Editing Capital city (section)

== Capitals in military strategy ==
[[File:Fall-of-constantinople-22.jpg|thumb|[[Constantinople]], the capital of the [[Byzantine Empire]], was the final part of the empire to fall to the [[Ottoman Turks]] due to its strong defences.]]
The capital city is usually but not always a primary target in a war, as capturing it usually guarantees capture of much of the enemy government, victory for the attacking forces, or at the very least demoralization for the defeated forces.

In [[ancient China]], where governments were massive centralized bureaucracies with little flexibility on the provincial level, a [[Chinese Dynasties|dynasty]] could easily be toppled with the fall of its capital. In the [[Three Kingdoms]] period, both [[Shu Han|Shu]] and [[Eastern Wu|Wu]] fell when their respective capitals of [[Chengdu]] and [[Jianye District|Jianye]] fell. The [[Ming dynasty]] relocated its capital from [[Nanjing]] to [[Beijing]], where they could more effectively control the generals and troops guarding the borders from [[Mongols]] and [[Manchus]]. The Ming was destroyed when [[Li Zicheng]] took their seat of power, and this pattern repeats itself in Chinese history, until the fall of the traditional [[Confucian]] monarchy in the 20th century. After the [[Qing dynasty]]'s collapse, decentralization of authority and improved transportation and communication technologies allowed both the [[Chinese Nationalists]] and [[Chinese Communists]] to rapidly relocate capitals and keep their leadership structures intact during the great crisis of [[Second Sino-Japanese War|Japanese invasion]].

National capitals were arguably less important as military objectives in other parts of the world, including the West, because of socioeconomic trends toward localized authority, a strategic modus operandi especially popular after the development of [[feudalism]] and reaffirmed by the development of democratic and capitalistic philosophies. In 1204, after the Latin [[Fourth Crusade|Crusaders]] captured the [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantine]] capital, [[Constantinople]], Byzantine forces were able to regroup in several provinces; provincial noblemen managed to reconquer the capital after 60 years and preserve the empire for another 200 years after that. The [[British Empire|British]] forces sacked various [[United States|American]] capitals repeatedly during the [[American Revolutionary War|Revolutionary War]] and [[War of 1812]], but American forces could still carry on fighting from the countryside, where they enjoyed support from local governments and the traditionally independent civilian frontiersmen. Exceptions to these generalizations include highly centralized states such as [[France]], whose centralized bureaucracies could effectively coordinate far-flung resources, giving the state a powerful advantage over less coherent rivals, but risking utter ruin if the capital were taken.