When we think of storms and severe weather, we think of running for shelter. But what happens when a storm suddenly appears overhead during the height of battle? If one side were to run for shelter it might give the other side a big advantage. Storms have influenced many battles during the dawn of history. When the weather changes and bone chilling cold becomes the norm do you fight and advance or retreat?

Hurricane

The Spanish Armada was a large fleet of ships that were sailing to the British Isles for invasion. In 1588 the Spanish were one of, if not the most powerful military force of their time. The commander of their forces was the Duke of Parma, a very respected and feared military leader. Philip, the King of Spain wanted to return England to the Catholic Church. The fleet had 130 ships and 19,000 men aboard, this was a huge amount for its day. The were hit by a storm off the coast of Scotland and Ireland and one third of the fleet was lost. No invasion ever took place and Spain was never as powerful a naval force again.

Both Napoleon's grand army of over 200,000 troops and Germany's huge armies were defeated in their attempt to capture Russia due to the freezing cold coupled along with the ice and snow. Men froze to death and many suffered different cold related ailments, losing fingers and toes. Mother nature was going to have none of this.

Severe weather was responsible for a bizarre event in 1795. A French calvary officer, Charles Pichegru, managed to capture the Dutch Fleet. Since he wasn't on the water you may wonder how he did this? The Dutch fleet had been hit by a freezing storm and frozen in place in the harbor. He merely had to attack the frozen ships with troops and calvary.

When the British attacked Washington D.C. during the War of 1812 they had no problem getting there. They set Washington on fire but as they were doing their dirty deed, a hurricane came without warning and hit their troops. As if this wasn't enough, a tornado soon followed. They suffered more deaths and casualties from the weather than from enemy attacks during the time.

Tornado

As you see, sometimes weather conditions can cause more damage to troops than the enemy. In World War II the US troops in the Pacific had to live in the hostile environment of tropical jungles. This caused Malaria, Trench Foot, Blood Poisoning and many other debilitating injuries. Some of these same conditions existed in Vietnam. Just having wet feet and not drying them off could cause a world of hurt. The tiniest scratch was fast to fester. It seems that things rot very quickly in this type of climate.

It is obvious that not only weather effected the outcomes of battles but if it wasn't so cold would Napoleon's troops have conquered Russia? Maybe not but they would have had a much better chance. The French troops were not equipped for the cold and the cold devastated them. Weather doesn't only affect wars it also seems to affect war games. In 1996 the Chinese had scheduled war games in the straits of Taiwan, but bad weather prevented that. The games were meant to affect the presidential elections according to Taiwan's ministry.

Lightning and Thunder Storm

Flying seems to be especially effected by bad weather, but this is improving. Since we now have devices to penetrate fog and mist and even low cloud cover it is now possible to fly missions that were impossible to fly just a few years ago. With the advent of pilotless aircraft planes can now fly under the clouds without risking a life. It is now harder for troops to hide from aircraft in bad weather.