rasputitsa

File:Город Сокол улица Ворошилова.jpg, October 2012]]

The Russian term rasputitsa is derived from the root путь (put′), 'road, way, travel' + the prefix рас- (ras) 'discrepancy, divergence' + the diminutive suffix -иц (it͡s) + the feminine noun ending а (a).

The Ukrainian term {{Langx|uk|бездоріжжя|lit=roadlessness|translit=bezdorizhzhia|label=none}} ({{Pronunciation|Uk-бездоріжжя.ogg|3=}}) usually refers to spring, and occasionally to autumn, when rain and/or melting snow on unpaved roads, tracks, paths, or any poorly-drained off-road area turns the route into impassable deep mud.{{cite web |last=Hambling |first=David |date=2022-04-12 |title=Mud season in Ukraine leaves Russian tanks stuck in more |url=https://theguardian.com/news/2022/apr/12/mud-season-in-ukraine-leaves-russian-tanks-stuck-in-mire |work=The Guardian}}

File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-B15500, Russland, Dorf vor Moskau.jpg, November 1941]] File:Bundesarchiv Bild 101I-289-1091-26, Russland, Pferdegespann im Schlamm.jpg), March 1942]]

These conditions in Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine are caused by high moisture storage capacity of black clay soils but not limited solely to the area of chernozem found in the region and works as a sponge.{{clarify|reason=barely grammatical|date=October 2024}} Roads are subject to weight limitations and closures during the period in certain districts. The phenomenon was a notable hindrance in the early 20th century, since 40% of rural villages in the erstwhile Soviet Union were not served by paved roads. The problem is less pronounced in elevated areas than in lowlands.

Roads that run through wetlands are particularly susceptible to damage. This phenomenon not only affects motorists but also pedestrians, mining, logging and agricultural companies creating deep ruts and furrows. During the time of rasputitsa, some farm products cannot be delivered to the city (i.e. to market) and must be destroyed.Julia Olsen, Marina Nenasheva & Grete K. Hovelsrud (2021) ‘Road of life’: changing navigation seasons and the adaptation of island communities in the Russian Arctic, Polar Geography, 44:1, 1-19, DOI: 10.1080/1088937X.2020.1826593

Autumn thawing occurs when the average daily air temperature drops to +5°C, which reduces the evaporation of moisture, and the frequency of rains saturating the upper soil layer increases.[https://studfile.net/preview/9925630/page:3/ Распутица] In Canada there is definitely a rasputitsa period, though it does not occur everywhere or necessarily in the fall, and it is not considered a rasputitsa by name.[https://earthscience.stackexchange.com/questions/13149/do-siberia-and-canada-have-a-rasputitsa Do Siberia and Canada have a rasputitsa?]

Climate change in Russia and warmer winters in the Russian Arctic are a big disadvantage: rasputitsa lasted previously for 2–3 weeks, and now it reaches two months, as an inhabitant of an island near Archangelsk said in an interview.Julia Olsen, Marina Nenasheva & Grete K. Hovelsrud (2021) ‘Road of life’: changing navigation seasons and the adaptation of island communities in the Russian Arctic, Polar Geography, 44:1, 1-19, DOI: 10.1080/1088937X.2020.1826593

File:На Харківщині відкопали ворожі танки й передали на потреби ЗСУ 01.jpg of Ukraine, March 2022]]

The rasputitsa seasons are well-known as a defensive advantage in wartime. Spring thaw was a factor that helped prevent Novgorod from being overrun during the Mongol invasion of Kievan Rus' in the 13th century.{{cite book|editor1-last = May|editor1-first = Timothy Michael|title = The Mongol Empire: A Historical Encyclopedia|series = Empires of the World|volume = 1|location = Santa Barbara, California|publisher = ABC-CLIO|date = 2016|page = 65|isbn = 9781610693400|quote = During the Mongol invasion of the Rus' principalities in 1238–1240, Novgorod escaped destruction by the Mongols due to an early spring, which transformed the routes to Novgorod into a muddy bog.}} The 'season of bad roads' also proved to be a great hindrance in and after the Battle of Krasnoi, when many horses, carriages and cannons were stuck in the snow or mud and left behind during the French retreat from Russia.[http://www.napoleon-series.org/faq/c_russia.html FAQ regarding what made Napoleon fail in invading Russia], Napoleon -series website{{Cite book |title= History of the Consulate and the Empire of France under Napoleon|first = M. Adolphe|last = Thiers|translator1 = D. Forbes Campbell|translator2 = H. W. Herbert |volume= IV |location= Philadelphia |publisher= J. B. Lippincott & Co |date= 1864 |page= 243|url= http://www.edwardtufte.com/tufte/minard |quote= whilst it was almost impossible to drag the gun-carriages through the half-frozen mud}} (regarding November 20, 1812) Rasputitsa reduced the mobility of both armies but it seemed to be more favorable to the defender.

