- 5 weeks ago
🌍 *Napoleon's Lost Army - A Chilling Chapter in History* 🌍
Welcome to Moments In Time! In this gripping episode, we delve into the haunting saga of Napoleon's Lost Army, a tale that echoes through the annals of military history. In 2002, a remarkable archaeological discovery in Vilnius, Lithuania, unveiled a mass grave containing the remains of 2,000 to 3,000 French soldiers who met their tragic end during one of history's most catastrophic military campaigns.
*What Happened?* This documentary takes you on a journey back to the early 19th century, exploring the harrowing conditions these brave men faced as they marched across Europe. Battling freezing temperatures, starvation, and rampant disease, many succumbed just outside the capital of Lithuania. With no records of their names or fates, the mystery surrounding their deaths remains a poignant reminder of the human cost of war.
🔍 *What to Expect:*
*In-Depth Analysis:* We will examine the strategic blunders and environmental challenges that contributed to this military disaster.
*Expert Insights:* Hear from historians and archaeologists who provide context and analysis of the findings, shedding light on the broader implications of this event in the Napoleonic Wars.
*Visual Storytelling:* Stunning visuals and re-enactments will transport you to the frozen landscapes these soldiers endured, making history come alive.
📜 *Join Us:* As we unravel the mystery behind the untimely deaths of these soldiers, we aim to honour their memory and understand the lessons learned from this tragic chapter in history.
🔔 *If you enjoy exploring historical mysteries and uncovering the untold stories of the past, make sure to hit the "follow" button on our channel.
Welcome to Moments In Time! In this gripping episode, we delve into the haunting saga of Napoleon's Lost Army, a tale that echoes through the annals of military history. In 2002, a remarkable archaeological discovery in Vilnius, Lithuania, unveiled a mass grave containing the remains of 2,000 to 3,000 French soldiers who met their tragic end during one of history's most catastrophic military campaigns.
*What Happened?* This documentary takes you on a journey back to the early 19th century, exploring the harrowing conditions these brave men faced as they marched across Europe. Battling freezing temperatures, starvation, and rampant disease, many succumbed just outside the capital of Lithuania. With no records of their names or fates, the mystery surrounding their deaths remains a poignant reminder of the human cost of war.
🔍 *What to Expect:*
*In-Depth Analysis:* We will examine the strategic blunders and environmental challenges that contributed to this military disaster.
*Expert Insights:* Hear from historians and archaeologists who provide context and analysis of the findings, shedding light on the broader implications of this event in the Napoleonic Wars.
*Visual Storytelling:* Stunning visuals and re-enactments will transport you to the frozen landscapes these soldiers endured, making history come alive.
📜 *Join Us:* As we unravel the mystery behind the untimely deaths of these soldiers, we aim to honour their memory and understand the lessons learned from this tragic chapter in history.
🔔 *If you enjoy exploring historical mysteries and uncovering the untold stories of the past, make sure to hit the "follow" button on our channel.
Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:00A city in Eastern Europe, the dead of winter, temperature 35 below zero Fahrenheit.
00:18Like an army of the living dead, ghostly apparitions grope ahead blindly, desperate to reach safety.
00:25But their only escape from the chill will be the warm embrace of death.
00:35Imagine a city of about 30,000 inhabitants filled also with about 30,000 of dead bodies scattered all around.
00:44They saw thousands of men just dropping dead, maybe start laughing or something strange like that, and then suddenly fall on their face.
00:55It's one of the worst disasters in military history.
01:02The victims' names unrecorded.
01:06Their deaths unmarked.
01:09The identity of the killer still a mystery.
01:14At first, the mass murder seems like the perfect crime.
01:18No traces of any injuries, no traces of traumas.
01:24All the question is why he died.
01:27To lay the ghosts of the past to rest, a small team of scientists will first have to confront them face on, in all their horror.
01:35But in a place that was ravaged by the Nazis, and then the Soviet KGB, the scientists are about to find that in their hunt for this killer, they face none of the usual suspects.
01:49Lithuania was the first of the Soviet republics to declare its independence in 1990.
02:11Today, the capital, Vilnius, is a thriving center of economic development.
02:26But dig beneath the surface, and icy fingers reach up out of a dark past.
02:35You can see here the old building, old type buildings, and new one.
02:39Arturo Souokas is mayor of Vilnius.
02:43We are on the crossroads between different countries.
02:48And in Vilnius, we have been occupied by Polish army, Swedish, French, Russian, Soviet, and other armies.
03:00This is, how to say, some unique of our history.
03:02After the Soviet occupation of Lithuania ended, workers at a former Soviet military base unearthed a shocking discovery.
03:16One that the construction foreman will never forget.
03:21I saw that these bones were definitely human bones, so I called the police and stopped the whole work.
03:29In a mass grave, hundreds, thousands of victims.
03:37But who are they?
03:39And who was the killer?
03:40Dr. Romantus Yankouskis, a forensic anthropologist at Vilnius University, is called in to oversee the excavation.
03:55With more than 2,000 skeletons to identify, it's every forensic anthropologist's dream and worst nightmare.
04:02Eight years ago, Yankouskis excavated another mass grave.
04:15By matching photographs of known Soviet dissidents to the skeletal remains, he identified them as KGB victims.
04:22This pit is only half a mile from the KGB site.
04:37It makes the Soviets the prime suspect here, too.
04:42But something doesn't add up.
04:44This time, there is no smoking gun.
04:47There is relatively few artifacts on all the final weapons, very few coins, and very few military insignias.
