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.

Added to korrents 15 Jul 2022 · How quotes work · Something wrong? Tell us

Related korrents

Our reading — they may agree, disagree or merely touch the same thing. Closest first: a shared subject counts for most, then how near the wording is.

• 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. BDBret Devereaux15 Jul 2022similar 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
• 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
• Britain alone in Europe needed no large standing army, because a competent navy meant no army could ever reach its shores. SPSarah Paine9 Jun 2026similar wording
• Whatever a state thinks it will gain by sending soldiers is inferior to what it would have got from sending diplomats and lawyers. SPSarah Paine9 Jun 2026similar wording

On the map

Open the map on its own page →