2. When Napoleon Was Routed by Rabbits
Napoleon Bonaparte was not as murderous as Hitler, but in his day, he was feared and loathed by his foes just as much as contemporaries feared the Fuhrer. As he roamed Europe at the head of his armies, gobbling up countries like popcorn, Napoleon was a scary boogeyman. Indeed, English parents used to scare their children into obedience with “Boney the Bogeyman”. Napoleon, often referred to in newspapers as “Little Boney” in a bid to belittle him and play down his threat, was portrayed as a larger than life figure to England’s young. He was depicted as a giant ogre who would take away naughty children and eat them for breakfast. “If you don’t behave, Boney will come for you” was usually quite effective in getting rambunctious kids to pipe down.
The kids would have been less terrified if they’d known that the scary Boney was once attacked – and forced to retreat – by rabbits. It might not have been as bad as his defeat at Waterloo. However, it was a pretty humiliating and lopsided rout that forced the mighty Emperor of the French to flee from a horde of cute bunnies. It happened in 1807, when Napoleon was at the height of his power and bestrode Europe like a colossus. He had vanquished the Russians and Austrians at the Battle of Austerlitz, and humiliated the Prussians at the twin Battles of Jena-Auerstedt. He capped off his string of victories with the Treaties of Tilsit, which ended the War of the Fourth Coalition against him. Then, as seen below, came the bunnies.
