Year Without Summer

[Michael B]

What would have happened if Mount Tambora had erupted a year earlier? For details of what happened see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Year_Without_A_Summer#Effects

With food riots at home Britain is not in a good position to put an army onto the continent. Shortage of food is also going to hit Prussia and Russia who both mobilised against France. It is going to be difficult for them to support their armies in the field plus they need the troops at home to maintain law and order. A campaign in France is going to be out for 1815

France obviously is not going to escape the impact. In fact the chaos from the famine will make anti-Bourbon feeling worse (it was a famine then helped bring in the French Revolution) In addition, the delay of the Great Powers' invasion is going to buy Napoleon time to re-establish his control at home.

The obvious questions then are:
1) Does Waterloo take place in 1816 or does the lull mean that the Napoleonic War has ended?
2) Do the Poles take advantage of the famine and rise up against the occupation of their country? A war here will divert Prussia from the fighting in the west and put the Russians completely out of the equation; on OTL they sent troops in support of the British and Prussians.

 

[Tom Veil]

A related thought: if the cold spell hit in 1812, Napoleon might have been persuaded to call off the Russian Offensive -- or, in the alternative, it might have resulted in the horrific, absolute destruction of both the French and Russian armies.

 

[Chingo360]

same with what would have happened if it erupted later

 

[Tom Veil]

same with what would have happened if it erupted later

I mean absolute, as in not just 300k French dead and 400k Russian dead, but too-cold-for-Napoleon-to-reach-Warsaw dead.

 

[Wendell]

What happens in the United States as a result of this?

 

[NapoleonXIV]

A related thought: if the cold spell hit in 1812, Napoleon might have been persuaded to call off the Russian Offensive -- or, in the alternative, it might have resulted in the horrific, absolute destruction of both the French and Russian armies.

AFAIK the effect of volcanic eruptions is to lengthen winters more than to make them more severe. The Year Without a Summer reported many instances of where temps in summer would vary from above average to below freezing, snowstorms in June, very late killing frosts, rainstorms etc, but few seem to mention that the winter was more than normally severe.

 

[Tom Veil]

AFAIK the effect of volcanic eruptions is to lengthen winters more than to make them more severe. The Year Without a Summer reported many instances of where temps in summer would vary from above average to below freezing, snowstorms in June, very late killing frosts, rainstorms etc, but few seem to mention that the winter was more than normally severe.

I stand corrected.

 

[Tom Veil]

Big One!

What happens in the United States as a result of this?

Based on the Wiki article, Mormon Founder Joseph Smith was a 10-year-old boy whose family moved from Vermont to West New York, which he would help transform into the Burned-Over District. A simple thing like moving the cold snap back a year could cause lots of the cold-weather refugees to move to slightly different places, or have a different group of people be the ones who move. In other words, this small change could easily butterfly away Mormonism! Thanks, Wendell!

 

[Wendell]

Based on the Wiki article, Mormon Founder Joseph Smith was a 10-year-old boy whose family moved from Vermont to West New York, which he would help transform into the Burned-Over District. A simple thing like moving the cold snap back a year could cause lots of the cold-weather refugees to move to slightly different places, or have a different group of people be the ones who move. In other words, this small change could easily butterfly away Mormonism! Thanks, Wendell!

No problem The ramifications could be rather significant.

 

[HelloLegend]

Based on the Wiki article, Mormon Founder Joseph Smith was a 10-year-old boy whose family moved from Vermont to West New York, which he would help transform into the Burned-Over District. A simple thing like moving the cold snap back a year could cause lots of the cold-weather refugees to move to slightly different places, or have a different group of people be the ones who move. In other words, this small change could easily butterfly away Mormonism! Thanks, Wendell!

The Angels would come to him the next year. His church would only be postponed

 

[Nik]

1814 / 1815 / 1816 ...

Which-ever year Tambora blows, if it takes one season, two or three to blanket globe, to give that dire 'Year Without Summer', it still features in Project Lorraine, 'A Winter's Tale'...

Sorry, I can't claim this thread inspired that chapter, but I might have read it and remembered when I needed a POD for that Vampire Nest...