The defeat of Napoleon Bonaparte in the Russia campaign 1812 It is one of the most studied military episodes in history. For more than two centuries, the extreme coldhe hunger and the typhus They were pointed out as those mainly responsible for the defeat.
However, new scientific research has just provided evidence that forces us to review this classic explanation. Through the genetic analysis of human remains, the researchers concluded that typhus was not the cause of the catastrophe.
The finding is based on the use of modern technology in ancient DNA analysis of the remains of French soldiers. This allowed identify other infectious diseases who would have played a key role in the most devastating retreat of the Napoleonic army, thus ruling out typhus as the cause of mass mortality in Napoleon’s army.
The Russian campaign and an unprecedented defeat
In it summer of 1812, Napoleon invaded the Russian Empire in command of a army that exceeded the 600,000 men. The objective was to force Tsar Alexander I to comply with the trade blockade against Great Britain and consolidate French hegemony in Europe.
Although the initial advance was successful and allowed the Moscow occupationthe Russian scorched earth strategy and the lack of supplies they started to weaken the French troops. The withdrawal, which began in October, quickly turned into a human tragedy.
For December, only about 30,000 soldiers managed to return. For decades, historical accounts attributed this mass mortality to a combination of extreme cold, malnutrition and typhusa disease transmitted by lice common in the armies of the time.
What the DNA of Napoleon’s soldiers revealed
A team of scientists from Pasteur Institute and of the Aix-Marseille University reanalyzed human remains found in a mass grave in Vilnius, Lithuania, where the French army passed during the retreat.
The researchers They extracted DNA from the teeth of 13 soldiers and they applied advanced genetic sequencing techniques, more precise than those used in previous studies. The objective was to confirm whether the typhus had really been the dominant infection.
The result was surprising since no traces of the bacteria that cause typhus were found. Instead, pathogens responsible for paratyphoid fever and relapsing fever were identifiedtwo serious diseases that cause high fever, extreme exhaustion and digestive disorders, especially dangerous in contexts of malnutrition and cold.
The impact of the discovery on military history
The study, published in the scientific journal Current Biologysuggests that the combination of multiple infections decisively weakened the napoleonic army. These diseases, added to the logistical collapse and extreme weather conditions, would have accelerated the collapse of the campaign.
Furthermore, the scientists detected that one of the identified bacteria belongs to a lineage that had circulated in Europe for more than 2,000 yearsdemonstrating the persistence of certain pathogens over time and their silent role in major historical events.
According to the researchers, this finding confirms the value of paleogenomics to reinterpret episodes of the past. By revealing which diseases actually affected soldiers, science allows us to understand more precisely why Napoleon He lost what would be his most decisive battle and the beginning of the end of his empire.
