New Study Identifies Louse-borne Diseases That Ravaged Napoleon's Army

[Knight-Dragon]

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/12/051215081728.htm

Using dental pulp extracted from the teeth of soldiers who died during Napoleon’s disastrous retreat through Russia in 1812, a new study finds DNA evidence that epidemic typhus and trench fever ran rampant among the French Grand Army. The study, published in the Jan. 1 issue of The Journal of Infectious Diseases, now available online, identifies the specific species of louse-borne pathogens that were a major cause of death among the remains of the retreating army.

Napoleon marched into Russia in the summer of 1812 with a half-million soldiers. Only a few thousand staggered out again, victims of war, weather, and disease. Twenty-five thousand arrived in Vilnius that winter, but only 3,000 lived to continue the retreat. The dead were buried in mass graves.

Construction work in 2001 unearthed one such grave, containing between 2,000 and 3,000 corpses. Didier Raoult, MD, PhD, from the Université de la Méditerranée in Marseille, France, and colleagues identified body segments of five lice in a forensic excavation of two kilograms of earth containing fragments of bone and remnants of clothing. Three of the lice carried DNA from Bartonella quintana, which causes the disease commonly known as trench fever, which afflicted many soldiers in World War I.

The team analyzed dental pulp from 72 teeth, taken from the remains of 35 soldiers. Dental pulp from seven soldiers contained DNA from B. quintana, and pulp from three soldiers contained DNA from Rickettsia prowazakii, which causes epidemic typhus. Testing for other organisms gave negative results, and other appropriate controls were negative.

In all, 29 percent of the soldiers tested had evidence of either R. prowazkii or B. quintana infection, suggesting that louse-born diseases such as typhus and trench fever may have been a major factor contributing to Napoleon’s retreat from Russia. The authors conclude that searching for DNA of infectious agents in dental pulp may become an important tool for investigating the history of communicable diseases.

 

[Birdjaguar]

Another great article.
Snow, sub zero cold, lack of food and clothing, and now, to add insult to injury, disease. Another dimension for Minard's chart.

"Probably the best statistical graphic ever drawn, this map by Charles Joseph Minard portrays the losses suffered by Napoleon's army in the Russian campaign of 1812. Beginning at the Polish-Russian border, the thick band shows the size of the army at each position. The path of Napoleon's retreat from Moscow in the bitterly cold winter is depicted by the dark lower band, which is tied to temperature and time scales."

http://www.edwardtufte.com/tufte/posters

 

[Gelion]

According to this image Napoleon lost more men before he even arrived to Moscow (i.e. before winter and diseases started killing his men en masse)
Nevertheless its a good study...

 

[Mr. Blonde]

Interesting article. What really crushed Napoleon were illnesses and the lack of supplies.
When the winter arrived when the army was already beaten and retreating to Smolensk. Numbers were down from 260000 to 90000 without supplies. Snow fell on 3rd November, only 24000 were left when he reached Smolensk 9th November. Of course he blamed the winter and his lack of foresight for the loss.

 

[Birdjaguar]

There are several issues in regards to Napoleon's Russian Campaign. Hindsight makes things very easy to pick apart. Those making decisions at the time had a very different perspective. Strategically Napoleon was in trouble once he left Smolensk in the fall of 1812 to march on Moscow. Militarily, he was beaten when Alexander refused to make peace after Borodino and the fall of Moscow. looking back, his long wait in Moscow, hoping for peace, became a problem since winter came early and cold that year. The initial attempt to return via a southerly, unpillaged, route failed when he was blocked at Maloyaroslavets, was a bad turn of events and forced him to retreat via the same that he invaded. His conservative approach to the battle kept him from forcing that route. Everything went downhill after that.

Keep in mind that during the retreat the Russians were follwing him and there were frequent small battles. The Russian army suffered the same hardships as the French and lost many men from cold, disease and desertion. Winter is an "equal opportunity employer" and treats everyone the same. Russian losses for the campaing are estimated at 150,000 deaths from all causes and another 300,000 crippled and maimed from wounds and frostbite.

 

[storealex]

The Russians actually lost over 400.000 soldiers, which is less than the French, but add to that the plunder and burning of Russian cities and countryside, plus hundred of thousands civilian casualties, and the only conclusion can be that the war was lost by both France and Russia. The real winners where Austria and England.

 

[Steph]

I think Napoleon made a big mistake here, by going into Russia with an army that was to big. Not only because it was hard to supply...

Napoleon's idea was to engage the Russians in a major battle, beat them, negotiate a peace treaty at his advantage, come back.

A kind of Austerlitz or 1806 quick campaign.

And he was sure with such a big army, he would won the battle. Problem is, the Russians were sure of it to. So they refused to play by his rule, and denied him the battle.

Napoleon didn't think the Russians would withdraw, using scorched earth technics, letting him take Moscow, etc. He was not aware of the amount of sacrifices they were ready to make to wear him down.

Perhaps if he went with an army half the size, the Russians would have tried to fight him in a classical opened batte, and if he had won he would have made an acceptable peace proposal.

The outcome was perhaps unlikely, but he may have worked better.

Well, as we say here, with "if" you can put Paris in a bottle.

 

[storealex]

Had I been Napoleon, I would have left Russia alone and taken on Sweden, which could easily be done since Denmark would be more than happy to provide ships, surplies and troops. With Sweden and Bernadotte out of the picture, Øresund could be closed and trade between Russia and England would take a dive.
That would either force Russia to attack, or sit home without the trade it needed. No matter what, Napoleon would win from the situation.