The Illustrious Dead: The Terrifying Story of How Typhus Killed Napoleon's Greatest Army

“Gripping . . . a compelling story of personal hubris and humbling defeat.”

—Jack Weatherford,author of the New York Times bestseller Genghis Khan and the Making of the

Modern World

In a masterful dual narrative that pits the heights of human ambition and achievement against the supremacy of nature, New York Times bestselling author Stephan Talty tells the story of a mighty ruler and a tiny microbe, antagonists whose struggle would shape the modern world.

In the spring of 1812, Napoleon Bonaparte was at the height of his powers. Forty-five million called him emperor, and he commanded a nation that was the richest, most cultured, and advanced on earth. No army could stand against his impeccably trained, brilliantly led forces, and his continued sweep across Europe seemed inevitable.

Early that year, bolstered by his successes, Napoleon turned his attentions toward Moscow, helming the largest invasion in human history. Surely, Tsar Alexander’s outnumbered troops would crumble against this mighty force.

But another powerful and ancient enemy awaited Napoleon’s men in the Russian steppes. Virulent and swift, this microscopic foe would bring the emperor to his knees.

Even as the Russians retreated before him in disarray, Napoleon found his army disappearing, his frantic doctors powerless to explain what had struck down a hundred thousand soldiers. The emperor’s vaunted military brilliance suddenly seemed useless, and when the Russians put their own occupied capital to the torch, the campaign became a desperate race through the frozen landscape as troops continued to die by the thousands. Through it all, with tragic heroism, Napoleon’s disease-ravaged, freezing, starving men somehow rallied, again and again, to cries of “Vive l’Empereur!”

Yet Talty’s sweeping tale takes us far beyond the doomed heroics and bloody clashes of the battlefield. The Illustrious Dead delves deep into the origins of the pathogen that finally ended the mighty emperor’s dreams of world conquest and exposes this “war plague’s” hidden role throughout history. A tale of two unstoppable forces meeting on the road to Moscow in an epic clash of killer microbe and peerless army, The Illustrious Dead is a historical whodunit in which a million lives hang in the balance.

A tale of men very different from those who populate the Western world today. But also a story of how it's not just the cannon and saber that decide the great battles. Extremely good read.

Not all diseases that have spots and a fever are typhus and the quality of diagnostic medicine during the Napoleonic wars was suspect as best. Epidemic diarrhea, which would include a number of organisms other than Shigella was at least as serious a problem. Mortality of typhus increases with age hitting 50% for those of age fifty and beyond. Youngsters typically do far better. Consider that infectious disease still caused more casualties during the American Civil War than did wounds and included many diseases.

In discussing Napoleon's staff I think he doesn't do justice to the importance of Berthier who rather than a glorified secretary was Napoleon's Chief of Staff and was a perfect complement for Napoleon in coordinating the movements of the army. Some historians have suggested that it was his absence at Waterloo that was responsible for the shambles in communication of the French army.

On June 24, 1812, Napoleon Bonaparte's Grande Armee crossed the boarder into Imperial Russia. Though enemy activity was minimal in the beginning, French casualties began to mount. Another enemy was already hard at work, eroding the fighting effectiveness of the Grande Armee and causing many multiples of deaths, and that enemy was Typhus. This is the story of Napoleon and Tsar Alexander, and how Typhus decided one of the greatest events of European history.

Overall, I found this to be a pretty good history of Napoleon's 1812 invasion of Russia. The author describes all of the major players and the major events. The one weakness in the story is, strangely enough, the Typhus angle. The author references Typhus, but does not spend as much time on the disease as he should have. Most of the time, it is referenced in the same way that another historian might mention the food that the Armee ate - by its very ubiquity it becomes part of the background, rather than the main thrust of the book.

So, am I saying that this is a bad book? Definitely not! In fact, I found this to be a very interesting on the invasion, just not a very good book on Typhus. So, if you are interested in Napoleon's invasion of Russia, then this is a pretty good book for you to buy, one that will really inform you.

I have no idea how or why I acquired this book. Did Typhus kill Nap's army? Well, who really cares? It sat unread for quite some time. Then I started reading it and got very engrossed in the thing. You find some writers who have a way of transporting you directly into a place you've never been before. I could very clearly see the battles of Nap's army as they faced disease and the Russians. This is an amazing book. Amazing. Most history books bore me, but this one is very much alive!!!

