10 historical cases where nature itself put an end to political conflict

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

Sometimes it seems that nature gets tired of endless wars and human conflicts and intervenes to end the bloodshed. Throughout history, armies and fleets have met in battle, but in the end they had to fight hurricanes and storms, rather than each other. Nature can "disperse" the opposing sides, forcing one of them or both to retreat, or even completely inflicts a crushing defeat on people.

1. Typhoons thwarted Mongol attempts to invade Japan

In 1274, a Mongolian fleet of 500-900 ships carrying 30,000-40,000 soldiers left China to attack and capture Japan. The ships anchored in the Japanese Gulf of Hakata, in anticipation of an invasion, but suddenly a typhoon struck, which destroyed a third of the fleet. About 13,000 soldiers drowned, forcing the survivors to retreat to China. The fearless Mongols returned to Japan again in 1281 with 4,400 ships and 140,000 soldiers. This was much more than 40,000 Japanese samurai and soldiers. But the weather again decided to side with Japan - another typhoon destroyed the invasion fleet just before it was about to attack on August 15. Half of the Mongols were killed and almost all of the ships were destroyed. Few returned to China as the samurai hunted and killed the survivors. The Japanese were so impressed by the typhoon of 1281 that they coined the word kamikaze ("divine wind") for typhoon. They believed that typhoons were sent to their aid by the gods.

2. The sunken island claimed by India and Bangladesh

New Moor Island was a small uninhabited piece of land lost in the waters of the ocean between India and Bangladesh. Its dimensions were only 3.5 kilometers in length, 3 kilometers in width, and it rose above the water by barely 2 meters. The island was first discovered in 1974, and then some experts said that it was formed just 50 years earlier. India and Bangladesh immediately desired to take over the island after its discovery. In 1981, India even sent several border ships to plant the flag on New Moor. This began to change in 1987 when satellite images showed the island slowly sinking under water. By 2010, he had already completely disappeared.

3. The storm that ended the French invasion of Ireland

1796 was a very turbulent year for British-French relations. Britain funded some of the aristocrats and rebels who were dissatisfied with the French crown. At the same time, Great Britain subsidized several Allied countries in the war against France. This prompted the French to plot for revenge. Rather than invading Britain directly, France negotiated with Irish patriots who fought for independence from Britain. The idea was to help the Irish rebels defeat Britain. By doing this, Ireland would become an ally of France and would constantly keep neighboring Great Britain "in suspense." On December 15, 1796, 15,000 French troops left France in several ships.

Halfway through, the fleet was caught in a terrible storm. When the fleet reached Bentry Bay, where the invasion was planned, it turned out that several ships, including the Brotherhood, which carried General Hosh, the commander of the operation, were lost. After waiting a few days, the fleet went back, because the weather began to deteriorate again, and the British could start attacking at any moment. And then finally General Hosh arrived in Bentry Bay in his ship. But he was informed that the French fleet had already left without waiting for its commander. As a result, Hosh himself sailed to France, and the invasion ended there. Interestingly, the Batavian Republic's attempt to invade Britain the following year was also thwarted by bad weather.

4. The Russian winter of 1709 ended the era of Sweden as a superpower

If military strategists were asked to give just one piece of advice regarding an invasion of Russia, that advice would be not to launch an invasion before winter. Everyone knows how the attempts to conquer Adolf Hitler and Napoleon Bonaparte, who were defeated by the harsh Russian winter, ended. But no one remembers the third country that tried to do this - Sweden. In 1708, 40,000 Swedish soldiers invaded Russia as part of the Great Northern War of 1700-1721. At the time, the smaller but more professional Swedish army was known for defeating more numerous opponents in battle.

Initially defeated, the Russians fled deep into Russia, burning villages behind them (the “scorched earth” tactic is used to prevent the enemy from living and supplying his army in the occupied territory). So, shortly thereafter, the Great Frost of 1709 began. It was the coldest winter in Europe in 500 years. Lacking the necessary supplies, the Swedish troops simply froze to death. Approximately 2,000 people died in just one night, and by the time winter ended, they had been dead half the time. Demoralized survivors tried to put the squeeze on Russia when summer began, but they could no longer cope with 80,000 Russian soldiers. As a result, only 543 Swedes survived.

5. A devastating storm destroyed a Spanish armada trying to invade Great Britain

In 1588, the Spanish king Philip II decided that he was tired of the Protestant Queen Elizabeth, and decided to replace her with a Roman Catholic ruler. Therefore, he ordered 130 ships to go to Flanders to gather 30,000 soldiers for the invasion. The British learned of this operation and intercepted the Spaniards off the coast of Plymouth. Both fleets fought several battles, which ended in a stalemate. The Spanish were finally defeated when a storm swept their ships across the ocean. Given the threat of disease and the lack of supplies, the Spaniards decided to abandon the war and return to Spain. The storm continued to plague the retreating armada, with the result that several ships either sank or ran aground. In the end, only 60 of the 130 ships returned to Spain, and 15,000 sailors were killed.

