A closer look
Austrian soldiers accidentally attacked their own army during the Battle of Karánsebes in 1788, reportedly suffering massive casualties without a single enemy Ottoman soldier ever stepping onto the battlefield. The absolute mess started when heavily intoxicated hussars refused to share their schnapps with the infantry, leading to a drunken brawl that escalated into someone yelling that the Turks were attacking. Panic rapidly swept through the massive camp in the dark, causing different factions of the multi-ethnic Austrian army to mistake each other for the enemy and open fire in blind terror. The Holy Roman Emperor literally had to flee for his life from his own panicking troops, jumping into a river to avoid being trampled by his own cavalry. It stands as perhaps the greatest self-own in military history, proving once and for all that you really do not need external enemies when you have alcohol, poor communication skills, and a deeply fragmented empire
