The Lines of Torres Vedras were an incredible engineering achievement, especially considering they were kept a complete secret from the French. We're talking about 30 miles of continuous fortifications.
Among the problems the French had in the peninsula, it seems Napoleon underestimated the poverty of the countryside and the poor quality of the roads. An army could live off the land just fine on the banks of the Danube, not so much on the high plain of Castile. The marshals would get orders as if a line on the map was an actual road, then find themselves marching tens of thousands of men over a glorified goat track through barren and almost uninhabited hills. Add in the guerrieros and you've got a big problem.
I suppose for us it's a reminder to not mistake the map for the territory.
Comments
The Lines of Torres Vedras were an incredible engineering achievement, especially considering they were kept a complete secret from the French. We're talking about 30 miles of continuous fortifications.
Among the problems the French had in the peninsula, it seems Napoleon underestimated the poverty of the countryside and the poor quality of the roads. An army could live off the land just fine on the banks of the Danube, not so much on the high plain of Castile. The marshals would get orders as if a line on the map was an actual road, then find themselves marching tens of thousands of men over a glorified goat track through barren and almost uninhabited hills. Add in the guerrieros and you've got a big problem.
I suppose for us it's a reminder to not mistake the map for the territory.