"For the want of a nail, the shoe was lost.
For the want of a shoe, the horse was lost.
For the want of a horse, the rider was lost.
For the want of a rider, the battle was lost.
For the want of a battle, the kingdom was lost.
And all for the want of a horse-shoe nail."
~ Old English Nursery Rhyme
How could Napoleon Bonaparte, one of the greatest military leaders of all time, go from leading a world dominating superpower to a straggling band of no more than 10,000 tattered soldiers in seven months? Believe it or not, chemistry may hold the answer to that baffling question. This old English rhyme may sum up Napoleon's defeat when said, "And all for the want of a button." The buttons that held together every garment from Napoleon's own greatcoat to the pants of his soldiers was made from tin, a shiny metallic element. However, in cold temperatures, like the ones that would have been present in the Russian winter of 1812, tin undergoes a chemical reaction that transforms it into a crumbly gray substance. Yes, it's still tin, but in a very different structural form. Does this mean that the soldiers would have been too busy trying to keep their shirts and pants closed? Was the bitter cold too much for the Grande Armée to handle without their coats? Could Napoleon's defeat really be traced back to something as simple as a couple thousand tin buttons disintegrating in the cold? Maybe not, but it's still a possibility.
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