share, the hussars stacked the barrels as a barricade. A shoving match turned into a brawl, someone fired a musket, and a cry of Turci, Turci went up. Both groups fled back toward the main camp in the dark.

The army was drawn from across a multi-ethnic empire, including Romanians, Croats, Lombard Italians and Serbs from the Military Frontier, and many did not speak German. Officers shouting Halt! were heard as the Ottoman cry Allah. General of Artillery Joseph Maria von Colloredo, waking to the noise, ordered his guns to fire on the shapes approaching, and Joseph II ordered a full withdrawal and became separated from his escort. Two days later the Ottoman army under Koca Yusuf Pasha found the camp abandoned and took Karánsebes. How many Austrians fell that night is still disputed.

Cavalry looked down on infantry, and that rivalry fed the fight over the liquor.
Joseph II was rumored captured and reached Karánsebes with a single companion.
Contemporary reports mention about 150 rear guard casualties, around 1,000 wounded sent to Arad, and 538 men missing.
Three cannon and the army's payroll chest were left behind for the Ottomans.
The often repeated figure of 10,000 casualties traces to a 1968 biography of Joseph II that gave no source, while dysentery had already struck 20,000 men by July.

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