Lice 'undermined Napoleon's Army'

[Viggen]

Hard genetic evidence that lice-borne disease played a key role in Napoleon's disastrous retreat through Russia in 1812 has been produced by researchers. Experts analysed dental pulp extracted from the teeth of soldiers who died during the campaign.

 

full article at the BBC

[Pertinax]

I know I rattle on about parasiticly transmitted diseases all the time -but here we go again ,they are so often overlooked .This is an interesting reflection on the type of army Napoleon had, a huge ,citizen based , in most part very basically trained soldiery. It also highlights exactly what such armies are prone to suffer, though it was said of medieval armies it applies here(perhaps even more so), armies are a walking mass of contagion.