THE ILLUSTRIOUS DEAD: THE TERRIFYING STORY OF HOW TYPHUS KILLED NAPOLEON'S GREATEST ARMY

STEPHAN TALTY

CROWN PUBLISHERS, 2009

HARDCOVER, $27.00, 320 PAGES, GLOSSARY, NOTES, MAPS, CHARTS

Apart from the Battle of Waterloo and the Campaign of the Hundred Days, no episode exerts a greater fascination over the military historian or general reader with an interest in the Napoleonic period than the Campaign in Russia, 1812. The subject has inspired Tchaikovsky's famous Overture, many memoirs by participants who survived the great cataclysm (Russian as well as French and their allies), historical analysis almost without number, numerous notable paintings, perhaps the greatest novel ever written (Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace), a number of films and television series, and at least half-a-dozen war games (boxed and video). It's been 197 years since Napoleon launched his huge, ill-fated attack on Tsarist Russia. The subject still grips, confounds, horrifies, yet fascinates the reader. For the student of military history, the events of 1812 are full of interest. Although overshadowed by events in Eastern Europe, it should also be recalled that the war in the Iberian Peninsula was reaching its first great climax, as Wellington secured control of the twin corridors linking Portugal and Spain (but not without such gory events as the storming of Badajoz) and then proceeded to commence the liberation of Spain (aided by the reductions in French manpower ordered by Napoleon to build up his armament along the Polish frontier), leading to the Battle of Salamanca (news of which only reached Napoleon on the eve of the Battle of Borodino-a comment on the communication problems of the time), the joyous occupation of Madrid, and then the setback before Burgos which led to a rapid retreat back to Portugal, with everything to be recontested in 1813. The year 1812 also saw the Anglo-American war break out in the Western hemisphere, with its dramatic frigate actions at sea and its American setbacks on land. It was indeed a year of destiny for a strife-torn world. Stephan Talty's THE ILLUSTRIOUS DEAD: THE TERRIFYING STORY OF HOW TYPHUS KILLED NAPOLEON'S GREATEST ARMY is an impressive and serious account of one of the most fascinating military campaigns in history. It is hard to comprehend what is meant by casualty figures on the scale involved. The Grande Armee's central army group-perhaps 525,000-men strong at the outset-came out of Russia only some 25,000 strong. Of 250,000 horses, only 18,000 skeletal mounts and draught animals survived. Of more than 1,000 guns taken over the Niemen River frontier in June, 1812, a mere 120 remained with the army in early January, 1813. Possibly the most expensive day in world history, in terms of human loss of life and misery caused by conventional batle, was 7 September 1812-the Battle of Borodino. By nightfall, a joint total of at least 74,000 soldiers had become casualties, including no fewer than 71 generals. But another powerful and ancient enemy awaited Napoleon's men in the Russian steppes. Virulent and swift, this microscopic foe would bring Napoleon to his knees. Even as the Russians retreated before him in disarray, Napoleon found his Grande Armee disappearing, his frantic doctors powerless to explain what had struck down a hundred thousand soldiers. Napoleon's vaunted military brilliance suddenly seemed useless, and when the Russians put their own occupied capital to the torch, the campaign became a desperate race through the frozen landscape as troops continued to die by the thousands. Yet Talty's sweeping account takes us far beyond the doomed heroics and bloody clashes of the battlefield. The author delves deep into the origins of the pathogen that finally ended Napoleon's dream of world conquest and exposes this "war plague's" hidden role throughout history. Few generals were as brilliant as Napoleon, and few military campaigns as titanic-and puzzling-as his invasion of Russia in 1812. Who really defeated Napoleon? In THE ILLUSTRIOUS DEAD: THE TERRIFYING STORY OF HOW TYPHUS KILLED NAPOLEON'S GREATEST ARMY, Author Stephan Talty offers a bold and provocative new assessment. Agree or disagree, it is sure to stimulate debate among many students of the Napoleonic Wars.

Lt. Colonel Robert A. Lynn, Florida Guard

Orlando, Florida