The Great Rabbit Revolt: Napoleon’s Hopping Headache

In July 1807, fresh off of signing the Treaty of Tilsit with Russia, French Emperor and European bad boy, Napoleon Bonaparte organized a celebratory rabbit hunt to commemorate the event. You know, as you do. His Chief of Staff, Alexandre Berthier, arranged the event, procuring a large number of rabbits—reports vary from hundreds to over 3,000.

The jubilant event took an unexpected turn however, when the rabbits, instead of fleeing to start the hunt, charged at Napoleon and his men. You see, unbeknownst to Napoleon, the rabbits were domesticated, not wild and associated the humans with food.

Seeing a large group of men, the rabbits thought it was their lucky day and went to collect their bounty of carrots. The onslaught was so overwhelming that Napoleon had to retreat to his carriage to escape the fluffy attackers. The situation escalated as the rabbits surrounded and climbed onto the emperor, leading to chaos among the hunting party. The attack came to an end only after the Napoleon’s carriage departed the scene.

Yes, that's right ladies and gentlemen, the man best known for being a 'military genius,’ who once held nearly all the power in Europe, hightailed it back to his carriage away from Thumper.

Now you might expect that someone like Napoleon would have had the head of his Chief of Staff, Berthier for causing such a blunder, and you might be right? Turns out Berthier lived another eight years sometimes fighting right along with Napoleon, but he did meet an untimely demise that, to this day remains a mystery.

You see, Berthier passed away while being held under house arrest by the European allies formed against Napoleon, leaving the details around his death are a bit murky. Some offer the opinion that it was a suicide, suggesting he purposely fell from a third-story window in Bamberg, Germany. While others lean more towards him being murdered by the allied forces.

All I know, is that Napoleon was fresh back from his exile on island of Elba and if that man wasn’t known for holding a grudge, I don’t know who was! Word had gotten to him during his forced vacation period, that Berthier might have hedged his bets a little by showing support for the opposition during Napoleon’s time out from warring.

Though no concrete evidence links Napoleon directly to Berthier's death, the timing and circumstances are still quite suspect. In the intricate chess game of European power, removing a potentially unreliable piece could have been a calculated move. Removing a potentially unreliable piece that humiliated you in front of your men AND might be traitor certainly fits the bill for this knee high nepo-baby.

Oh sure, Napoleon was later said to have lamented saying, "If Berthier had been there, I would not have met this misfortune." But couldn’t that be seen as just another way of Napoleon blaming for Berthier for losing Waterloo?

Historically, Napoleon, like most losers in battle, did frequently shifted responsibility for his military setbacks onto others. For instance, after the Battle of Auerstadt in 1806, he flat out accused Berthier of betrayal, calling him a "gosling who I had made into a kind of eagle."

A “gosling who I had made into a kind of eagle," now that’s as backhanded of a compliment as I have ever heard. But it does all make sense now! Napoleon had Berthier thrown out a window as symbolic way of reminding Berthier that Napoleon had made him an eagle and without him, he could no longer fly? It’s possible.

I just think it was just karmic payback for that time Berthier unleashed 3,000 ravenous rabbits on him. Napoleon never quite recovered from that. In the annals of history, we should let this serve as a reminder that even the mightiest can be humbled—not by armies, but by a legion of hungry, misunderstood bunnies.