THE LITTLE ICE AGE

ROBERT WESLEY BRIDGER JR

HISTORY 141, 71154

WHAT WAS THE LITTLE ICE AGE?

• Change in the Earth`s average temperature by 2-4 degrees Fahrenheit.

• This change is thought to have come from a few possible places. 1. Large increase in volcanic activity.

2. Ocean current/temperature change by way of melting glaciers.

3. Low amount of Sun Spots, causing less solar radiation.

WHEN DID THE LITTLE ICE AGE OCCUR?

• Started around the turn of the 14th century and ended in the mid 19th century, lasting over 500 years.

• The year 1816 is known as “the year of no summer.”

WHAT WAS ITS EFFECT ON HISTORY?• It destroyed the usual crops of Europe, making way

for something new, the potato.

• Disease and malnutrition made an easy way for the plague to arrive, killing off a third of the European population.

• Encouraged reasons for the Thirty Years War.

• It`s unpredictable weather created a storm that destroyed a large portion of the Spanish Armada.

NAPOLEONS GRAND ARMY• June, 1812 Napoleon led a 500,000 man army from

Lithuania with the hope of conquering Russia.

• The Russians burned the fields, villages, and poisoned the wells along the route to deny the French use of their food, shelter, and water.

• The French army began to die off at a rapid rate from illness, hunger, and the cold.

• By the time the French left the burnt city of Moscow and returned to Vilnius, a mere 40,000 remained. With a lack of provisions and heavy illness already set in, the soldiers continued to die.

SOURCES

• Documentary Film (History Channel) : Little Ice Age

• Baltics Worldwide: The Napoleon Graves