I wonder if Napoleon was influenced by his encounters with the Black Plague on his small pox policy decisions. As I recall, his African campaign met with an outbreak and had to leave a number of infected troops behind as garrisons. Years after, could he really afford to lose large numbers of French cannon fodder to disease, when he needed them to face most of Europe? That seems like the sort of dark calculus he might engage in.
It was precisely the calculus he engaged in. Very openly. French demography was destiny, the troops couldn't be sick and dying--he needed healthy Frenchmen.
I wonder if Napoleon was influenced by his encounters with the Black Plague on his small pox policy decisions. As I recall, his African campaign met with an outbreak and had to leave a number of infected troops behind as garrisons. Years after, could he really afford to lose large numbers of French cannon fodder to disease, when he needed them to face most of Europe? That seems like the sort of dark calculus he might engage in.
It was precisely the calculus he engaged in. Very openly. French demography was destiny, the troops couldn't be sick and dying--he needed healthy Frenchmen.