2. 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.

3. When Did The Little Ice Age Occur? * Started around the turn of the 14 th century and ended in the mid 19 th century, lasting over 500 years. * The year 1816 is known as “the year of no summer.”

4. 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.

5. Napoleon's 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.

6. Sources 1. Documentary Film (History Channel) : Little Ice Age 2. Baltics Worldwide: The Napoleon Graves