How Did Napoleon Die? Medical Expert Addresses Rumors French Emperor Was Poisoned

The former French emperor Napoleon I or Napoleon Bonaparte, was famous for his leadership. However, many are still wondering how he died.

How Did Napoleon Die?

Napoleon was banished to the British-controlled island of Saint Helena in the South Atlantic Ocean in October 1815. He passed away there on May 5, 1821. He was 51, according to History.

There were speculations that he was poisoned. According to the American Museum of Natural History, the French leader fueled the suspicion by writing about it weeks before his demise.

In a letter, he reportedly wrote that he was dying before his time. He also alleged that the English oligarchy and its assassin murdered him.

There are speculations that he died of arsenic poisoning. The notion was supported by his body's extraordinary state upon exhumation in 1840 for reburial in Paris. Subsequent 20th-century tests of preserved locks of Napoleon's hair tested positive for arsenic because it is hazardous to microbes and humans, a phenomenon known as "arsenic mummification."

However, Napoleon's accusation of foul play might not be supported even if arsenic was the cause of death-which had not been confirmed with absolute certainty. Napoleon may have been exposed to the poison through the toxic fumes released by the wallpaper at Longwood, his prison residence, a less dramatic but conceivable possibility.

However, his physician wrote on his death certificate that he died from stomach cancer. Some were convinced that it was most likely from stomach cancer because he frequently posed for paintings with his hand in his vest, leading to speculations that he had been plagued by stomach pain for years.

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What Did the Expert Say About Napoleon Bonaparte's Cause of Death?

Dr. Robert Genta from the University of Texas at Dallas' Southwestern Medical Center. Napoleon's physician correctly diagnosed the defeated emperor with severe stomach cancer the first time around, ABC News reported.

According to Genta, it's become fashionable to speculate on how history would have turned out if he had managed to end his exile, return to Paris, or perhaps retaken France. The answer is most likely no. Even if he had been smuggled out, his cancer was so advanced that he would have passed away quickly due to his poor health.

He struggled with illness throughout the last six years of his life. In his previous six months, his health rapidly declined. Napoleon experienced severe abdominal discomfort, nausea, vomiting, night sweats, and increasing weakness, according to his physician Francesco Antommarchi. The statement reportedly said that every activity for him was like a "Herculean task."

Along with reading Antommarchi's autopsy report, Genta and his colleagues studied the stories of many French assistants and British soldiers who were present throughout the examination. Each saw a substantial increase in his tummy from one side to the other.

The stomach was loaded with brown material that resembled coffee grounds, a strong indicator of upper gastrointestinal hemorrhage that could have been the immediate cause of death, according to the researchers in their study published in the journal Nature Gastroenterology and Hepatology.