In the spring, a young man’s fancy turns to sacking, pillaging and plundering, and so to France. Swing into your saddle, take your oar down to your dragon ship, or climb into your Panzer and start her up, for the rich cities, bountiful vineyards, and fair maidens who lay upon the other side of the fence beckon the conqueror. Now all of that is very fine and good, but why do we always set off in the spring?

Campaigns take time. If you have a distant target, you must permit yourself a sufficient amount of time in which to reach your objective. Spring gives you the spring, summer, and fall. If nine months out of twelve won’t get you there, select a closer objective.

But why not winter, you ask? The weather! Very cold weather brings death—see Charles XII in Russia, Napoleon in Russia, Hitler in Russia—or at the very least, ill health. More soldiers normally die from disease than from the efforts of the enemy, so why give disease the upper hand by exposing your troops to foul weather.

Movement is also a challenge, and the invader must move. Rivers and other waterways, which are the arteries of an advance, are frozen and impassible. Paved roads are impaired by ice and snow. Unpaved roads become quagmires with just a bit of rain. Neither fodder is to be found for your horses, nor food for your troops. The logistical nightmare of bringing along everything you require is quite enough to daunt the most dauntless.

Under fire, the desire is to dig-in. Ever try to dig-in in frozen ground? Not possible. And what of the defender? He’s already dug in, and in the best spots. Under the circumstances, it seems most advantageous to wait until spring.

ACW

In the early March of 1862, U.S. Grant moved his army of 35,000 Union troops up the Tennessee River to Pittsburg Landing, where he awaited Buell and his 50,000 men. Buell would arrive in the evening of April 6. Albert Sidney Johnston and 40,000 Confederates arrived in time for breakfast. Ah, the smell of bacon and coffee, the whiz of Minnie balls, screaming Confederates rushing through camp, their bayonets leveled. What a morning!

In the early March of 1862, General George McClellan took 105,000 Union troops down the Chesapeake Bay to join the 12,000 already at Fort Monroe, Virginia, for a dash up the Peninsula to Richmond. Did I say McClellan? Did I say dash? By June 25, McClellan had advanced close enough to Richmond to hear the church bells, but he didn’t have a prayer. Robert E. Lee was in charge of 60,000 Confederates. Then Stonewall Jackson and 18,000 more Confederates arrived. Some people play the odds, some are daunted by them, and…yes…some are undaunted. Seven days of offensive action later, and the Union behemoth had recoiled, dooming the country to years more of war and suffering.

I never said all spring offensives succeed, simply that that’s the time of year one should launch them.

Let us look at the great captains of history. Alexander the Great launched his invasion of the Persian Empire in May 334 B.C. Napoleon Bonaparte launched his invasion of Italy in April 1796—imagine doing the Alps in winter. Not even Hannibal was daft enough to try that. When Napoleon crossed the Alps in his Marengo campaign, he also started in May.