Climate & History The Little Ice Age

BY SUSAN HINERHISTORY 141

FALL 2011

Debatable Causes• Oceanic conveyor not transporting heat to

atmosphere due to fresh water from glaciers.• Five Volcanic eruptions in each of five centuries cause

clouds of ash to cover the sun resulting in less radiation.

• Rivers of ice in the Alps advance due to significant extreme change in temperature.

• Volatile climatic shifts.• Drenching rain for five years.• Global temperatures dropped 4° lower than today.

Time Period

• Began in 1350 A.D. and lasted 500 years ending in 1850.

• Occurred right after a medieval warming period from 900 -1300 A.D.

• Temperatures dropped an additional 3 degrees from 1645 – 1715.

Historical Effect• Frequent and intense storms.• Grain crops failed and famine killed 1.5 million people.• Bubonic plague spread killing 25 million or 33% of the population by 1351. Weather was blamed on witches

causing 50,000 to be burned at the stake.• Vikings in Greenland died off due to lack of livestock and food and because they refused to adapt.• The potato crops survived and became very popular in northern Europe since it was the only crop that would

grow in the severe cold climate.• Northern Europeans immigrated to the U.S. Grape vines died and most people switched to beer and hard

liquor, except for the French.• During the Spanish Armada in 1588, the English defeated the Spaniards in the English channel by blocking

their path, and then the storm destroyed 56 of the Spanish ships.• Victorious Trenton, NJ battle in 1776 America as George Washington crossed the Delaware river choked with

ice in nine hours.• Crop failure and cold weather led to the French revolution as people turned to the government for help.• The Thames river in London froze caused by the significant glacier advances.• 1815 – Known as the year without a summer due to the eruption of Mt. Tembora which created 100 times

more ash and sulfur than Mt. Helens, resulting in cooling the earth.• The production of the famous Stradivarius violin was made from dense wood caused by slow growth due to

the cold climate which produced an enhanced resin.• Snow in June 1816 New England which caused people to move out west.

Napoleon Graves in Vilnius• Nearly 200 years ago Napoleon Bonaparte and his Grand

– Army of 500,000 soldiers attacked Russia.• He controlled nearly all of Europe and it was the largest single invasion force since that time.• His army moved quickly, however they didn’t have provisions.• The Russians burned fields and villages in Lithuania and poisoned the water in advance of the

army making it difficult to survive. 75% of Napoleon’s army died.• Russian agents destroyed two-thirds of Moscow just as conquering Napoleon sat down for

dinner in the Kremlin.• Napoleon remained in Moscow five weeks waiting for a peace agreement which ultimately

was fatal for his troops. He did not destroy the Russian army. In September, 40,000 men retreated to Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania, where the temperature was -30° C and 90% of the troops froze to death. Napoleon quickly travelled to Paris escaping the frigid cold.

• Approximately 7,500 bodies were buried by the Russians in the V-shaped trenches dug by the French.

• Only four to five thousand of Napoleon’s soldiers survived.

Sources

• Documentary film: Little Ice Age: Big Chill• The Napoleon Graves, by Michael Tarm– Posted on www.balticsworldwide.com