What killed Napoleon's army? Scientists find clues in DNA from fallen soldiers' teeth
toggle caption Michel Signoli / UMR 6578 Aix-Marseille Université, CNRS, EFS
By 1812, Napoleon was all powerful. Nearly all of Europe was under his control. He had succeeded in forbidding most of the continent from trading with Britain in an effort to bring the island nation to heel. And he was married to Marie Louise, daughter of the emperor of Austria, a major superpower at the time. (The dazzling emerald and diamond necklace that he gifted her when they were wed was one of the objects stolen in last weekend's heist at the Louvre .)
But the Russian Empire had been resisting his efforts to cut off all trade with Britain. That summer, he ordered his army, some 600,000 strong, to invade Russia.
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