**The bones of those killed in the Battle of Waterloo were dug up afterwards and processed by the local sugar industry. This is according to a new study by an international team of scientists. The battle of 1815 was the final defeat of the French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte.**
On 18 June 1815 the deposed French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte finally bit the dust in Waterloo in what is now Walloon Brabant. His forces are defeated by a British coalition army under command of the Duke of Wellington and by a Prussian force under command of General von Blücher.
Several tens of thousands were killed, but what happened to all those who died? It is one of the greatest mysteries surrounding the famous battle, because excavations at the historic site have so far revealed scarcely any human remains. An international team of historians has dug into the archives and suspects that they have cracked the riddle.
In the years after the battle, they say, the bodies were exhumed by the local population and sold to the sugar industry. In order to purify sugar beets, bone char is – at that time – needed. Bone charcoal is made from charred animal bones.
According to the researchers, in the decades following the battle, not only animal bones, but also the skeletons of fallen soldiers ended up in the sugar. Some sugar with coffee or a pastry could therefore have contained human remains at that time.
Farming – especially in those days – does not make you rich. Local farmers could earn a multiple of what they could otherwise scrape together in their entire lives by selling a few cartloads of bones. Especially after a law was passed in the early 1830s that made it financially very interesting to trade in (animal) bones.
From 1834 onwards, evidence of “incidents” on the site of the famous battle can be found in all kinds of archives. “There is a report from a German geologist who reports seeing peasants digging up bones on the field in Waterloo,” says historian Bernard Wilkin, who helped do the research, to RTBF. “They are presumably horse bones, but someone jokes at the same time that the bones of the imperial guard could easily be mistaken for horse bones.”
**Public secret for a long time**
It is an open secret at the time that human bones end up in sugar. A German newspaper even recommends using honey in coffee “to avoid drinking your great-grandparent’s atoms in the morning, which – as we all know – is quite possible with sugar”.
According to the RTBF, the excavations in Waterloo are even the subject of parliamentary questions calling on the local authorities to intervene.
These include correspondence from the then mayor of Braine-l’Alleud to the local commander of the gendarmerie to intervene. “The higher authorities are asking me to stop this on the basis of article 360 of the penal code,” it says. That article punishes excavations. According to Wilkin, no evidence has been found that anyone has actually been arrested for these illegal excavations.
Not all bones of the dead were used to make sugar. Earlier research has shown that at least some of the bodies were ground into bone meal to fertilise fields.
The sugar factory of Tienen has announced on social media that they do not use bones in their sugar.
— На то мы и солдаты,– невозмутимо ответил Швейк,– для
того нас матери и на свет породили, чтобы на войне, когда мы
наденем мундиры, от нас полетели клочья. И мы на это идем с
радостью, потому как знаем, что наши кости не будут гнить
понапрасну. Мы падем за государя императора и его августейшую
семью, ради которой мы отвоевали Герцеговину. Из наших костей
будут вырабатывать костяной уголь для сахарных заводов. Это уже
несколько лет тому назад объяснял нам господин лейтенант
Циммер. “Вы свиная банда,– говорил он,– кабаны вы
необразованные, вы никчемные, ленивые обезьяны, вы своим
ножищам покоя не даете, точно они никакой цены не имеют. Если
вас убьют на поле сражения, то из каждой вашей ноги выйдет
полкило костяного угля, а из целого солдата со всеми костями
его рук и ног — свыше двух кило. Сквозь вас, идиоты, на
сахароваренных заводах будут фильтровать сахар. Вы и понятия не
имеете, как после смерти будете полезны потомкам. Ваши дети
будут пить кофе с сахаром, процеженным сквозь ваши кости,
олухи”.
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**The bones of those killed in the Battle of Waterloo were dug up afterwards and processed by the local sugar industry. This is according to a new study by an international team of scientists. The battle of 1815 was the final defeat of the French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte.**
On 18 June 1815 the deposed French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte finally bit the dust in Waterloo in what is now Walloon Brabant. His forces are defeated by a British coalition army under command of the Duke of Wellington and by a Prussian force under command of General von Blücher.
Several tens of thousands were killed, but what happened to all those who died? It is one of the greatest mysteries surrounding the famous battle, because excavations at the historic site have so far revealed scarcely any human remains. An international team of historians has dug into the archives and suspects that they have cracked the riddle.
In the years after the battle, they say, the bodies were exhumed by the local population and sold to the sugar industry. In order to purify sugar beets, bone char is – at that time – needed. Bone charcoal is made from charred animal bones.
According to the researchers, in the decades following the battle, not only animal bones, but also the skeletons of fallen soldiers ended up in the sugar. Some sugar with coffee or a pastry could therefore have contained human remains at that time.
Farming – especially in those days – does not make you rich. Local farmers could earn a multiple of what they could otherwise scrape together in their entire lives by selling a few cartloads of bones. Especially after a law was passed in the early 1830s that made it financially very interesting to trade in (animal) bones.
From 1834 onwards, evidence of “incidents” on the site of the famous battle can be found in all kinds of archives. “There is a report from a German geologist who reports seeing peasants digging up bones on the field in Waterloo,” says historian Bernard Wilkin, who helped do the research, to RTBF. “They are presumably horse bones, but someone jokes at the same time that the bones of the imperial guard could easily be mistaken for horse bones.”
**Public secret for a long time**
It is an open secret at the time that human bones end up in sugar. A German newspaper even recommends using honey in coffee “to avoid drinking your great-grandparent’s atoms in the morning, which – as we all know – is quite possible with sugar”.
According to the RTBF, the excavations in Waterloo are even the subject of parliamentary questions calling on the local authorities to intervene.
These include correspondence from the then mayor of Braine-l’Alleud to the local commander of the gendarmerie to intervene. “The higher authorities are asking me to stop this on the basis of article 360 of the penal code,” it says. That article punishes excavations. According to Wilkin, no evidence has been found that anyone has actually been arrested for these illegal excavations.
Not all bones of the dead were used to make sugar. Earlier research has shown that at least some of the bodies were ground into bone meal to fertilise fields.
The sugar factory of Tienen has announced on social media that they do not use bones in their sugar.
— На то мы и солдаты,– невозмутимо ответил Швейк,– для
того нас матери и на свет породили, чтобы на войне, когда мы
наденем мундиры, от нас полетели клочья. И мы на это идем с
радостью, потому как знаем, что наши кости не будут гнить
понапрасну. Мы падем за государя императора и его августейшую
семью, ради которой мы отвоевали Герцеговину. Из наших костей
будут вырабатывать костяной уголь для сахарных заводов. Это уже
несколько лет тому назад объяснял нам господин лейтенант
Циммер. “Вы свиная банда,– говорил он,– кабаны вы
необразованные, вы никчемные, ленивые обезьяны, вы своим
ножищам покоя не даете, точно они никакой цены не имеют. Если
вас убьют на поле сражения, то из каждой вашей ноги выйдет
полкило костяного угля, а из целого солдата со всеми костями
его рук и ног — свыше двух кило. Сквозь вас, идиоты, на
сахароваренных заводах будут фильтровать сахар. Вы и понятия не
имеете, как после смерти будете полезны потомкам. Ваши дети
будут пить кофе с сахаром, процеженным сквозь ваши кости,
олухи”.
Waste not want not