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That Time One of the Most Powerful Men in the World Was Attacked by Rabbits

Napoleon Bonaparte. The name may make you think of one of the most powerful military leaders in history. However, I am here to change that view a bit. There is no doubt, Napoleon has many successful feats. The man conquered a large part of Europe.

We're not here to discuss his military tactics, nor politics. This post is solely to tell the story of when he was attacked by rabbits. Yes, rabbits.
In 1807, Napoleon signed the Treaties of Tilsit, which ended the war between his French Empire and Imperial Russia. To celebrate the end of the war, the Emperor wanted to have a rabbit hunt. Being a busy man, he entrusted his Chief of Staff, Alexandre Berthier in charge of putting the hunt together.

It is unknown exactly how many rabbits Berthier collected. The estimate is anywhere from a few hundred to 3,000. That is a lot of rabbits. Too many. The caged rabbits were lined up at the end of the field, where the hunt would take place. It was intended that the rabbits would be released and they would try to evade Napoleon and the men invited to the hunt.

However, as you can see from the title of this post, that did not happen. When the rabbits were released from the cages, they did not run and try to hide from the hunters. They charged Napoleon and his men. The image of a sea of rabbits running towards you may seem funny. Napoleon thought so. At first. He and his men laughed at the predicament, but then they realized how serious it actually was.

Once they realized the sheer amount of rabbits charging at them to no end, they panicked. Yes, the man who almost conquered the world panicked over some rabbits. But who could blame him. The Emperor tried beating the rabbits away. His men used anything they could. Sticks, muskets. Napoleon even tried shooting at the rabbits, but they just kept coming.

So the mighty Napoleon fled to his carriage, but they just kept coming and followed him. Allegedly some rabbits jumped into the carriage with him. He tried flinging them out. I can only imagine how hilarious and horrifying this scene was. Oh, if I had a time machine.

The rabbits didn't back down until the carriage rolled away. As it turns out, Berthier - who was in charge of the hunt - had gotten domesticated rabbits instead of just wild rabbits. The domesticated rabbits thought Napoleon looked like a farmer. They saw him as a meal ticket, hence why they followed him to his carriage.

Who would have thought Napoleon's arch-nemesis was actually rabbits?

What other weird history stories, would you like to learn more about? Let me know in the comments!

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