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Dead soldiers' teeth reveal diseases that doomed Napoleon's army
31–40 of 85 posts
Re: Dead soldiers' teeth reveal diseases that doomed Napoleon's army
#32Check out the perfect set of teeth on the skull of the soldier shown in the article. Amazing how human dental health has changed since then.
We’re talking about a foot soldier on Napoleon’s army, easy to keep a good set considering he could be 18-25.
And probably with limited access to sugar.
Re: Dead soldiers' teeth reveal diseases that doomed Napoleon's army
#33It is interesting that although Napoleon captured Moscow, the capital at that time was in Saint-Petersburg. Why didn't he go to the capital? This painting depicts Napoleon hopelessly waiting for a delegation from Russian Emperor with burning city in the background [1]. [1] https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Napoleon_in_burning_...
Because Napoleon didn't want to depose the Tsar, much less to conquer Russia, he just wanted to impose his (Napoleon's) will on the Tsar and on Russia as a whole when it came to strictly imposing the Continental Blockade against the British. A heavily defeated Russia wouldn't have helped him into achieving that.
Re: Dead soldiers' teeth reveal diseases that doomed Napoleon's army
#34It is interesting that although Napoleon captured Moscow, the capital at that time was in Saint-Petersburg. Why didn't he go to the capital? This painting depicts Napoleon hopelessly waiting for a delegation from Russian Emperor with burning city in the background [1]. [1] https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Napoleon_in_burning_...
His goal was the Russian army, they retreated towards Moscow and he pursued.
Re: Dead soldiers' teeth reveal diseases that doomed Napoleon's army
#35Earlier quoted context omitted.
The more language is allowed to drift, the harder it becomes to read old language. I think this is a particularly silly case, but in general, the complaint that people are misusing words shouldn't be met with "It's impossible to misuse words", which this argument implicitly is.
No one allows or disallows language to drift, there are no language enforcers. This argument is not “it’s impossible” but rather it’s pedantic to claim a word is misused, when it’s been used this way for hundreds of years and so the original definition is no longer applicable.
>there are no language enforcers
Bodies like the Académie Française do try to promote language standards ('enforce' is probably not the right word). But I'm not sure how successful they are.
Re: Dead soldiers' teeth reveal diseases that doomed Napoleon's army
#36Earlier quoted context omitted.
These days some would've written, "you are literally killing me . . ." (which I find deplorable).
And someone would have replied "I could care less" (incorrectly implying they do care, even if it's a little bit) :(
I don't mind that one because it does not risk destroying the usefulness of a previously useful unambiguous word.
Re: Dead soldiers' teeth reveal diseases that doomed Napoleon's army
#37It is interesting that although Napoleon captured Moscow, the capital at that time was in Saint-Petersburg. Why didn't he go to the capital? This painting depicts Napoleon hopelessly waiting for a delegation from Russian Emperor with burning city in the background [1]. [1] https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Napoleon_in_burning_...
The capital was better fortified and the French wanted food and loot. So softer target sounds nice, especially if you think this crushes morale immediately and don't believe the opposition will go scorched earth (but they did).
> If I would take S.P., I would hold Russia by the head. If I take Kiev, I will hold Russia by legs. If I take Moscow, I will reach right into its heart!"
https://history.stackexchange.com/questions/27588/why-did-na...
Re: Dead soldiers' teeth reveal diseases that doomed Napoleon's army
#38Check out the perfect set of teeth on the skull of the soldier shown in the article. Amazing how human dental health has changed since then.
Due to "softer" diets and all the sugar, right?
Harder diets were more common in ancient humans, and straighten teeth in childhood. I don’t know what the diet was like in 1800.
Re: Dead soldiers' teeth reveal diseases that doomed Napoleon's army
#39Earlier quoted context omitted.
Look in any dictionary and you'll find that that decimate means to devastate aswell. Language is what people speak not what people proscribe in books or the internet.
Exactly. If it is used a certain way by enough people, that is also an accepted definition. Dictionaries lag actual speech and language I suppose.
> If it is used a certain way by enough people, that is also an accepted definition.
This mentality seems to be prevalent in the USA, in Germany, on the opposite, many people see this topic differently - just because a lot of people use a certain word/term wrong does not make it right.
Re: Dead soldiers' teeth reveal diseases that doomed Napoleon's army
#40Earlier quoted context omitted.
We’re talking about a foot soldier on Napoleon’s army, easy to keep a good set considering he could be 18-25.
And probably with limited access to sugar.
Probably, cane sugar was unavailable due to blockades and the Napoleonic expansion of beet sugar was only just starting.