00:00What's the dumbest way to lose a war? How about getting so drunk you fight
00:03yourselves and lose before the enemy even shows up? This is the Austrian army
00:08in 1788 camped near the Ottoman Turks. It was a massive professional fighting
00:12force. The night before the battle a small group of soldiers snuck out and
00:15bought barrels of schnapps. Soon a second group of soldiers arrived and demanded a
00:19drink. The first group refused. An argument over alcohol turned into a
00:23drunken brawl and then someone fired a shot. That single shot sparked pure
00:27chaos. In the dark soldiers started yelling Turks! The Turks are attacking!
00:31Officers trying to restore order screamed halt! Halt! But soldiers who didn't speak
00:36German thought they were hearing Allah! Allah! The Ottoman war cry. The entire army
00:41descended into a panic with cavalry charging their own infantry and cannons
00:44firing into their own ranks. It was a full-scale battle of friendly fire. When
00:49the real Ottoman army finally arrived two days later they didn't find an enemy
00:52army ready to fight. They found a deserted battlefield, 10,000 Austrian casualties, and
00:57a city that was now theirs for the taking. They won a major battle without ever
01:01firing a single shot.
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