- Location
- Canada
I think the idea is that Dragons don't hold territory very well, you still need the traditional army for that
And Dorne just refused to commit to any open battle where dragons were around, ambushing supply lines and then fading into the deserts and mountain passes instead
Whether that would have actually been enough in the long run... I don't know
I don't think this is really a battle that can be won on guerilla warfare alone if it really came down to it
My inexpert understanding of these things is that guerilla warfare generally can't properly "win" wars, rather they stall the opponent until they give up by making it too frustrating and expensive to keep going
Which might be what happened
Aegon might have had to call it quits because the army's morale was too low, because plague broke out among the encampment (common in armies due to sanitation issues and cramped conditions), because the lords back home were starting to raise a fuss about all their men being away for too long and the fields going fallow and we need the harvests to come in before Winter or there's going to be a shortage and-
By denying Aegon an open battle where he could crush them quickly and cleanly, Dorne could have feasibly drawn things out long enough for enough problems to crop up that Aegon had to call the invasion off
Though on the other hand...
Sure, personally flying around to burn every single square inch of land to flush out all resistance isn't a very feasible thing to do
You don't really have to do that though
Dorne's armies need to be supplied somehow
And especially in a place like an arid desert, you just need to control the key areas that produce sufficient food and resources
If they've given up on actually meeting you in battle and stopping your forces because they know they can't, then just march in and take over
Hang around with your dragon for a few months while your army takes over the fortifications and builds some of their own for good measure, get really entrenched right in their breadbasket
Sure you and your dragon probably have better things to do than hang around forever, but once things are set up properly and word can be sent to you relatively quickly should Dorne's army start properly massing up in an attempt to reclaim key territory, you don't need to hang around
Farmlands take a lot of effort to create, and they're pretty obvious, especially from the sky
They're not going to be able to just create a whole new irrigation network and grow new food in the time they have before starvation
Force them to meet you in open battle, or else starve
All the nobles having gone into hiding also means that they're decentralized and cannot rule effectively
They've effectively abandoned the citizenry when they up and left
Start setting up your own government in their house if they aren't going to stop you
Start crowing from the rooftops that their old rulers have fled and effectively surrendered Dorne to you, it's basically true
It'll take some time, but if you start assuming the duties and expectations of a ruler (and keep them in line with the army and dragon) then in a couple decades you'll completely take over and really cut off the civilian support to the guerilla forces
or if we marry the Dornish Prince but that'd surely be a relationship polycule for the ages NGL...