04:58Before burial, bodies were partially stripped of their clothing.
05:02And decades of decay have conspired to conceal the last shreds of incriminating evidence.
05:07Then, a single button from a vanished uniform, a tantalizing clue to the identity of the victims.
05:18There is a small trace of decoration just getting around on the rim.
05:23But you cannot see much on the front part of the button.
05:29When the buttons are cleaned, archaeologists positively identify their source.
05:37It plunges them back in time to the mightiest army in European history.
05:43An awesome force under the total control of a single extraordinary man.
05:48More books have been written about Napoleon Bonaparte than the number of days that have passed since his death.
05:58And still, he amazes.
06:04Napoleon is not even French.
06:06He's a one-time artillery lieutenant from the island of Corsica.
06:10But by 35, he has crowned himself Emperor of France.
06:14And he's Europe's reigning workaholic.
06:18Napoleon's reigning workaholic.
06:19Napoleon's reigning workaholic.
06:20Napoleon's reigning workaholic.
06:23Driven by near-manic energy, Napoleon barks out separate military commands to three scribes at once.
06:29But he also knows when to turn off the heat and turn on the charm.
06:33He once told a friend, when I need anyone, I don't make too fine a point about it.
06:38I would kiss his ass.
06:41Did this 5'6'' military genius have a Napoleon complex?
06:45If you mean that he think he was the most powerful man on earth, the answer is yes.
06:51But by 1812, with all Europe under his control, well, who was going to argue with him?
06:58Five years before, Napoleon and the Tsar of Russia had signed an alliance against England, Napoleon's arch enemy.
07:04But the Tsar has broken it by continuing to trade with England.
07:09Now, for Napoleon, it's payback time.
07:13Conquest has made me what I am.
07:15And conquest alone can maintain me.
07:18For two years, he plans the invasion of Russia.
07:26Gifted with a photographic memory, Napoleon maps out his conquest down to the nitty-gritty.
07:33He personally designs the supply wagons, frets over the number of horseshoes to bring,
07:39and the exact amount of food each soldier carries with him.
07:42But while his conscious mind plots cold-blooded strategy, his subconscious betrays his fears.
07:54Napoleon is haunted by a recurring nightmare, according to this account by his valet.
08:00A memory of this dream followed him a very long while.
08:04He often spoke of it, each time trying to extract different deductions from it.
08:09Napoleon admits he's rattled.
08:20A bear was ripping open my chest, he says, and tearing my heart out.
08:31In the dream, he's being attacked by a bear, the symbol of Russian might.
08:36Reality check.
08:40Instead of a bear, the real Russian ruler, Tsar Alexander, seems more like a pussycat.
08:47The Tsar can't stand the sight of blood.
08:50Addicted to the pleasures of the Russian court, he's scorned as grandmother's spoiled pet.
08:57But the Tsar conceals a darker side.
09:00He's so cunning and two-faced, he has been called the Sphinx.
09:03It's even whispered that he had a hand in the murder of his own father.
09:08But to Napoleon, he looks like a pushover.
09:14Pitted against the greatest military genius of his time, the Tsar has fought only one battle in his life, and lost.
09:22The invasion of Russia looks like a slam dunk.
09:24By June 1812, Napoleon gathers the largest army Europe has ever seen.
09:36650,000 men.
09:38140,000 horses.
09:41Countless supply wagons carry 28 million bottles of wine and his personal gold dinner service.
09:47As one of the earliest historians of the campaign said, everything was there to inebriate a great genius on his own power.
09:59Historian Paul Britton Austin has analyzed Napoleon's mindset.
10:03He thought he was going to have a short, sharp, good war, and a good battle, he called it.
10:08His soldiers intend to ride his coattails to another glorious victory.
10:14They just worshipped the ground that Napoleon walked on.
10:17He was the new god, quite simply.
10:19They even used the word of him.
10:20They set out towards the river Niemann, at the Lithuanian border.
10:32One of his generals proclaims,
10:34The word Niemann inflamed our imagination.
10:38Everybody was on fire to get across it.
10:41But who are these soldiers willing to lay down their lives for the man they call le patron, the boss?
10:50So, when I can make a note that this is a male.
10:56From the 1700 skeletons examined so far,
11:00Dr. Jankowskis has put together a startling portrait of Napoleon's invasion force.
11:06The illustrative majority was prevailing young males 20 to 25 years.
11:13Just few of them, less than 10 percent, were younger than 20.
11:16But some of them are as young as 15 years.
11:19The research bears out what historians had long suspected.
11:24After 16 years of non-stop war,
11:26Napoleon has been forced to draft tens of thousands of raw recruits.
11:31Accounts reveal that no one was more worried about it than Napoleon himself.
11:37I find these men too young.
11:39What I need is people who can stand fatigue.
11:42Men who are too young only fill the hospital.
11:44Napoleon holds the army's doctors responsible for the condition of his men.
12:00When he meets an artillery surgeon, Edouard Deschies,
12:03Napoleon grills him on the health of the troops.
12:06Then he sees the doctor has brought his son with him.
12:17The boy should be in school, he growled.
12:21The startled doctor replies that he hadn't expected to come so far from France.
12:26Anyone who belongs to the army, says Napoleon,
12:29should be prepared for anything.
12:31Napoleon thinks he's prepared for anything Russia can throw at him.
12:46He reassures his generals he will polish off the Tsar in less than two months,
12:51long before the dreaded chill of the Russian winter.
