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The Bacteria That Helped To Defeat Napoleon
Different generations of leaders and soldiers learned the same lesson the hard way. Both Napoleon and Hitler invaded Russia and both armies failed. We now know from a study that two additional diseases plagued Napoleon’s troops along with hunger, cold, and harassment from Russian troops.
In June of 1812, Napolean’s army of more than 600,000, Europe’s largest, crossed into Russia. Facing a much smaller Russian army, he believed he’d win in a month. But the Russians used the Fabian strategy, a scorched earth approach that involved retreating and avoiding large scale battles while destroying resources as they went.
So even while Napoleon captured Moscow, it was abandoned and set ablaze with few supplies and winter coming on. By the time he retreated in October and crossed into France in December, just one-sixth of his army remained. Researchers studying DNA from the remains of those soldiers learned they had suffered from typhus and trench fever, but the methods they used could only identify microbes they specifically looked for.
New recent work used more advanced techniques that could analyze millions of DNA fragments on soldiers’ teeth for a wide array of pathogens simultaneously. This turned up two new bacteria responsible for decimating Napoleon’s army: one that causes paratyphoid fever and another that causes relapsing fever. Now we have a clearer picture of what happened in one of history’s major chapters.
More Information
DNA from Napoleon's 1812 army identifies pathogens likely responsible for the army's demise during retreat from Russia
In the summer of 1812, French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte led about half a million soldiers to invade the Russian Empire. But by December, only a fraction of the army remained alive. Historical records suggest that starvation, cold, and typhus led to their demise.
How Napoleon’s army met its doom: DNA reveals surprise illnesses had a role
Remains of some of the 300,000 soldiers who died on the retreat from Moscow reveal two bacterial diseases that probably added to the death count.
Paratyphoid fever and relapsing fever in 1812 Napoleon's devastated army
During Napoleon’s retreat from Russia in 1812, countless soldiers of the French army succumbed to infectious diseases, but the responsible pathogen or pathogens remain debated. We recovered and sequenced ancient DNA from the teeth of 13 soldiers who, based on historical records, likely died from infectious diseases, aiming to identify the pathogens responsible for their deaths.