:Already on 29/30 June 1812 (five days after crossing the Russian border on their march towards Vilna) "Marshal Mud" played a significant role, when a violent thunderstorm struck Lithuania during the night and continued for a day. Ca 15 or 18,000 horses were lost; they sank to their knees on the primitively constructed roads through mostly swampy areas near Trakai. The Grande Armée lost 50,000 men in two days due to fatigue and want.{{sfn|Bourgogne|1899|p=2}}{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_0hSAAAAcAAJ&pg=PR3|title=Herinneringen uit den veldtogt van Rusland, in den jare 1812|first=Willem Pieter D'Auzon de|last=Boisminart|date=May 18, 1824|publisher=Gebroeders van Cleef|via=Google Books|access-date=May 20, 2022|archive-date=January 15, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230115064737/https://books.google.com/books?id=_0hSAAAAcAAJ&pg=PR3|url-status=live}}

"General Mud" is a nickname (sometimes) used in the Western Front in the Battles of Ypres in December 1916.[https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/education/resources/medicine-on-the-western-front-part-two/general-mud/ Natural hardships: The campaign against “General Mud” on the British Western Front]Burns, E.L.M. (1970) General Mud. Memoirs of Two World Wars

During World War II, the months-long muddy period slowed the German advance into the Soviet Union during the Operation Typhoon on the Eastern Front, and may have helped save Moscow from falling under a German military occupation.{{Cite book|last = Overy|first = Richard |author-link= Richard Overy |date= 1997 |title= Russia's War |location= London |publisher= Penguin |isbn= 1-57500-051-2 |pages= 113–114 |quote= Both sides now struggled in the autumn mud. On October 6 [1941] the first snow had fallen, unusually early. It soon melted, turning the whole landscape into its habitual trackless state – the rasputitsa, literally the 'time without roads'.... It is commonplace to attribute the German failure to take Moscow to the sudden change in the weather. While it is certainly true that German progress slowed, it had already been slowing because of the fanatical resistance of Soviet forces and the problem of moving supplies over the long distances through occupied territory. The mud slowed the Soviet build-up also, and hampered the rapid deployment of men and machines.}} The advent of Blitzkrieg had the disadvantage that while tanks could operate effectively in summer or in winter, they proved less useful in spring and autumn,{{cite book|last = Pinkus|first = Oscar|chapter = Death of Barbarossa|title = The War Aims and Strategies of Adolf Hitler|location = Jefferson, North Carolina|publisher = McFarland|date = 2005|page = 241|isbn = 9780786420544|quote = By the time the Germans approached their major objectives such as Rostov, Moscow, or Leningrad the campaigning season was over and Barbarossa was off his horse. [...] [Hitler] had not planned to fight in Russia during the fall and winter. He had stated in his Directive No. 21 that this was to be a 'lightning campaign' to be won in two to four months maximum. [...] the cause of failure was the proposition that the Soviet Union could and would be defeated in a blitzkrieg.}} when the functioning of an efficient railway system came into its own.{{cite book|last = Willmott|first = H. P.|date = 1989|title = The Great Crusade: A New Complete History of the Second World War|edition = revised|location = Washington, D.C.|publisher = Potomac Books, Inc.|publication-date = 2008|page = 153|isbn = 9781597971911|quote = While the Germans were to blame many factors, and particularly the rasputitsa, for the failure of Operation Taifun, the fact was that logistically the German attack on Moscow was in difficulty before it even began. German rail and road facilities were not sufficient to sustain the offensive beyond Smolensk [...].}}

Prior to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, some analysts identified the logistical challenges of the mud season as a likely hindrance to any large-scale invasion in spring.{{cite news|url=https://www.economist.com/the-economist-explains/2022/02/07/will-ukraines-muddy-ground-halt-russian-tanks|title=Will Ukraine's muddy ground halt Russian tanks?|date=7 February 2022|accessdate=5 March 2022|newspaper=The Economist}} When Russia crossed the border, many of its mobile units found themselves stranded in fields and limited to major roads, where resistance and logistical issues significantly slowed the advance toward Kyiv and elsewhere.{{cite web|url=https://taskandpurpose.com/news/russian-tanks-stuck-mud-ukraine/|title='Tanks and mud are not friends' – Ukraine's terrain is proving to be a problem for Russian armor|website=Task & Purpose|date=2 March 2022|accessdate=5 March 2022|first=David|last=Roza}}{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-60596629|title=Ukraine: Why has Russia's 64km convoy near Kyiv stopped moving?|date=4 March 2022|accessdate=5 March 2022|website=BBC News}}{{cite web |first=David |last=Hambling |url= https://theguardian.com/news/2022/apr/12/mud-season-in-ukraine-leaves-russian-tanks-stuck-in-mire|title=Mud season in Ukraine leaves Russian tanks stuck in more |work=The Guardian |date=2022-04-12}} [https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2022/03/mud-in-ukraine-history-of-russian-army-and-rasputitsa.html “General Mud” Has Usually Been on Russia’s Side in War. Not This Time]

{{Commons category}}

• Cold-weather warfare
• Russian Winter or General Winter

{{Reflist|30em}}

• {{cite book |last= Bourgogne |first= Adrien Jean Baptiste François |title= Memoirs of Sergeant Bourgogne (1812-1813) |editor1-last=Cottin |editor1-first=Paul |editor1-link=Paul Cottin |editor2-last=Hénault |editor2-first= Maurice |publisher=William Heinemann, via reprint, Moscow: Ripol Classic |location= London |year= 1899 |isbn= 5875000767 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=wdcKAwAAQBAJ |access-date= 7 December 2021}}
• Siegelbaum, L. H. (2008) Roadlessness and the ‘Path to Communism’: Building Roads and Highways in Stalinist Russia. The Journal of Transport History, 29(2), 277–294. https://doi.org/10.7227/TJTH.29.2.8

Category:Climate of Russia

Category:Climate of Ukraine

Category:Environment of Belarus