12:54His first obstacle, the Neiman River.
13:00For Napoleon, it's a no-brainer.
13:03He has brought with him a high-tech solution.
13:06Pontoons specially designed by the finest engineers in Europe.
13:14June 23rd, 1812.
13:17The night before the invasion.
13:19Napoleon personally scouts the ideal place to bridge the Neiman River.
13:23But suddenly, he's dealt a wild card.
13:27In this case, a wild hare.
13:38Up close, General Kalenkor observes his reaction.
13:44He affected the utmost serenity
13:46and did all he could to banish the gloomy doubt no one could help feeling.
13:51But his officers are more shaken up than Napoleon is.
13:57Instantly, the reflection occurred to me
13:59that it was a bad omen.
14:02Nor was I the only one to think so.
14:05For the prince of Neuchâtel seized my hand and said,
14:09we'd better not cross the Neiman.
14:11This is a bad omen.
14:12June 24th, 1812.
14:20Napoleon's crossing of the Neiman River happens like clockwork.
14:23In three days, half a million men with their horses and wagons ford the river.
14:28Not a single life is lost.
14:31It looks like the bad omens are just water under the bridge.
14:34The concentration of ten armies on the Neiman on one and the same day
14:41was an astounding feat of logistics,
14:43even for a man who was all-powerful,
14:46and he must have been feeling very pleased with himself.
14:48Now an intelligence report indicates the Russian ruler is in Vilnius,
14:55capital of Lithuania,
14:56only a few days right away.
14:59Napoleon seizes the moment.
15:02The French outnumber the Russians three to one.
15:05Napoleon figures sheer numbers will bully the Tsar to the peace table.
15:09But when the first reports trickle in from Vilnius,
15:13he's stunned.
15:14The Russians have fled the city.
15:17The Tsar has given him the slip.
15:26The Napoleon army came to Vilnius.
15:29Many of Vilnius' citizens at that time have been quite happy
15:33because the Napoleon army kicked out the Russians.
15:37and they looked to the Napoleon as a hero.
15:42June 28, 1812.
15:45In Vilnius, the Lithuanians roll out the red carpet.
15:49The troops revel in the moment.
15:51Proof the old Napoleon magic still works.
15:54One soldier, Victor Dupuis, writes,
15:58We are welcomed with the most joyous acclamations.
16:01The ladies in their party dresses
16:02were throwing down flowers and biscuits to us.
16:04But Napoleon is in no mood to pop open the champagne.
16:10He had hoped for a quick knockout punch.
16:13Now the Tsar has slipped through his fingers.
16:18In fury, he storms to the archbishop's palace.
16:21He enters the very room where the Tsar stayed only the day before.
16:32Napoleon doesn't have long to wait.
16:36His aide brings in a message from the Tsar.
16:41Tsar Alexander tells Napoleon,
16:44Go back across the Neiman River.
16:46Then we'll talk.
16:47Napoleon is enraged that the Russian ruler
16:50doesn't realize he's licked.
16:55Napoleon summons Count Balashov,
16:57the Tsar's emissary,
16:58and throws a major fit.
17:04My forces are three times as big as yours, he says.
17:06Aren't you ashamed?
17:18With all Europe behind me,
17:20how can you resist me?
17:23Balashov politely replies,
17:25We'll do our best, Tsar.
17:28So he is warned,
17:29but he just dismissed this as a lot of rhetoric.
17:32Napoleon orders his men after the Tsar with a vengeance.
17:39His troops are more cocky than ever.
17:42As one of his captains boasts,
17:44we could have been asked to conquer the moon,
17:47and we would have responded with,
17:49forward march.
17:51To Napoleon,
17:52Vilnius is little more than a consolation prize.
17:55But while he hunts down the Tsar,
17:57he has no intention of leaving his trophy at risk.
18:00Napoleon set up a provisional puppet government
18:04here in Vilnius,
18:06whom he gave instructions,
18:08one of which was to dig trenches.
18:11Bonne chance!
18:12To prevent this city being suddenly seized
18:15by some Russian foray in his absence.
18:20And it's these trenches that
18:22almost certainly are where the mass grave is today.
18:26Napoleon's grand army sets off on the heels
18:37of the retreating Russian troops.
18:41Their mission,
18:42to catch the Tsar
18:43before he escapes deep into Russia.
18:45Dr. Jankowskis found evidence
18:59of the French soldier's grueling pace.
19:02Dr. Jankowskis found evidence
19:03of the French soldier's grueling pace.
19:05What happened from heavy physical load?
19:09Bones were breaking because of tiredness.
19:13The forensic evidence confirms reports
19:16that the French soldiers set a blistering pace,
19:18up to 25 miles a day,
19:21carrying 60-pound packs.
19:24And scientists were puzzled
19:26to find something else
19:27that the remains of Napoleon's soldiers
19:29had in common.
19:30The most fascinating find for us
19:34was when you put
19:36the lower jaw and upper jaw together.
19:45It's like a cleft.
19:48Cleft among teeth.
19:50The strange notch was seen
19:51in the teeth of numerous skeletons.
19:54But no one knew what it meant
19:55until Jankowskis tried slipping something
19:58into the slot.
20:01So working hour lasts for 50 minutes
20:04and the rest, 10 minutes,
20:05is rest or smoking rest.
20:08And he was not wasting his time
20:11and we just love to smoke his pipe.
20:14A smoke might offer a welcome break
20:17from the grueling march.
