Scientists discover what actually killed Napoleon's army in the battle of 1812

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00:00Scientists have finally figured out what killed Napoleon's army in the Battle of 1812.

00:04Back in 1812, Napoleon Bonaparte, ruler of most of Europe, launched an ambitious invasion

00:08of Russia with up to 600,000 troops.

00:11He believed he could conquer the world, but by October, the French army was in full retreat,

00:15decimated not just by the brutal winter and starvation, but a wave of deadly infectious

00:19diseases.

00:20For centuries, historians and scientists have debated what exactly killed so many of Napoleon's

00:25men.

00:26Typhus and trench fever were the usual suspects, but the evidence was murky.

00:29Early DNA studies lacked the resolution to confirm anything definitively.

00:32Now, thanks to cutting-edge ancient DNA sequencing, researchers at the Pasteur Institute have cracked

00:37open the mystery.

00:38Literally.

00:39They analyzed the teeth of 13 soldiers from Napoleon's army and found genetic traces of

00:43two pathogens, Salmonella enterica, which causes paratyphoid fever, and Borrelia recurrentis,

00:48a relapsing fever spread by lice.

00:51These diseases would have caused high fever, vomiting, and dehydration, devastating in the

00:55freezing, chaotic conditions of the retreat.

00:57Surprisingly, the researchers found no evidence of typhus or trench fever.

01:00Long thought to be the main culprit.

01:02Long thought to be the main culprit.