Ottoman victory 1788 1789 1790 1791 The Battle of Karánsebes (Turkish: Şebeş Muharebesi; German: Rückzug von Karánsebes; Hungarian: Karánsebesi csata; Romanian: Bătălia de la Caransebeș) was a friendly fire incident in the Austrian army, supposedly occurring during the night of 21–22 September 1788, during the Austro-Turkish War of 1787–1791.

He was in fact separated from his suite and wandered about ignorant of his way; it was even supposed that he had been taken prisoner when at length, accompanied by a single individual, he came to Karansebes.

A detailed account of the singular story of this night-march and its consequences does not appear to us to belong to the province of general history; it will, however, be found both authentic and complete in the Austrian Military Magazine of 1831.

[citation needed] The paucity of records on the incident, in turn, might reflect an attempt by the Austrians to hide embarrassing details, or at least a lack of eagerness to share them.

[citation needed] The traditional narrative of the battle likely contains some exaggerations and embellishments to fill in the gaps in the history.

There was no sign of the Ottoman forces, but the hussars came across a group of Romanian people, who offered to sell schnapps to the weary soldiers.

Most of the infantry also ran away; the army comprised Austrians, Romanians, Serbs from the military frontier, Croats, and Italians from Lombardy, as well as other minorities, many of whom could not understand one another.

The panic caused by the incident demoralised the Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II to the point that he ordered the army to withdraw.

[8] Another account states that in the days following the incident, 1,000 wounded men were taken to the fortress at Arad, 60 km (37 mi) north of Timișoara.