20:19But nothing can bring relief
20:21from the fierce Russian climate,
20:23according to weather expert David Rine.
20:26Russia has one of the most extreme climates
20:28in the world.
20:29The vast size of the Asian landmass
20:32and its isolation from warm ocean currents
20:35create a climate that is lethal in winter,
20:39brutal in summer.
20:41At the beginning,
20:42you had heat exhaustion.
20:44You had dehydration.
20:46During the first part of the campaign,
20:47the weather was hot
20:48and it was dry.
20:49You had exhaustion.
20:50You had rainstorms that muddied the roads up
20:54and caused wagons to be left behind
20:56and to collapse and soldiers to be stuck.
20:59As the campaign continued,
21:02you began to have diseases.
21:03With their supply wagons bogged down far behind them,
21:10the French must live off the land.
21:14But the Russian Cossacks torch everything in their path.
21:18The scorched earth policy,
21:21certainly of what was a very nasty blow.
21:25It wasn't the peasants who burnt down their own villages
21:28heroically or anything like that,
21:30but it was the Cossacks,
21:31who were the Tsar's police, as it were,
21:34who drove them out,
21:35burnt down their villages and their crops.
21:37Even Napoleon's most loyal officers
21:41see trouble ahead.
21:43All his generals begged him
21:46not to go any further.
21:48You see, he couldn't.
21:49He had, as one says,
21:51he had the wolf by the throat.
21:54You can't let go of it
21:55because it'll bite you.
21:57And so he had to go on.
21:59Too stubborn to turn back,
22:02Napoleon spends three months
22:04chasing the Tsar's army across Russia
22:06towards Moscow.
22:08Intelligence reports
22:09indicate the Tsar is in the Russian capital
22:11to supervise its defense.
22:15He knew quite a bit about
22:18the Russian landscape
22:19before he went in there.
22:21The road to Moscow from Europe
22:23follows the high ground.
22:24This high ground was created by ancient glaciers.
22:27And this is a traditional invasion route.
22:29Hitler followed this route in World War II.
22:32And it's the same route that Napoleon followed
22:35when he invaded in 1812.
22:38This 800-mile trek
22:40isn't what his army bargained for,
22:42especially not the soldiers
22:44who had been conscripted against their will.
22:48Desertion became a very big problem.
22:51Half of Napoleon's army
22:53came from countries that he had conquered.
22:55And the minute things got tough,
22:56they got going.
22:57The troops that don't desert
23:01soon fall prey to diseases
23:03like typhus and dysentery.
23:05No physical evidence of those diseases
23:07has been found in their remains.
23:10But the bones reveal clues
23:12to another dreaded scourge
23:14that some of the troops carried with them.
23:16This is frontal bone.
23:19It's from head, forehead.
23:20This is from this area.
23:23Here, I don't know if you're showing them.
23:25This area.
23:26And here are scars of chronic inflammation
23:29that are typical and clear signs of syphilis.
23:32Dr. Jankowskis has found evidence
23:37that supports accounts
23:38that women may have traveled with the soldiers.
23:41A certain number of females
23:42were accompanying the army,
23:44like a washerwoman, like a cooks,
23:46like a petty tradesman,
23:48and so on.
23:49Also other services,
23:51including sexual services.
23:54Wracked by disease and desertion,
23:56Napoleon's forces have lost
23:58the numerical advantage.
24:02September 6th, 1812.
24:08At last, Napoleon gets his wish.
24:11He catches up with the Russian army
24:12at Borodino,
24:13a village 70 miles outside of Moscow.
24:17But instead of a 3-to-1 advantage
24:20for the French army,
24:21the balance has shifted.
24:23The Russians now have a slight edge.
24:26Both sides have their backs to the wall.
24:29The troops in the French army
24:32they all knew
24:33that they must not be defeated
24:35because they were 2,000 miles from France.
24:38The Russians were determined
24:40to stand and fight
24:42more for the honor of Russia
24:44than anything else
24:44to stop the French getting into Moscow.
24:48Before the battle,
24:49Tsar Alexander sends an appeal
24:51to his troops.
24:53Defend Mother Russia
24:54from the unholy invaders.
24:55The blood of the Valerius Slavs
24:58runs in your veins.
25:00Warriors,
25:01you are defending religion,
25:03our country,
25:04and freedom.
25:06I am with you.
25:10According to one of Napoleon's officers,
25:13his men have very different motives.
25:16They know no other divinity
25:17than their sovereign,
25:19no other reason but force,
25:21no other passion but glory.
25:23They have pinned everything
25:27on Napoleon.
25:29Now he's literally
25:30under the weather.
25:32At least that's the diagnosis
25:33of his personal physician.
25:36He was tormented
25:37by the winds,
25:38by the mist,
25:40the rain,
25:41and the atmosphere.
25:48According to one Akai,
25:50Napoleon complains
25:51that he's growing old,
25:53his legs are swelling,
25:54and he has trouble urinating.
25:56He blames it all
25:58on the humid weather.
26:00He was a very,
26:01very sick man,
26:02not lethally sick,
26:03but very ill.
26:05And any of our viewers
26:08would have wanted
26:09to fight a battle
26:09in that state of mind.
26:11At dawn,
26:13a quarter million men
26:14do battle.
26:15The fighting is intense,
26:17an estimated
26:17three cannon shots
26:18per second,
26:20430 musket rounds
26:21a minute
26:21for 10 long,
26:23bloody hours.
26:26The Russians
26:27are about to crack.
