In late 1788, an Austrian army on the march came across some people selling large quantities of alcohol. When the cavalry started buying the liquor, the infantry wanted in on the action. But some people don’t like to share, and when shots were fired, the melee descended into one of the worst friendly fire incidents in history. This is the story of the Battle of Karánsebes.

Sources

"The Brassey's Book of Military Blunders" by Geoffrey Regan

Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Kar%C3%A1nsebes

Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:II._Jozsef_es_katonai_1787-ben.JPG

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