The Weather Factor: How Nature Has Changed History [Paperback]

Erik Durschmied (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 5, 2002

From the doomed campaigns of Roman legions and Napoleon to the fate of U.S. forces in the South Pacific and Vietnam, torrential rain, brutal winters, monster typhoons, and killer hurricanes have had far-reaching-and often terrifying-consequences. As Erik Durschmied vividly describes in dramatic vignettes, the elements have decided human history as often as the spear, bullet, or atomic bomb. Drawing upon extensive research, as well as the author's own experiences in Vietnam, THE WEATHER FACTOR gives a fascinating account of the inevitable collision between weather fronts and human conflict.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Intended as a companion to the author's Hinge Factor [BKL Mr 15 00], which looked at the twists of fate that changed the outcomes of famous battles, this work looks at 14 cases of how nature has affected key moments of history. Durschmied takes the reader on a historical weather survey from the biblical flood to America's defeat in Vietnam. Along the way he shows how Japan was saved from a Mongol invasion fleet in 1281 by a typhoon, how fog doomed Tecumseh and the British during the War of 1812, and how Austria was saved from an invasion by Italy in 1916 by a series of heavy snows and avalanches. He concludes with a look at recent efforts to control weather and then projects into the future, looking at the military's desire to "own the weather." Although often as interesting as the author's previous book, this one suffers from a more personalized and informal tone that obfuscates rather than illustrates. Eric Robbins
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

Military historian and award-winning war correspondent for the BBC and CBS, Erik Durschmied has covered crises in Vietnam, Iran, Iraq, Belfast, Beirut, Chile, Cuba, and Afghanistan. He lives in Paris and Provence with his family.

Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Arcade Publishing (June 5, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1559706244
• ISBN-13: 978-1559706247
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 5.8 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,189,411 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It's Not Just About the Weather, April 7, 2001

By 

William Holmes "semloh2287" (Portland, OR USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Weather Factor: How Nature Has Changed History (Hardcover)

Reading Durchmied's "The Weather Factor" (the sequel to last year's "The Hinge Factor") is one of life's guilty pleasures. Although I sometimes wondered whether the author might be one of those who is "often in error, but never in doubt," I didn't see any obvious mistakes. More to the point, I thoroughly enjoyed the author's style and selection of events.

The book is not about the weather as such, so it doesn't discuss the nuances of isobars or storm fronts; rather, it focuses on how the weather has changed the outcome of selected historical events. Durschmied's new book is thus a continuation of his narrative in "The Hinge Factor."

Among the events the author describes: the destruction of three Roman legions in Teutoberger Wald in AD 9 in the face of a wild thunderstorm; the "divine wind" that destroyed the Mongol invasion fleet in 1281; the destruction of Napoleon's Grand Army in 1812; the Irish potato famine of the 1840s; war in the Alps, 1916-18; the defeat of Hitler's Russian offensive in 1941; and a somewhat surprising reason why the Soviet Union was not willing to use nuclear weapons during the Cuban missile crisis. Durchmied writes with a dramatic skill that brings these events to life.

One of the best measures of how much I enjoyed a book is how much I look forward to the next one by the same author. I noticed that Durchmied's books are published in Europe about a year before they arrive in the United States, so I visited Amazon's UK site to see whether Durschmied had written anything new. In fact, he has: he just published a new book called "The Whisper of the Blade," which appears to be a history of revolutions. I've already ordered it, and I'm looking forward to its arrival here on the other side of the pond.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars No comparison to The Hinge Factor, April 1, 2002

By 

Marcus (San Francisco, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Weather Factor: How Nature Has Changed History (Hardcover)

I very much enjoyed reading "The Hinge Factor" and so I bought this book hoping to find more similar reading material. Chapter 1 raised my doubts and after finishing Chapter 2 I was really disappointed by this book. The episodes are really lenghty and somewhat hard to read/follow - the book is not well written. The most disappointing fact, however, is that this book has not very much to do with military history but focuses almost entirely on political history. The influence of the weather, as the title of the book suggests, seems almost constructed and bears almost no meaning to the events described.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Don't waste your time, May 30, 2001

By 

Padz (Sapporo, Hokkaido Japan) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Weather Factor: How Nature Has Changed History (Hardcover)

If you're interested in the weather (as the title might just lead you to expect), don't bother. If your interests lie in military history, then you may enjoy it. The book is littered with factual innacuracies and bizarre grammar (is this a translation?, or is Durschmied a non-native English speaker who couldn't be bothered to have his text proofed?) and the author mixes fact with fiction to such an extent that one ends up presuming the whole thing is made up and tossing it in the nearest rubbish bin.