26:30But to defeat them,
26:31it will mean Napoleon
26:32has to risk
26:33his personal troops,
26:34the Imperial Guard.
26:37He's eyeball to eyeball
26:38with the enemy.
26:40For the first time
26:42in his life,
26:42Napoleon blinks.
26:43He refused to send
26:45in the guard
26:46because he said,
26:47what if there's
26:48another battle tomorrow?
26:49Now, the young Bonaparte
26:50wouldn't have said that.
26:51This was the crux of the thing.
26:52He would have known it.
26:54The Battle of Borodino
26:55is the bloodiest
26:56in history.
26:5874,000 casualties
26:59in a single day.
27:02That's over three times
27:03the total casualties
27:04on D-Day
27:05in World War II.
27:06And all for what?
27:09Napoleon arrives
27:10at the gates of Moscow.
27:13According to tradition,
27:14he should be presented
27:15the keys to the city.
27:17But don't hold your breath.
27:19No keys were brought.
27:21He was extremely mortified.
27:24They marched into the city
27:26and to their amazement,
27:28they found it empty.
27:31That same night,
27:33September 15, 1812,
27:35Napoleon faces
27:36an astonishing sight.
27:39The city of Moscow,
27:40engulfed in flames.
27:42He's even more amazed
27:43when he learns who did it.
27:45The Russians themselves,
27:46working on orders
27:47from the city's governor.
27:49One account
27:50records Napoleon's outrage.
27:54This is a war of extermination.
27:56To burn down ones
27:57on cities,
27:58the demon inspires
27:59these people.
28:01The fires destroy
28:03four-fifths of Moscow
28:04and much of the food
28:06stored within its walls.
28:07Napoleon sends
28:10urgent peace initiatives
28:11to the Tsar
28:11in St. Petersburg.
28:13For five weeks,
28:15he waits for a response.
28:18But all Napoleon hears
28:19is the ominous ticking
28:21of the clock.
28:25The Russian weather
28:27is an enemy
28:27he can neither charm
28:29nor bully.
28:30And each day,
28:31his window of escape
28:32is narrowing.
28:39Napoleon's generals
28:40like to boast
28:41that there is no such word
28:42as retreat
28:43in the French army's dictionary.
28:45But on October 19th,
28:471812,
28:49Napoleon uses the R word.
28:51The retreat from Moscow
28:59begins.
29:01Take off your hat.
29:07Napoleon leaves
29:08the gates of Moscow behind.
29:11A close advisor
29:12later observed.
29:15Fortune had so long
29:16showered him with favors
29:17that he could not believe
29:19she had now deserted him.
29:21For months,
29:24he has chased
29:25after the Tsar's forces.
29:28Now, for the first time,
29:30the tables are turned.
29:31Napoleon is the hunted one.
29:34His ruthless enemy
29:36has a name.
29:38The Russians call it
29:39General Winter.
29:40Napoleon's men set out
29:56from Moscow
29:57in a race against time.
30:00But they are slowed down
30:02by the weight
30:02of their own greed.
30:04In the Vilnius Mass grave,
30:10Dr. Jankowskis found evidence
30:12of the heavy price
30:13Napoleon's soldiers paid
30:14during the march
30:16away from Moscow.
30:16There are a couple of
30:19vertebrate backbones
30:21that had traces
30:23of fractures
30:25from pressure.
30:26It was carrying
30:27something very heavy
30:28for long distances.
30:30They brought all this stuff
30:34and nothing like
30:35the food they would need
30:36to march
30:37500 miles
30:38back to Vilnius.
30:40Soon,
30:41all they carry with them
30:42is hunger
30:42and exhaustion.
30:43With the French troops
30:51weak and demoralized,
30:54Russian Cossacks move in
30:55like hungry wolves
30:57for the kill.
31:00Cossacks ambush
31:02the emperor's personal guard.
31:04Suddenly,
31:05Napoleon finds himself
31:07the target.
31:08General Philippe de Ségur,
31:10his aide,
31:11who survived the attack,
31:12writes,
31:13These wretched fellows
31:15hadn't yelled so
31:16as they attacked,
31:17as they always do
31:17to dull their minds
31:19to the danger.
31:20Perhaps Napoleon
31:21wouldn't have escaped them.
31:27That night,
31:28Napoleon takes drastic steps
31:30to make sure
31:31he'll never be captured
31:32alive.
31:33He has his physician
31:34prepare a lethal dose
31:36of fast-acting poison.
31:38Some experts believe
31:39it was opium
31:40mixed with belladonna.
31:42He will carry it with him
31:43from now on,
31:44just in case,
31:45the promise
31:45of swift
31:46and certain death.
31:47It's going to be rare.
31:50Yes.
31:51Yes.
31:51Yes.
32:02Like the poison
32:03he now carries with him,
32:04the Russian weather
32:05afflicts Napoleon
32:06like a curse.
32:08Just how extreme
32:08is the climate?
32:10We're talking
32:10the coldest temperatures
32:12outside of Antarctica.
32:13And if you think
32:14that's bad,
32:15it just gets worse
32:16because this year,
32:18winter comes early.
32:22In the winter,
32:23you have created here
32:24something called
32:25a Siberian high-pressure system.
32:26That high-pressure system
32:27forces air down
32:29and out in all directions.
32:31So temperatures
32:32around Moscow
32:33are much colder
32:34in wintertime
32:35than they are
32:36in the European continent.
32:37Even against
32:40this formidable enemy,
32:42Napoleon refuses
32:43to admit defeat
32:44and aid reports.
