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

Prior to Napoleon it was regarded as vitally important as they contained most of the production as well as the seat of government, so those cities were well protected, so by capturing hem you had basically defeated the country. Napoleon focused on defeating the opposing army in the field rather than on cities. this meant his mobile armies weren’t tied to one location while besieging a city. By defeating the opposing armies meant that there were no troops left to defend cities so they then surrendered when his armies were near rather than risk being destroyed.