There were a number of things that Napoleon had to battle against during his various campaigns. It seems that one issue that he could have really struggled with had nothing to do with the army that he was fighting against at the time. Was it a case of them being better equipped? Nope, it was more to do with the weather and clothing.

When fighting in what we now know as Russia, the Napoleonic army had buttons that were made from tin. This in itself was perfectly normal and natural, so it was hardly a design flaw in that sense. However, it turns out that fighting in a uniform with tin buttons in Russia during the winter is not the most intelligent thing to do.

The reason for that is because at -13C, the atoms in tin begin to break down. As a result, the tin would start to crumble and there was a very real risk that the buttons on their uniform would then simply fall apart and crumble into dust. Clearly, they would then be unable to fight with their uniform flapping all over the place, so it led to buttons being remade using different base metals.