eli5 Why is it so important to „capture“ the capital city in a war?

Question

Does it really change the outcome of the war? Does a country fall when the capital city is captured?

In: 462

Answer 1

Becasue capital cities tend to contain the administrative districts of a nation. While it’s nice to say that nations are more the people than the government, in teh end major cities only survive due to administrative benefits that originate at the top.

By capturing the capital where the origins of all that tend to lie, the ability for a nation to administratively survive is almost nill.