NAPOLEON Bonaparte is known as one of the greatest military commanders in history.
It’s said that Napoleon only lost 7 battles throughout his historical reign with his most upsetting defeat which came from Waterloo.
However, legend has it (well historical records to be precise), that he may have retreated another one, this time as bizarre as it sounds -- to a bunch of rabbits.
VERDICT:
TRUE
This is a story that sounds too strange to be true. Yet, it has been recounted by historians and chroniclers of the time, as well as by Napoleon’s generals.
After the peace treaty of Tilsit in July 1807 was signed, Napoleon, the emperor of France wanted to celebrate by going on a hunt.
Louis-Alexandre Berthier, Napoleon’s chief of staff and minister of war, organised the hunt on a private land just outside Paris.
Baron Thiébault, a general in Napoleon’s army, recounted the event in his memoir, saying that the land had everything they needed for the event -- except for rabbits.
So one thousand rabbits were ordered from local farms to be delivered to the property for the hunt.
The hunt began and the rabbits were released. Shots rang out but instead of dashing away, the rabbits approached Napoleon and his men looking for food!
The bunnies gnawed at his feet and his legs. They hopped onto his arms and shoulders. They almost took Napoleon down to the ground.
Napoleon could not position his weapon to shoot them properly, so he retreated and ran to his imperial coach for safety.
The emperor who defeated the Austrians and Russians, reestablished the aristocracy in France and consequently altered world history, met his match against a flock of rabbits.
Thiébault’s memoir concludes its story of the hunt by saying the rabbits "forced the conqueror of conquerors, fairly exhausted, to retreat and leave them in possession of the field,".
Witnesses of the incident were sworn to secrecy to protect their leader’s image and it wasn’t until 1895 that Thiébault published his memoirs in French.
Maybe they should've gone for it during duck season instead.
Reference:
https://www.historydefined.
https://justhistoryposts.com/
https://archive.org/details/
https://www.ripleys.com/
