Napoleon's lousy defeat revealed

Herald Sun ^ | 4 January 2005

[Aussie Dasher]

THE history books say that after reaching Moscow in 1812, Napoleon's army was laid low by the Russian winter and then finished off by hunger, battle wounds and low morale as it straggled back to France.

The truth, say scientists, is more intriguing but rather less poetic: the biggest destroyer of the Grande Armee was Pediculus humanus -- the human louse.

A team led by Didier Raoult of France's National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) examined the remains of Napoleon's soldiers who had been buried in a mass grave in Vilnius, the Lithuanian capital, 800km west of Moscow.

Samples of earth, cloth and teeth recovered from the site suggest that more than 30 percent of these troops were killed by bacterial fever transmitted by lice.

The parasites caused relapsing fever, through the bacterium Borrelia recurrentis; trench fever, a condition well known in the Western Front of World War I, caused by the germ Bartonella quintana; and typhus, caused by the Rickettsia prowazeki bacterium.

The evidence comes from remains of the fleas that were found in the common grave and in the soldiers' uniforms, and from the presence of Bartonella quintana in some of the fleas themselves.

In addition, seven teeth, among 35 that were examined, were found to have Bartonella quintana in the dental pulp while Rickettsia prowazeki was found in three other teeth.

The unusual research is found in the January issue of Journal of Infectious Diseases.

The mass grave, discovered in 2001, contains the remains of hundreds of fleeing Napoleonic soldiers.

[Aussie Dasher]

Of course Napoleon was lousy - he was French!

SCREW THE FROGS!!!!!

[SampleMan]

The article says louse and then says flea. Is the reporter just an idiot? Never mind.

[NEWwoman]

At least we know now why he had his hand in his jacket. He was scratching himself.

[Aussie Dasher]

That's better than what I thought he was doing...

[RightWhale]

Napoleon was good at using up the troops in vast quantities.

[FreeKeys]

Is that how the French habit of not taking baths started?

[Aussie Dasher]

No...this is a direct result of the Frog habit of not taking baths...as in "lousy, smelly Frogs".

[Mr. Jeeves]

I'm thinking "louse" is a misprint, since fleas are far more likely to be transmitters of disease.

[Unassuaged]

I have read a few accounts of the battle of Stalingrad in WWII, one of the things that left an impression was the description of the Russian method of delousing. First you dig a hole in the ground and bury your clothing item withe a little piece sticking out, the lice will all move there, they can then be scooped off and disposed of. There were similar issues with fleas.

[SunkenCiv]

This could be a list ping, but I think I've seen such a topic before. :')

[A CA Guy]

Napoleon was French and a Muslim. Of course bad things would eventually happen to him.

[Aussie Dasher]

Napolean was a moozie?

[A CA Guy]

Yes, he conquered part of the Middle East, he was not religious and the people there said they would like him to convert to Islam and he did.

[68 grunt]

Nap was a muzzie? Only in the mind of a kookooklock.

[Aussie Dasher]

My dear departed grandmother (God rest her soul) always told me it's important to learn something new every day. Thankyou for today's contribution.

[Aussie Dasher]

Your tagline is obviously a cricket score. Who is India playing?

[68 grunt]

Third Battalion, First Marines, 'I' Company, 3rd Platoon, 1968-1969, infantryman ... They were somewhere at the time, hmmm, where were they again ???

[68 grunt]

Do yourself a favor and google it. Remember your results next time he asserts sumtin ...

[A CA Guy]

I had a grandmother (God bless her resting soul) who thought I should learn to cook something new every day so she would not have to do the cooking!
She was Swiss married to a Sicilian!

Last month a friend was watching the history channel and learned about the Muslim conversion of Napoleon.

I think you can probably look on the net for the exact battle and area he conquered where the people asked him to convert.

[68 grunt]

http://www.oldandsold.com/articles24/speaking-oak-66.shtml