In 1812, Napoleon Bonaparte sent his Grand Armèe to Russia in a battle that would befell the French armed forces. A new study, however, has revealed new details about some of the causes of death of those soldiers for the first time.
The Lowdown
A fascinating new study published in Live Science has dived deep into the 1812 Russian invasion led by then French leader Napoleon Bonaparte. As the scientific mag notes — the interesting study examined the teeth remains of 13 soldiers killed during the invasion. From those extractions and analyses two new entire pathogens were found to have contributed to their deaths: Salmonella enterica, which causes paratyphoid fever, and Borrelia recurrentis.