The Russian winter has been cited as a factor which significantly contributed to military failures of several invasions of Russia. Common nicknames to this concept are General Frost, General Winter and General Snow. Another similar factor is "General Mud" (see "rasputitsa"). Significance of these factors has been criticized.
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Famous quotes containing the words russian and/or winter:
“A country is strong which consists of wealthy families, every member of whom is interested in defending a common treasure; it is weak when composed of scattered individuals, to whom it matters little whether they obey seven or one, a Russian or a Corsican, so long as each keeps his own plot of land, blind in their wretched egotism, to the fact that the day is coming when this too will be torn from them.”
—Honoré De Balzac (1799–1850)
“The winter is made and you have to bear it,
The winter web, the winter woven, wind and wind,
For all the thoughts of summer that go with it
In the mind, pupa of straw, moppet of rags....”
—Wallace Stevens (1879–1955)