My question comes from a video game I am playing:
I am playing Austria, in Napoleonic wars. I am fighting France as main adversary, but I just captured and looted Bavaria and Saxony, two little states allied to France. Thus, some countryside with no resources (looted) will separate my territory from the great danger caused by France.
The particularity is that I am specifically attacking in order to loot (gain resources) and retreat to let France recover the devastated territory. France will have to pay for re-building them, and I will have the resources to develop my armies.
I am wondering if there is such examples in history? I already find two, but there are not really what I am searching:
- Trojan war: Achilles looted multiple cities allied to Troy, but the problem is that Troy was already surrounded so this did not lead to the protection of Troy
- Nazi Germany retreating in Baltic states: multiple destruction's were made to block the advance of the Red Army, but the Baltic states were already part of Soviet Union (after previous annexation) and were not captured in the intent of looting them and then quitting them.
EDIT: Thanks for the Edit by Tom to the question. To answer the comment: The third country, being devastated, could be either neutral or already an enemy. But it should be independent from the first enemy.
EDIT 2:
Not sure why the example in video game did not lead to a specific case I was searching for, but I will try theoretically to explain what I am looking for:
- Country A: A country with military forces and a territory
- Country B: A country with military forces and a territory, at war with A
- Country C: A country with military forces and a territory, at war with A. It is not a protectorate of B. OR C is neutral to A and B's conflict
Country A has a plan, at a certain stage of the war: An army enters the territory of C. It loots the territory. By looting, I mean:
- Go inside a city, destroy the infrastructure of military and economical use
- In the rural parts, burn the crops
The A army might have to fight successfully armies of C, in order to loot. Then the army withdrawals, before any reinforcement from B could have been sent to C. C is very weakened by this action, so B sends some armies to help C protect its territory against a potential new raid, or even to seize control of C's territory. A is keeping its armies for new fights against B or C, depending on their initiatives.
Note: What I described in the plan of A. If any problem is encountered, I am even more interested to learn about the case. For example:
- If the raid of A in C's territory is more costly to A in military resources than to C (ie looting is not efficient)
- If the raid of A in C's territory is opposed to B's reinforcements before it could retreat
Date limit: No date limit, but the objective of looting might change at the different dates.