[War & Business] Sowing and War

On the 31st of last month (local time), a farmer was preparing for sowing work in Luhansk, an area in eastern Ukraine occupied by pro-Russian separatist rebels. Luhansk (Ukraine) = TASS·Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunwoo Lee] In April 1812, Napoleon raised an army of 600,000 troops for the Russian campaign and instructed Army Minister Jean Lacu?e to prepare 50 days' worth of provisions. The plan was to regroup the scattered forces from France and across Europe in Poland by June and attack Russia, aiming to conclude the war within a week. Such a large mobilization of troops had never been seen in pre-modern Europe.

While Napoleon's grand army marched toward Poland, farmlands across Europe were devastated beyond recovery. The French army forcibly requisitioned food and soldiers from countries along their route, including Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic, and Poland, causing farmers to miss the sowing season. Moreover, the French troops looted all the grain seeds, completely ruining the next year's harvest.

Recognizing the severe supply issues faced by the French army, the Russian forces conducted a delaying strategy and implemented the "scorched earth" operation, burning the vast agricultural lands in the western region. As a result, although Napoleon captured Moscow in September, he was forced to retreat due to food shortages, suffering a catastrophic defeat that cost him most of his 600,000 troops and led to his downfall. Since then, even in World Wars I and II and other major modern conflicts, waging war during sowing seasons has been strictly taboo.

The failure of Napoleon's Russian campaign, often praised in Russia as the "Patriotic War," ironically mirrors the current reality faced by the Russian military. Key grain-producing regions adjacent to Ukraine have been blockaded due to the war, and all Black Sea coastal ports where grain was collected have been closed, causing a surge in staple food prices. The severity of food shortages within the Russian army is such that the Russian government has even ordered elementary school students at all levels to collect chocolates and bread to send to soldiers at the front lines.

Countries in the Middle East and Africa, far from Europe, are also monitoring the worsening public sentiment as the Russia-Ukraine war extends beyond the sowing season. Concerns have arisen that the "Arab Spring" ? the domino-like collapse of authoritarian regimes across the Middle East in December 2010 ? could recur.

The direct trigger for the Arab Spring was widely attributed to an unprecedented drought and cold spell in Ukraine in 2010. When Ukraine's wheat production dropped by more than 30%, international food prices soared, sparking massive protests starting in Tunisia in North Africa and leading to the successive collapse of Middle Eastern regimes. Key Middle Eastern countries such as Egypt and Syria still rely on Ukrainian wheat imports for over 80% of their total wheat demand.

With news emerging that Ukraine's sowing area has been halved, extremist terrorist organizations, which had been subdued for a while, have begun to resume activities. The missed sowing caused by the war is now fueling new conflicts.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.