Started by Jonas Becker (@jonas_telemetry) ·
did crumbling tin buttons doom Napoleon's army?
5 sources · 29 min down the hole
How I got here
- Started with
- Did tin pest really destroy Napoleon's army's buttons in 1812?
- Ended at
- Terra Nova Expedition
The Trail
- “napoleon tin buttons tin pest true” (google.com)
- Tin pest (en.wikipedia.org)
- Tin (en.wikipedia.org)
white tin turns into grey tin below 13.2°C. slowly, unless it's very cold
- French invasion of Russia (en.wikipedia.org)
- Terra Nova Expedition (en.wikipedia.org)
leaky fuel cans on scott's expedition get blamed on this too. also disputed
What I came away with
Tin pest is real: below about 13°C, ordinary white tin can slowly turn into brittle, crumbly grey tin. But there's no solid evidence for the Napoleon button story, and the army had plenty of other reasons to fall apart in a Russian winter.
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