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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.
By
  1. Jenna Ahart

Some disease-ridden French soldiers have just received a new diagnosis — although it comes about two centuries too late. While retreating from Moscow in 1812, French emperor Napoleon I lost most of his army to hunger, illness and the frigid Russian winter. Now, analysis of some of the fallen soldiers’ DNA has uncovered two unsuspected diseases that plagued the troops1.

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Nature 647, 17-18 (2025)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-025-03487-6

References

  1. Barbieri, R. et al. Curr. Biol. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2025.09.047 (2025).

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  2. Raoult, D. et al. J. Infect. Dis. 193, 112–120 (2006).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

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