Posted on 05/31/2009 1:03:31 PM PDT by decimon
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Even as the Russians retreated before him in disarray, Napoleon found his army disappearing, his frantic doctors powerless to explain what had struck down a hundred thousand soldiers. The emperor’s vaunted military brilliance suddenly seemed useless, and when the Russians put their own occupied capital to the torch, the campaign became a desperate race through the frozen landscape as troops continued to die by the thousands. Through it all, with tragic heroism, Napoleon’s disease-ravaged, freezing, starving men somehow rallied, again and again, to cries of “Vive l’Empereur!”
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(Excerpt) Read more at amazon.com ...
Via InstaPundit
Complex ping.
I just finished reading The Ghost Map by Johnson and I really recommend it for those, who like myself, are fascinated by plagues. It’s about the 1854 cholera epidemic in Soho, London England.
Typhus? Yeah, right. Two of Russia’s generals were most responsible for Napoleon’s defeat. Do you know their names?
There was a plaque on my hospital commander’s desk:
“Disease has killed more soldiers and decided more wars than all the bullets and bombs ever fired in anger.”
I believe it is a quote or a paraphrase though I do not know the source.
Kutozov and Bagration
I believe they are “January” and “February” though I do not know their official ranks.
Close, but no cigar. The two I’m talking about have been responsible for keeping Russia safe for generations.
You, sir, are a true historian.
Napoleon lost another 50,000 men to disease (yellow fever) in Haiti. He sent them there with the intention of using it as a staging area for militarizing the Louisiana Territory. There was a slave revolt, and in the process he lost not only most of his army, but Haiti as well. He gave up his North American ambitions, and offered President Jefferson a chance to buy the Louisiana Territory, doubling the size of the USA.
Possibly so. But a big letdown to military buffs.
Yeah ... as a hard charging Infantry Sergent, my first reaction was “No Way!” But then I did a little research. Hard to accept that one of the greatest inventions ever employed by the military is the latrine.
"An army travels on its stomach." When it can no longer stand, I guess.
At first I thought this was about all of the departed voters democrats rely on to swing elections.
The “Generals January and February” saying is a crock. Napoleon invaded Russia in June 1812, and what was left of his army left Russia in December 1812. A quick review of the calendar reveals that no months named January or February appeared between those dates.
An obvious (and maybe dumb) question is this: Why was typhus a worse problem for Napoleon’s army than for the Russians? I would guess the answer is that the French forces were more concentrated, allowing the disease to spread more easily.
1803:
30 April: Napoleon sells Louisiana to United States.
18 May: Britain declares war.
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