It may have disappointed the conspiracy theorists when they learned that Napoleon had an ordinary death, contrary to the erstwhile belief that he was poisoned. Italian researchers demystified the end of Napoleon, the French. Sorry, no poison attack, just stomach cancer and an overdose of emetics. Historians have long argued on the cause of Napoleon’s death while he was in exile in St. Helena on May, 1821. To this day, some still persist on the conspiracy theory, making Napoleon more a cult hero than the emperor he really was.
Napoleon was not deliberately poisoned, so said the debunkers about two years ago. The grand myth about some theatrical death by arsenic poisoning can now be put to rest. He died an ordinary sick man. No murder legends. Although it is also true that highly toxic arsenic compounds used to be found on the tops of wine barrels and in ceramic mugs.
What U.S. physicians doubt, on the other hand, is the credibility of Napoleon’s doctor. They say that Napoleon could have lived longer had his doctor not cared for him into death. Napoleon was known to take some heavy emetics. These used to contain antimony potassium compounds in high doses, and these are considered highly toxic.
Perhaps, the poisoning theory may still hold true, but this time, the death was slow and could have been innocently accidental, owing to an inept doctor.
Napoleon is a tragic figure representing how man can reach unimaginably great heights, but that there will always come a time when the world will be reminded that he is nothing but common clay.
Via The International Napoleonic Society
