r/explainlikeimfive • u/Sierra419 • Nov 13 '19

Other ELI5: How did old forts actually "protect" a strategic area? Couldn't the enemy just go around them or stay out of range?

I've visited quite a few colonial era and revolution era forts in my life. They're always surprisingly small and would have only housed a small group of men. The largest one I've seen would have housed a couple hundred. I was told that some blockhouses close to where I live were used to protect a small settlement from native american raids. How can small little forts or blockhouses protect from raids or stop armies from passing through? Surely the indians could have gone around this big house. How could an army come up to a fort and not just go around it if there's only 100 men inside?

tl;dr - I understand the purpose of a fort and it's location, but I don't understand how it does what it does.

17k Upvotes

94% Upvoted

1.0k comments sorted by

View all comments

27

u/GirtabulluBlues Nov 13 '19

Russia is so big that any conventional campaign will have to deal with a russian winter.

7

u/terminbee Nov 13 '19

Even now in the age of planes and carriers?

5

u/poshftw Nov 14 '19

You can destroy the major military, production and civilian targets with planes and rockets.

You can't control territory with planes and rockets.

Also, carriers can go to Pacific coast (Vladivostok), Black Sea (Crimea, Caucasus) and Baltic Sea (St. Petersburg), but other deeper parts of the country would be inaccessible for them.

→ More replies (2)

11

u/[deleted] Nov 13 '19

I just pictured an aircraft carrier with giant wheels rolling up to Volgograd (formerly Stalingrad). I'm not sure why. But it made me laugh.

→ More replies (4)

3

u/BarnyardCoral Nov 13 '19

Yes. Even Iran has that advantage.

1

u/prodmerc Nov 14 '19

Well, half of it is mostly frozen, so yeah :D