32:48It seemed as if
32:48the emperor
32:49were expecting
32:50some miracle
32:51to alter the climate
32:52and in the ruin
32:53that was descending
32:54on us
32:55from every side.
32:56Alas,
32:57the emperor
32:58deluded himself
32:59and our ruin
33:00followed
33:01on his misfortune.
33:02A ruin
33:04that rips
33:04the famed French
33:05esprit de corps
33:07to shreds.
33:09Total anarchy
33:10descends on the troops.
33:12The whole thing
33:13felt pieces
33:14and the egoism,
33:15the selfishness,
33:16terrified
33:17and horrified
33:18the army.
33:20With all hope gone,
33:21some choose
33:22to end their misery.
33:26An eyewitness recalls.
33:28Hundreds of men
33:30feeling they could
33:30no longer endure
33:32such hardships
33:32kill themselves.
33:35Every day,
33:35we heard isolated shots
33:37ring out in the woods.
33:40Patrols sent
33:41to investigate
33:41always came back
33:42to report.
33:44It's a Frenchman
33:45who's just blown
33:47his brains out.
33:51Temperatures sink
33:52to 30 below zero.
33:55The new enemy
33:55is hypothermia.
33:58In an effort
33:59to generate heat,
34:00the victim's body
34:01shivers uncontrollably.
34:04Blood stops
34:05circulating
34:06to the arms
34:07and legs.
34:09In the final stages
34:11of hypothermia,
34:12delirium seizes hold.
34:14The victim feels
34:15a flush of warmth,
34:16an overwhelming urge
34:18to lie down
34:18in the snow
34:19to sleep.
34:19They start staggering
34:24about it
34:24as if they were drunk.
34:26They fall out
34:26of the columns.
34:27Some might start
34:28laughing or something
34:29and then they just
34:30pitch fall flat
34:31on their faces.
34:33Lots of these people
34:35who are from
34:35the Mediterranean area,
34:36they are absolutely
34:37not prepared for that.
34:38Not prepared
34:39biologically.
34:40within a month
34:42of leaving Moscow,
34:44over half
34:44of Napoleon's
34:45men have died.
34:48General Kalinko,
34:50Napoleon's
34:50right-hand man,
34:51confides,
34:53never did a battlefield
34:54present so much horror.
34:58The cavalry
34:59have been forced
35:00to butcher
35:00their own horses
35:01for food.
35:03Now even the officers
35:04must walk
35:05out of Russia.
35:06November 9th,
35:131812.
35:15To show support
35:17for the troops,
35:18Napoleon dismounts
35:19and marches beside them.
35:23But according
35:24to one soldier,
35:26his gesture
35:26of sympathy
35:27backfires.
35:29I weep
35:30to see our
35:30emperor
35:31marching on foot,
35:33a stick
35:33in his hand.
35:35He who is
35:35so great,
35:36who has made
35:37us so proud.
35:41For weeks,
35:42the soldiers'
35:42only hope
35:43has been
35:43to reach Vilnius
35:44with its promise
35:45of food,
35:46shelter,
35:46and safety.
35:49At the gates
35:50of Vilnius today,
35:52historian Paul
35:53Britton Austin
35:54relives the moment.
35:55He's done
35:56freezing,
35:57starving,
35:59at the very end
36:00of their tether,
36:01or indeed
36:02far beyond it.
36:04And they were
36:05hoping,
36:06if they still
36:07had anything
36:07left to hope
36:08for,
36:09that Vilnius
36:09would be
36:10a safe haven
36:11where the retreat,
36:13this endless
36:13and terrible
36:14retreat,
36:15could finally
36:15end.
36:20But as they
36:21approached the city,
36:22the temperature
36:22plummets
36:23to its coldest yet.
36:25The temperatures
36:27were so cold
36:28that Napoleon's
36:29aid to camp
36:30reported birds
36:31falling from the sky.
36:35So cold
36:36that the breath
36:36from the humans
36:37literally just
36:38hung in the air
36:39like ice crystals
36:41and ice fog.
36:46One eyewitness
36:47reports,
36:47in a little
36:49under a league
36:50and a half,
36:5158 corpses.
36:59Finally,
37:00after marching
37:00for a month
37:01and a half,
37:02what's left
37:02of Napoleon's
37:03grand army
37:04catches sight
37:05of Vilnius,
37:06their last hope
37:07for a sanctuary.
37:10Of Napoleon's
37:11once mighty force
37:12of half a million
37:12that left Vilnius,
37:13only 20,000
37:15returned.
37:17Even now,
37:18many of his men
37:19still cling to the hope
37:20that their leader
37:20will save them.
37:24They're out of luck.
37:29Napoleon is no coward,
37:31but he's got
37:32his own agenda.
37:34He's off to Paris
37:35to deliver his spin
37:36on the Russian disaster.
37:39The French are like women,
37:41he says.
37:42You must not stay
37:43away from them
37:44too long.
37:47Napoleon,
37:48he beat it
37:48for Paris.
37:50Eight days
37:50it took him
37:51to get to Paris.
37:51Nobody had ever
37:52crossed Europe
37:53that quickly before,
37:54but the purpose
37:55was to get there
37:56before the news
37:57got there.
37:59Soon,
38:00news reaches
38:01Napoleon's men
38:02that he has
38:02abandoned them.
38:04What effect
38:04his departure
38:05had on his troops,
38:08you get different
38:08accounts of.
