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Mass grave DNA reveals deadly disease that devastated Napoleon’s army in 1812

by | Oct 27, 2025 | JPost | 0 comments

French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte and the Grande Armee flee the pursuing Russian army on the retreat from Moscow during the Napoleonic War of the Sixth Coalition on 20th November 1812 in Russia. An etching after the original work by Adolph Northen. (photo credit: Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
The study revealed that Napoleon’s soldiers suffered from several infections, exacerbated by cold, hunger, and exhaustion, which led to the army’s defeat by the Russians in 1812.

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