Mt. Tambora, Napoleon and Waterloo

Mt. Tambora, Napoleon and Waterloo

LONDON (Reuter): Napoleon's defeat at the Battle of Waterloo
in June 1815 may have been aided by the eruption of a volcano in
Indonesia, a British magazine said on Monday.

The Geographical Magazine said unusually heavy rains which
made the ground between Paris and Brussels almost impassable
hampered Napoleon's attempt to launch an attack on Brussels.

"With the intended use of much heavy artillery, the number of
feasible routes was limited, depending on the existence of a
suitable road," it quoted geologist Kenneth Spink as saying.

"Although less than 76 millimeters (3 inches) of rain would be
expected in the month of June, enormous rainstorms developed
before and during the battles leading to the major conflict at
Waterloo."

Spink said many geologists believe the heavy rains were caused
by the eruption in April 1815 of Mt. Tambora, a volcano on the
island of Sumbawa in what is now Indonesia.

The eruption affected circulation patterns around the world
and caused particularly bad weather over northern Europe.