Napoleon Bonaparte is considered one of the greatest military minds in history, but even he had his fair share of defeats. His biggest defeat came at The Battle of Waterloo, which marked the end of France as a dominant power in Europe. But the most surprising one was when he lost the battle against an army of rabbits. And yes, that really happened.
As the story goes, Napoleon had a rabbit hunt organized for him by his Chief of Staff, Alexandre Berthier, in 1807. Wanting to make the hunt as effortless as possible for the mighty ruler of France, Berthier decided to take domesticated rabbits, believing they would be an easy game. Most versions of the story say there were several hundreds of rabbits brought to the hunting park, while some indicate the number might be in the thousands.
Once Napoleon and his party, which included several high-ranked military officers, finished their outdoor meal and started the hunt, the rabbits were released from their cages. But instead of being easy prey, they actually started charging toward their hunters.
Napoleon and the rest of the hunting party first accepted the challenge but found that they were no match for the army of bunnies. At that moment, Napoleon decided to retreat to his carriage but the rabbits were not willing to give up. They were jumping on the carriage, and some versions of the story say that a couple of them managed to get inside.
At that point, Napoleon, as any great general would do, recognized it was time to retreat and left the park.
The reason why domesticated rabbits reacted the way they did is because they didn’t actually fear men with guns. Instead, they believed they would be given food, and that is the sole reason why they charged Napoleon and his party.