Weather As A Factor
A saying arose that the Generals Janvier and Fevrier (January and February) defeated Napoleon, alluding to the Russian Winter. But one study concluded that the winter only had a major effect once Napoleon was in full retreat, saying that "In regard to the claims of 'General Winter', the main body of Napoleon's Grande Armée diminished by half during the first 8 weeks of his invasion before the major battle of the campaign. This decrease was partly due to garrisoning supply centres but disease, desertions and casualties sustained in minor actions caused thousands of losses. At Borodino, Napoleon could muster no more than 135,000 troops and he lost at least 30,000 of them to gain a narrow and Pyrrhic victory almost 1,000 km (620 mi) deep in hostile territory. The sequels were his uncontested and self-defeating occupation of Moscow and his humiliating retreat which began on 19 October, before the first severe frosts later that month and the first snow on 5 November.
General of Cavalry Denis Davidov writing in 1814 noted that the winters during campaigns in 1795 and 1807 were far colder but failed to prevent French operations and victories. Also, for much of the period of retreat, the temperature did not drop below 10 °C (50 °F) and even at its coldest during November in Vilno the temperatures on the 13th (−8 °C/18 °F), 14th (−9.2 °C/15.4 °F) and 15th (−6.5 °C/20.3 °F) were not especially severe. In fact the severe cold temperatures that are often referred to and depicted on paintings did not occur until after the French retreat crossed the Neman River. Davidov and other Russian campaign participants record wholesale surrenders of starving members of the Grande Armée well before the onset of frosts amid eyewitness reports of cannibalism and point to the breakdown in French supply and constant harassment of the French army by Russian forces as the primary reasons for their losses during the retreat.
Napoleon's invasion of Russia is listed among the most lethal military operations in world history.
Read more about this topic: French Invasion Of Russia
Famous quotes containing the words weather and/or factor:
“Winter lies too long in country towns; hangs on until it is stale and shabby, old and sullen. On the farm the weather was the great fact, and men’s affairs went on underneath it, as the streams creep under the ice. But in Black Hawk the scene of human life was spread out shrunken and pinched, frozen down to the bare stalk.”
—Willa Cather (1873–1947)
“In his very rejection of art Walt Whitman is an artist. He tried to produce a certain effect by certain means and he succeeded.... He stands apart, and the chief value of his work is in its prophecy, not in its performance. He has begun a prelude to larger themes. He is the herald to a new era. As a man he is the precursor of a fresh type. He is a factor in the heroic and spiritual evolution of the human being. If Poetry has passed him by, Philosophy will take note of him.”
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900)