# Why Sweden, Napoleon and Hitler Failed to Conquer Russia

- Original post: https://www.twitter.com/i/status/2119497713008165304
- Source account: [@rinalu\_](https://x.com/rinalu_)
- Source language: English
- Duration: 1:14
- Published: 2026-11-09
- Canonical URL: https://www.translate.mom/transcript/3c0d5PeY2syB/en/why-sweden-napoleon-and-hitler-failed-to-conquer-russia

## Transcript

[0:00](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/3c0d5PeY2syB/en/why-sweden-napoleon-and-hitler-failed-to-conquer-russia) Three of the most powerful armies in history invaded Russia.

[0:03](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/3c0d5PeY2syB/en/why-sweden-napoleon-and-hitler-failed-to-conquer-russia?t=3) Sweden, France, Germany, all three were destroyed.

[0:07](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/3c0d5PeY2syB/en/why-sweden-napoleon-and-hitler-failed-to-conquer-russia?t=7) So why is Russia so hard to conquer? Look at the map.

[0:10](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/3c0d5PeY2syB/en/why-sweden-napoleon-and-hitler-failed-to-conquer-russia?t=10) From Poland to Moscow, there are no mountains and no sea to cross, just one huge flat plain.

[0:16](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/3c0d5PeY2syB/en/why-sweden-napoleon-and-hitler-failed-to-conquer-russia?t=16) Invading looks easy. In 1708, Charles XII of Sweden marched in with 40,000 veterans.

[0:23](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/3c0d5PeY2syB/en/why-sweden-napoleon-and-hitler-failed-to-conquer-russia?t=23) The Russians fell back and burned their own crops.

[0:26](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/3c0d5PeY2syB/en/why-sweden-napoleon-and-hitler-failed-to-conquer-russia?t=26) Then came the great frost, one of the coldest winters Europe had seen in centuries.

[0:31](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/3c0d5PeY2syB/en/why-sweden-napoleon-and-hitler-failed-to-conquer-russia?t=31) Thousands of Swedes froze to death. At Poltava, Peter the Great finished them off.

[0:36](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/3c0d5PeY2syB/en/why-sweden-napoleon-and-hitler-failed-to-conquer-russia?t=36) 100 years later, Napoleon tried with 400,000 men.

[0:40](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/3c0d5PeY2syB/en/why-sweden-napoleon-and-hitler-failed-to-conquer-russia?t=40) Same plain, same scorched earth. Only 10,000 made it home.

[0:44](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/3c0d5PeY2syB/en/why-sweden-napoleon-and-hitler-failed-to-conquer-russia?t=44) In 1941, Hitler sent over three million.

[0:47](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/3c0d5PeY2syB/en/why-sweden-napoleon-and-hitler-failed-to-conquer-russia?t=47) His tanks reached the edge of Moscow, but Russia packed up more than 1,000 factories and moved them east beyond the Urals.

[0:55](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/3c0d5PeY2syB/en/why-sweden-napoleon-and-hitler-failed-to-conquer-russia?t=55) It's always the same three enemies: distance, Moscow is 1,000 kilometers from the border, and every mile stretches your supplies thinner; mud, twice a year, the roads dissolve into swamp; and winter, which finishes the job.

[1:09](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/3c0d5PeY2syB/en/why-sweden-napoleon-and-hitler-failed-to-conquer-russia?t=69) Russia doesn't need to win the first battle.

[1:11](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/3c0d5PeY2syB/en/why-sweden-napoleon-and-hitler-failed-to-conquer-russia?t=71) It just retreats and lets the land do the fighting.