In 1788, the Austrian army marched toward Karansebes expecting to fight the Ottoman Empire.

Instead, a drunken argument somehow ended with thousands of Austrian soldiers firing on each other. Cavalry were mistaken for enemy troops, artillery opened fire on friendly forces, and Emperor Joseph II ended up fleeing for his life.

By the time the real Ottoman army arrived, the Austrians had already done most of the damage themselves.

This is the ridiculous and tragic story of the Battle of Karansebes, when an army accidentally went to war with itself.