6. Dust storm doomed to failure the US attempt to free hostages in Iran

On November 4, 1979, Iranian students invaded the US embassy in Tehran, taking 52 diplomats and embassy workers hostage. President Jimmy Carter later ordered a military operation to free the hostages. At that time, the United States did not have a central command of special operations, so various military units were combined for the invasion. The operation was doomed from the start because the units never trained together.

Trouble began when C-130 transport planes and RH-53D helicopters encountered sandstorms while flying to a rendezvous codenamed Desert One. The planes flew through the storm, but the helicopters were unable to do so and returned to base. Six of the eight helicopters later sailed to Desert One again, but one was damaged on landing. The operation was curtailed because five helicopters were not enough to achieve its objectives. All units were returned to base. On the way back, a sandstorm led to disaster.

A C-130 aircraft taking off from Desert One, due to obstructed visibility, crashed into a helicopter, and both fell to the ground (killing eight crew members). The remaining troops, helicopters and planes hastily retreated. The failure of the operation caused a change in US military doctrine. In all divisions, teams were formed to coordinate special operations. The Department of Defense also created the United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) to coordinate operations among all US military special forces.

7. Low clouds, rain and thunderstorm prevented Hitler from destroying the allies in Dunkirk

Allied troops stationed in France could not cope with the advancing Nazis during the German invasion of France in 1940. The Allies fled to the port of Dunkirk after a series of defeats. The Germans could catch up and destroy the allies, but Hitler ordered them not to. This gave the Allies ample time to begin a hasty retreat from Dunkirk on 26 May. The next day, Field Marshal Walter von Brauchitsch persuaded Hitler to resume the assault. But by the time the German tanks arrived, the Allies had organized a more powerful defense, so Hitler ordered the tanks to stop and attack elsewhere. By 4 June, more than 338,000 British, French and Belgian troops had fled Dunkirk for Britain. The reason why Hitler did not allow his army to destroy the allies remains unclear. Some believe that Hitler expected the British to surrender. Others argue that Reichsmarschall Hermann Goering, commander of the Luftwaffe (Nazi German Air Force), assured Hitler that the Luftwaffe could destroy the Allies without ground support. But the planes were unable to attack the Allies because low clouds, heavy rain and thunderstorms prevented the Luftwaffe from air strikes against Allied targets.

8. A storm destroyed the French fleet in the Battle of Trafalgar

On October 21, 1805, the British fleet entered the battle against the combined fleets of Spain and France. The French and the Spaniards were defeated in the battle, but continued to fight until the oncoming hurricane destroyed the remnants of their fleet. The French ship "Fougueux" was the first victim of the hurricane. Captured earlier in action, he was towing behind the British ship Phoebe, but a storm caused the rope to break. The ship crashed into several rocks, killing French and British sailors on board. The French ship Redoutable was lost in similar circumstances the next day. Several other French ships captured by the British were also at risk of sinking. The French sailors on the Algesiras revolted against their British escorts, and they surrendered to them, otherwise the ship would have sunk. As a result, fourteen captured French and Spanish ships were destroyed.

9. French cavalry captured the Dutch fleet

January 23, 1795 became one of the strangest days in the history of hostilities, because on this day several warships were captured by … cavalry. The ships were captured at the Battle of Texel during the French Revolutionary Wars. Due to the storm, the Dutch fleet anchored in Marsdeep Strait right off the Dutch island of Texel. The Dutch waited for the storm to end, but could not swim away, as the water near the coast froze. The French heard of this and sent in cavalry. At first, when the Dutch saw the approaching French, they decided to destroy their ships so that they would not be captured. However, they abandoned the idea when they heard that the French revolutionaries had won the war. The Dutch surrendered on the condition that the French let them stay on their ships.

10. An unpredictable storm forced the Union to abandon the first battle of Fort Fisher

The first Battle of Fort Fisher took place on December 23-27, 1864, when Allied forces under the command of Major General Benjamin Butler and Rear Admiral David D. Porter attempted to seize the fort from the Confederates. At the time, all Confederate ports except Wilmington, North Carolina were under Union control. The port at Wilmington was defended by Fort Fisher. But the assault had to be postponed due to a severe storm, so the Union ships sailed on December 14 and reached Fort Fisher on December 19. General Butler and his men soon retreated in fear of an approaching storm. Admiral Porter launched the attack when the storm died down on 23 December. General Butler and his men returned in the evening of the same day, but did not attack the fort out of fears that the Confederates had already prepared for this. General Butler finally ordered a retreat. The fort was captured by Union forces a week later.