"Joseph II and the Myth of Karansebes, 1788 " Topic
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Tango01 | 24 Jul 2018 9:16 p.m. PST |
"One of history's most unbelievable anecdotes involves the "Battle of Karansebes." It's a staggering, unbelievable tale cited as the epitome of military incompetence, with an Austrian army massacring itself through panic and drunken misunderstanding. Unfortunately, there's no evidence that this catastrophe actually occurred – at least in the form we know it. In 1787, Russia and the Ottoman Empire went to war in a dispute over territory along the Danube River. Austria's Emperor Joseph II, seeking to strengthen ties with Russia, entered the war a year later. Some records indicate that he dreamed of a Christian alliance to drive the hated Turks from Europe: "The Russians would cross the Danube at Galati and together we could travel downriver and enter the Black Sea. From there, we could storm Constantinople and finish the job." But Joseph was motivated as much by realpolitik as imperial fantasies. His efforts at political reforms (along with patronage of artists like Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart) triggered a backlash from Austria's conservative nobility, threatening his authority. Then there was simple pragmatism: he had formed an alliance with Russia's Catherine the Great for mutual defense against Prussia, still the bugbear of Central Europe a year after Frederick the Great's passing. Domestic and external motivation thus compelled Joseph to undertake an ill-conceived campaign…." Main page link Amicalement Armand
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