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Napoleon's Most Unusual Defeat: The Day He Fled from Rabbits

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Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte, one of history's most formidable military commanders, faced an unexpected and rather fluffy enemy in July 1807.

Following the signing of the Treaties of Tilsit, which marked a significant diplomatic success with Imperial Russia, Napoleon decided a celebratory rabbit hunt was in order.

His chief of staff, Alexandre Berthier, was put in charge of organizing the event. Berthier reportedly procured a large number of rabbits for the hunt, with some estimates suggesting several hundred, perhaps even up to three thousand.

However, the hunt took a bizarre turn. 🥕

When the cages were opened, the rabbits, instead of scattering in fear as wild game would, turned and charged directly towards Napoleon and his distinguished hunting party.

It turned out these were not wild rabbits. Berthier had sourced domesticated rabbits, likely from local farmers. These animals were accustomed to human presence and associated people with being fed.

The sight of the Emperor and his men, to this horde of bunnies, signaled an impending meal rather than danger.

The hunting party, armed with little more than riding crops and sticks, found themselves unexpectedly besieged. The sheer volume of advancing rabbits quickly overwhelmed the men.

Napoleon, the master strategist and conqueror of vast European territories, was forced into an undignified retreat. He scrambled back to his imperial carriage for safety, with some of the more audacious rabbits reportedly even managing to leap inside with him. 🐇

This rather comical "defeat" was later attributed to Berthier's unfortunate decision to use tame, food-expectant rabbits instead of their wild counterparts for the emperor's recreational hunt.

The incident remains a curious and often amusing anecdote in the otherwise imposing narrative of Napoleon Bonaparte's life and career.

🐰🥕 Thank you FB @ The History Page

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Eccentric Maestros: Anecdotes That Reveal the Human Side of Great Conductors

🎻 1. Pre-Concert Rituals and Quirks

Arturo Toscanini demanded absolute silence in the minutes before a rehearsal; any noise irritated him profoundly, to the point of cancelling rehearsals if someone coughed more than once.

Wilhelm Furtwängler used to walk in circles backstage before going on the podium, murmuring phrases from the symphonic poem he was about to conduct.

Carlos Kleiber rehearsed entirely from memory, and in dressing rooms he would practice his gestures in front of a mirror—sometimes for hours!—to ensure every movement felt natural.

Claudio Abbado, before major performances, would isolate himself in total silence for hours. He once requested that his hotel room be stripped of clocks, phones, and even mirrors, to fully detach from the “noise of time.”

Leonard Bernstein sometimes paced nervously backstage before performances, whispering Shakespearean lines or humming through entire symphonic passages. He treated the podium like a stage for a grand theatrical entrance.

Erich Kleiber, father of Carlos, used to recite Goethe aloud in the final minutes before stepping onto the podium. He claimed it brought "mental symmetry" before conducting.

Dimitri Mitropoulos insisted on never using a baton. He felt the music should pass through his hands directly—“from heart to air,” he said—even when conducting large orchestras in vast concert halls.

☕ 2. Curious Habits and Superstitions

Herbert von Karajan believed in the power of the color white. He often requested that rehearsal spaces have light-colored walls and that music stands be perfectly aligned.

Sir Thomas Beecham claimed he never rehearsed too much in order to avoid “wearing out the music.”

In his later years, Otto Klemperer rejected modern printed scores and preferred conducting from older editions, even if they were less accurate.

Arturo Toscanini refused to shake hands with anyone just before a concert. He believed it transferred "external tension" to his body and might affect the physical fluidity of his conducting.

Georg Solti insisted on wearing the same set of cufflinks for every major premiere he conducted. He viewed them as a talisman, and once postponed a concert until they were found after being misplaced.

Igor Markevitch carried a small antique tuning fork in his jacket pocket for every concert—he believed it resonated at a “pure frequency” that stabilized his inner rhythm.

🏞️ 3. Surprising Hobbies

Gustav Mahler was passionate about Alpine hiking. He often composed while walking for miles through the mountains, and many of his symphonic ideas were born during these excursions.

Eugene Ormandy collected antique watches and enjoyed disassembling and reassembling them to relax between tours.

Leonard Bernstein privately wrote novels and philosophical essays that were never published, some of which combined music and theology.

Simon Rattle is an avid birdwatcher. He reportedly travels with a compact field guide and binoculars, and he’s known to wake early before rehearsals just to walk in local parks and track songbirds.

Kurt Masur was a passionate beekeeper. During his Leipzig years, he kept hives outside the city and often said that the behavior of bees taught him lessons in leadership and balance.

Lorin Maazel was a chess master-level player and often studied game theory between rehearsals. Some say his structural thinking about Bruckner symphonies mirrored his approach to chess openings.

🧼 4. Obsessions with Cleanliness or Order

George Szell was obsessively meticulous. He is said to have arrived at the auditorium hours in advance to ensure all chairs and music stands were placed with exact precision. He once halted a rehearsal over a poorly folded handkerchief on a chair.

Riccardo Muti never touched a score without first washing his hands. He carried a small bottle of disinfectant with him long before it became common.

Fritz Reiner demanded exact bowings in string sections and would become enraged if a single violinist moved out of sync. Once, he stopped an entire rehearsal to reassign the bow direction of two measures.

Michael Tilson Thomas has been known to adjust chairs and podium height to the millimeter before rehearsals. He once asked for a custom-modified conductor’s stool to be built for a single week of Mahler.

🐕 5. Pets and Animal Companions

Pierre Monteux traveled with his dog during European tours. The animal had its own seat in the dressing room, and Monteux claimed its presence calmed him before conducting.

Bruno Walter was fond of cats and said that his cat “suggested Bruckner’s modulations” to him.

Valery Gergiev famously traveled with a large, quiet tabby cat named Boris. The cat was known to sit under his dressing table, and Gergiev would sometimes confide in him before going onstage.

Felix Weingartner, a late Romantic conductor, traveled with a parrot trained to whistle themes from Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony. It often sat backstage during rehearsals and intermissions.

🍷 6. Eccentric Tastes

Hans Knappertsbusch insisted on having a glass of Bavarian beer before every rehearsal. Sometimes he drank it in front of the orchestra, commenting, “Wagner doesn’t sound right without hops.”

Sergiu Celibidache, obsessed with Zen philosophy, demanded that no one enter the auditorium for half an hour before rehearsal to “purify the space’s energy.”

Esa-Pekka Salonen has a fascination with modern architecture. He once requested that his rehearsal studio in Los Angeles be redesigned in accordance with acoustic geometry principles he’d read about in a Finnish design journal.

Artur Rodziński had an obsession with shoes. He insisted on wearing polished, custom-made leather shoes to each concert—even during outdoor summer festivals—and kept dozens in his dressing room.

📚 7. Cultural or Intellectual Interests

Claudio Abbado read Hölderlin’s poetry before each concert to find an inner lyrical atmosphere.

Franz Welser-Möst is known for his passion for Renaissance painting; he often visits art museums while on tour and compares many symphonic structures to visual compositions.

Daniel Barenboim often travels with volumes of Spinoza and Thomas Mann. He’s known to discuss metaphysics with musicians between rehearsals, especially during Wagner projects.

Sir John Eliot Gardiner keeps a personal herbarium. He compares musical timbres to aromatic plants and often describes sonorities in terms like “rosemary dry,” “myrrh-like,” or “cinnamon-rooted bass lines.”

Thank you Alex Rosas Navarro FB @ Conductor's and Instrumental Soloists

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