‘His Majesty’s health has never been better.” This is the closing line of the bulletin of the Grand Armée of Napoleon Bonaparte, dispatched, on its catastrophic retreat from Moscow, on December 3rd, 1812. It reached Paris 15 days later and only two days ahead of the arrival of the emperor himself. Napoleon had led the largest army then assembled in Europe to its destruction. He had presided over the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people. But his health had never been better.

Source: The Irish Times October 24, 2020 05:00 UTC