38:09It's an extraordinary
38:10one thing
38:11that all these
38:11people say
38:12is that
38:12though they cursed
38:13their officers
38:14and they cursed
38:14the weather
38:15and they cursed
38:15the Russians,
38:16nobody ever heard
38:17anybody curse
38:18Napoleon.
38:20A French captain
38:21recalls the impact
38:22of the moment.
38:24As long as he'd
38:25stuck with us,
38:26our total confidence
38:27in him
38:27had helped
38:28to reassure us.
38:29now all hope
38:31of any happy outcome
38:33vanished with him.
38:37On their 800-mile
38:38death march,
38:40the French troops
38:40looked to Vilnius
38:42as a beacon
38:42of hope.
38:45Now,
38:46abandoned by Napoleon,
38:47they will have to face
38:48the final horror
38:49alone.
38:50With the gates
38:59of Vilnius
38:59in sight,
39:01Napoleon's soldiers
39:02think they've
39:03reached safety.
39:08At those same gates,
39:10Paul Britton Austin
39:11relives the deadly
39:12gridlock
39:12of that day.
39:13And in no time
39:14at all,
39:15the most hideous
39:16pileup here
39:17in front of this gate
39:18as more and more
39:20people came on,
39:21hundreds,
39:22thousands of them.
39:23But around this gate,
39:25there must have been
39:25among the most hideous
39:26sites you can
39:27possibly imagine.
39:30Collapsing outside
39:31the gates,
39:32Napoleon's aide,
39:33Victor Dupuis,
39:34is more dead
39:35than alive.
39:42But when he opens
39:43his eye,
39:44he finds himself
39:45living a dream.
39:48Napoleon's men
39:51can't believe it.
39:53After the horrors
39:54of the march,
39:54they feel like
39:55they've entered
39:56a parallel universe.
39:57As one soldier reports,
39:59With a feeling
40:00of prodigious happiness,
40:02we saw glittering
40:04shop windows,
40:05well-dressed people,
40:07and above all,
40:08the restaurants.
40:13Ironically,
40:14men who survived
40:15Cossacks
40:16and the Russian winter
40:17die at the dinner table.
40:20They seem to
40:21stop themselves
40:22with food and drink,
40:24and someone just
40:25died on the spot.
40:26You can't do that
40:26after starving
40:27for weeks on end.
40:28The team of archaeologists
40:38found gold coins
40:39at the gravesite,
40:40a clue to what
40:42happened next.
40:43Some person
40:44was quite rich
40:45in this grave,
40:46but unfortunately
40:47they didn't save
40:48his life,
40:50money.
40:55A few coins
40:56are not enough
40:57to buy food.
40:59Soon,
40:59bread sells
41:00for its weight
41:01in gold.
41:07How desperate
41:08are Napoleon's
41:09starving soldiers?
41:10In a frenzy
41:11of hunger.
41:12Some break
41:12into the home
41:13of a university
41:14professor who has
41:15a collection
41:15of medical specimens
41:17pickled in alcohol.
41:19The soldiers
41:19pig out
41:20on the human organs
41:21preserved in the jars.
41:22scientists now
41:27suspect that
41:28thousands more
41:29did not die
41:29from hunger,
41:31that the soldiers
41:31brought disease
41:32with them
41:33on their death march.
41:37Dr. Jankowskis
41:38and his team
41:39have examined
41:39scraps of soldiers'
41:40clothing
41:41from microscopic
41:42evidence
41:42of what killed them.
41:43This fragment
41:46of textile
41:47I can
41:48recognize
41:50as
41:51remains
41:52of socks.
41:55We are
41:55trying to
41:56take
41:57the best
41:58preserved pieces
41:59of uniforms,
41:59of clothing
42:01and to
42:02analyze them
42:02under microscope.
42:04First of all,
42:05so for
42:06remains of
42:07lice,
42:08this could be
42:08indirect proof
42:10about
42:10presence
42:11of epidemics
42:13of typhus.
42:22According to
42:23eyewitness accounts,
42:24typhus and dysentery
42:25pack the hospitals
42:26with victims.
42:28To cope
42:28with the overflow,
42:29monasteries are
42:30converted to hold
42:31the dead
42:31and the dying.
42:33But even here,
42:34in the shadow
42:35of despair,
42:36we find heroes.
42:39One of them
42:40is Edouard Deschies,
42:42the doctor
42:43Napoleon met
42:43on the road
42:44to Vilnius.
42:49In the midst
42:50of all the chaos
42:51and horror,
42:52there was one
42:52unselfish,
42:54devoted man
42:55who looked after
42:56his patients
42:56with such devotion
42:59that he
42:59himself caught
43:00the typhus
43:01and died.
43:02By now,
43:15men are dying
43:16faster than
43:16their comrades
43:17can bury them.
43:20The bodies
43:21pile up,
43:23clogging the streets
43:23of a city
43:24bloated with death.
43:25The pitiful survivors
43:32of Napoleon's
43:33once-grand army
43:34set out for France.
43:38For the unlucky ones
43:40left behind
43:41in Vilnius,
43:42it's the final betrayal.
43:44Trapped
43:45in a city
43:45of the dead.
43:46When the Tsar's
43:56forces finally
43:57enter Vilnius,
43:58there's no French
43:59army left standing.
44:01And in a place
44:02where death rules,
44:03life takes on
44:04a terrible new agenda.
44:05An English observer
44:12with the Russians
44:13is shocked
44:14to see how
44:15the bodies
44:15of the dead
44:16are used
44:17to shield the living.
