The Russian (or Soviet) Winter is often cited as a factor in the defeat of invasions into the country.
Medieval Russians used skiis to facilitate transportation during their winter campaigns.
Relying on a scorched earth policy, the Russian army would face the opposing army as it marched into Russia, then retreat deep into Russia, burning all villages, cities, and any place where supplies could be found, making it impossible for the invaders to find any provisions. Then, when the Russian Winter came, the opposing armies would freeze and starve to death, returning to their countries defeated.
In the Great Northern War, Charles XII of Sweden invaded the Russia of Peter the Great. The Russians retreated, burning everything in their wake, leaving no supplies. This particular winter happened to be the most brutal winter of the 18th century, so severe that the salt water port of Venice froze. Charles' 35,000 troops were decimated, and only 19,000 were left after that winter. The Battle of Poltava in 1709 sealed the end of the Swedish Empire.
Charles Minard's graph showing the strength of the Grande Armée as it marches to Moscow and back, with temperature (in
Réaumur) plotted on the lower graph for the return journey. -30° Réaumur = -37.5°
Celsius
Napoleon's Grande Armée of 610,000 men invaded Russia, heading towards Moscow, in 1812. The Russian army retreated before the French and again burnt their crops and villages, thereby denying the enemy their use. Napoleon's army was ultimately reduced to 100,000. His army suffered further, even more disastrous losses on the retreat from Moscow.
Under Hitler, Germany attacked and Soviet forces withdrew into the steppe of Russia to acquire time and stretch the German army. Industries were dismantled and withdrawn to the Ural mountains for reassembling. The Soviet forces held off the Germans outside Moscow and defeated them at Stalingrad in the bitterly cold January of 1943.
However, the Russian winter did not make Russia completely impervious to attack. For example, Batu Khan successfully invaded Russia.
Actually the argument of the Russian winter is partly mythologized. Failed invaders liked to exaggerate the significance of weather conditions in their failures.
According to the meteorological records, the winter 1812-1813 was warmer than usual. During WWII the only cold winter was in 1941-1942, and the Wehrmacht had no supplies, such as winter uniforms due to the many delays in the German army's movements. As for the Battle of Stalingrad, the winter did not contribute any hindrance to the German armed forces.
The content of this page is retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Winter under GFDL
