Before railways an army could not carry the food it needed: anything longer than a few days in the field forced it to live off the country it was in.

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• About six weeks of supply is the most a pre-railway army could buy itself by adding carrying capacity, however many wagons it brought. BDBret Devereaux15 Jul 2022similar wording
• The binding constraint on pre-modern campaigning was feeding the army every day it was in the field, not winning the battle at the end of it. BDBret Devereaux15 Jul 2022similar wording
• Long-distance food transport is what stops a local harvest failure from becoming a famine. GMGeorge Monbiot4 Oct 2023similar wording
• A pre-modern countryside produces an enormous amount of food and almost no extractable surplus, which is the hard limit on everything the state above it can do. BDBret Devereaux24 Jul 2020similar wording
• A large army is inherently impractical and inefficient: every extra soldier is another mouth to feed and one fewer worker making the tanks and shells. JHJames Holland24 May 2025similar wording

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