Why Sweden, Napoleon and Hitler Failed to Conquer Russia

Three of the most powerful armies in history invaded Russia.

Sweden, France, Germany, all three were destroyed.

So why is Russia so hard to conquer? Look at the map.

From Poland to Moscow, there are no mountains and no sea to cross, just one huge flat plain.

Invading looks easy. In 1708, Charles XII of Sweden marched in with 40,000 veterans.

The Russians fell back and burned their own crops.

Then came the great frost, one of the coldest winters Europe had seen in centuries.

Thousands of Swedes froze to death. At Poltava, Peter the Great finished them off.

100 years later, Napoleon tried with 400,000 men.

Same plain, same scorched earth. Only 10,000 made it home.

In 1941, Hitler sent over three million.

His tanks reached the edge of Moscow, but Russia packed up more than 1,000 factories and moved them east beyond the Urals.

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.

Russia doesn't need to win the first battle.

It just retreats and lets the land do the fighting.