44:19All the broken
44:19windows and walls
44:21were stuffed
44:22with feet,
44:23legs,
44:24arms,
44:24hands,
44:25trunk,
44:25and heads
44:25to fit the apertures
44:27and keep out the air
44:28from the yet living.
44:32When the Russians
44:33arrived in Vilnius,
44:35they needed
44:36these monasteries
44:37and hospitals
44:38for their own
44:39sick and wounded
44:40of whom they had
44:41plenty.
44:42And they simply
44:43threw the French
44:45out of the windows.
44:54Archaeologists
44:54like Dr. Jankowskis
44:56find evidence
44:57of the unthinkable.
44:59We imagine
44:59quite vividly
45:00how it was.
45:02Just piles
45:03of human bodies
45:04laying upon
45:05each other,
45:07being taken,
45:08being transported
45:09like logs.
45:14With the grim
45:15irony of war,
45:17Russian troops
45:18hurled the bodies
45:19of Napoleon's soldiers
45:20into the trenches
45:21the French
45:22had dug themselves
45:23only a few months
45:24before.
45:27Even then,
45:29evidence suggests
45:30the soldiers' bodies
45:31were not left
45:32to rest in peace.
45:35Dr. Jankowskis
45:36found cuts
45:37in the victim's bones,
45:38a clue
45:39to what might
45:40have happened next.
45:42One of the possible
45:43explanations
45:44would be
45:44people were trying
45:45to remove
45:46valuable things,
45:47or let's say,
45:47shoes, boots,
45:49from their bodies.
45:50So,
45:51if the boot
45:52was frozen,
45:53they were maybe
45:54trying to remove
45:54the sharp instruments
45:56with a big knife
45:57or even sword.
46:06Far from the icy
46:08mass grave,
46:09Napoleon has turned
46:10a cold shoulder
46:11on the hundreds
46:11of thousands
46:12who sacrificed
46:13their lives for him.
46:15But strangely,
46:17he remembers
46:17at least one
46:18of the victims.
46:21On a list
46:22of casualties,
46:23he recognizes
46:24the name
46:24of Dr. Dushy.
46:26He remembered him
46:27and his son
46:28and sent an order
46:29to Vilnius
46:30that the boy
46:31should immediately
46:31be sent back
46:32to France
46:33under escort
46:34and given
46:35a scholarship
46:36for his education.
46:39For Napoleon himself,
46:41the Russian campaign
46:42has been
46:42a cruel education.
46:45He writes
46:46it has taught him
46:47two lessons
46:47he will never forget.
46:48I've committed
46:51two errors.
46:52One to go
46:53to Moscow,
46:55the other
46:56to have stayed
46:57there too long.
46:59From the sublime
47:00to the ridiculous
47:01is but a step.
47:04Up to the 6th
47:05of November,
47:05I was master
47:06of Europe.
47:09I am not so
47:10any longer.
47:11less than
47:16two years
47:17after Napoleon
47:18leaves Moscow,
47:19Tsar Alexander
47:20leads an army
47:21into Paris
47:21and forces him
47:23to abdicate.
47:25Napoleon
47:26swallows the poison
47:27he has worn
47:28since Russia
47:28but it has lost
47:30its potency
47:31and he survives.
47:35Long before
47:36his decisive defeat
47:37at Waterloo,
47:38Napoleon
47:39had already
47:40met his fate
47:40in the frozen
47:41wastes of Russia.
47:44In fact,
47:45he lost
47:46ten times more men
47:47in the Russian campaign
47:48than at Waterloo.
47:51After the retreat
47:52from Moscow,
47:53his grand army
47:54is only a memory
47:55and his power
47:57fades with him.
48:00Less than
48:00nine years later,
48:02Napoleon will die
48:03on the remote
48:04island of St. Helena.
48:08In Vilnius,
48:09thousands are left
48:10to feed the worms
48:11in a muddy
48:12mass grave.
48:14But Napoleon
48:15will spend
48:16eternity in Paris,
48:18his final resting
48:19place among
48:19the grandest tombs
48:20in the world.
48:23As for his enemy,
48:24Tsar Alexander,
48:26he's as elusive
48:27in death
48:27as Napoleon
48:28found him in life.
48:30When the Tsar's grave
48:32is opened
48:32in 1926,
48:34it's empty.
48:35What happened
48:37to him
48:38remains a mystery
48:39to this day.
48:44And what about
48:45those who died
48:45for Napoleon's glory?
48:48Nearly 200 years
48:49later,
48:49their remains
48:50will finally be laid
48:51to rest with dignity
48:52at a military cemetery
48:53in Vilnius.
48:54Here they will join
48:55the ranks of soldiers
48:56from two world wars.
48:58But theirs may be
49:00only the first way.
49:00So far,
49:043,000 bodies
49:05from Napoleon's
49:06lost army
49:06have been found.
49:09But if Russian
49:10accounts are accurate,
49:12there are another
49:1334,000 bodies
49:15of Napoleon's
49:16soldiers in Vilnius
49:17yet to be discovered.
49:30Lies
49:32to be discovered
49:35by people
49:36on the safe
49:37and the sons
49:37of Napoleon's
49:39who died
49:40to be buried
49:41in Vilnius
49:41who died
49:43of the time.
49:44Which should
49:44be found
49:45in Vilnius
49:46to be found
49:49what is
49:52in Vilnius
49:53by everyone
49:54who died
49:55and was
49:57under
49:58one
49:58by everyone
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