Chapter 80: Chapter 158 The Battle of Poland (21)
"The people who command the French army now are neither crazy girls nor bastards who have forgotten their ancestors. Their combat effectiveness is not worth mentioning at all. It can be said that the last real French soldier has been killed in the Napoleonic era."
Rundstedt was stunned when he heard this. Before he could completely recover, he heard Wilhelm ask. "Your Excellency General Rundstedt, you just mentioned the last war. Do you think it is possible for us to win the last time?"
If you look at the entire history from God's perspective, you will find that Germany still had the possibility of winning during World War I.
In the 1860s and 1870s, the Kingdom of Prussia "challenged" all the heroes, and Denmark, Austria, and France fell one after another. Germany, which had been divided for a long time, was unified, and the Kingdom of Prussia was also "upgraded" to become the German Empire. The number one hero in the politics of German reunification was the famous "Iron Chancellor" Bismarck, while the number one hero in the military was Marshal Moltke, the "Sword Bearer". The two were also known as the "double walls of the empire".
With the death of Kaiser Wilhelm I in 1888, Moltke soon announced his retirement and died in 1891.
However, he had long foreseen that Germany might have to fight on two fronts in the future.
For this reason, Moltke insisted on requiring France to cede Alsace and Lorraine to Germany in the Treaty of Frankfurt (the peace treaty that ended the Franco-Prussian War). After possessing these two strategic locations, the German army occupied favorable terrain on the German-French border. The two capitals and the two fortresses in mainland Germany formed a huge quadrilateral fortress area. There was also the steep Ardennes area. The German army Only a small number of troops can be defended to withstand a possible French offensive.
Compared with France, Tsarist Russia's military mobilization capabilities and weapons and equipment were much lagging behind. Therefore, Moltke made a battle plan of defending from the west and attacking from the east, that is, defending on the narrow and dangerous French-German border in the west, and at the same time leading the army to rely on Germany's war advantages in mobilization, weapons technology, etc., they swooped down on the Eastern European plains and took the lead in defeating the Russian army to obtain a favorable situation on the battlefield. They then used this as a bargaining chip in diplomatic negotiations to propose lenient peace terms to Russia, urging it to withdraw from the war and end the dilemma of fighting on two fronts. In Moltke's view, military means need to be coordinated with foreign policy to a certain extent. War is a continuation of politics. Victory on the battlefield is to open up a better and more favorable situation for oneself in diplomacy.
As a result, during the Schlieffen period, the philosophy of the German military community changed greatly. Schlieffen did not believe that the military served diplomacy. On the contrary, he believed that it would be a dereliction of duty if military issues were left to the diplomatic field to resolve.
Unlike Old Moltke, who had broad interests and in-depth research spirit (Old Moltke had carefully studied railways and purchased relevant stocks when the railway company was first listed, which played a significant role in his future use of railways in wars.), Schlieffen is a soldier in the purely military field. He focuses on research and deductions related to battlefield operations and has little interest in matters other than military matters.
This leads to the fact that when he begins to formulate a combat plan, he often only considers single-level procedural elements such as war costs and march routes. Moltke once believed that once a two-front war broke out in Germany in the future (that is, France and Russia formed an anti-German alliance), it would be difficult for Germany to win as quickly as it did in the Prussian-Austrian and Franco-Prussian wars. But Schlieffen believed that Germany must pursue a quick victory, otherwise Germany would not be able to afford the war with millions of people in the future. Based on this, the Schlieffen Plan almost always revolved around how to achieve victory quickly.
In Moltke's original plan, the German army was on the defensive against France on the Western Front, and could only hold back the opponent with a small number of troops. But this was considered by Schlieffen as giving the offensive initiative to others and losing control of the rhythm of the war. Therefore, his plan was completely different from Moltke's. Schlieffen believed that Germany should take the lead in attacking France and defeat it quickly. Because in his view, France's war mobilization speed was much faster than that of Tsarist Russia, but the number of troops mobilized was smaller than Russia's, so it was possible for Germany to achieve a decisive and quick victory over France.
From 1891 to 1897, Schlieffen continued to evolve and adjust his plans for future land combat plans.
In order to effectively attack France, he chose to attack in a detour from the north of the French forward position and attack in a roundabout way. This is because the French defenses on the Franco-German border were very tight and solid at that time, and a frontal attack would inevitably cause huge losses. However, the roundabout along the north side of the French position faced the problem of narrow roads and too little space, which made it difficult for large German troops to pass quickly. So Schlieffen thought of conducting a peripheral roundabout and backstab operation through Belgium to the French troops on the German-French border. At this point, the basic outline of the Schlieffen Plan had been formed.
From 1898 to 1904, Schlieffen continued to make detailed adjustments to his battle plan. In order to achieve the goal of annihilating the French army in the early stages of the war, Schlieffen obviously did not care about Belgium's neutral status, nor did he consider factors such as international law and rules, because attacking France via Belgium on the Western Front was the core of Schlieffen's plan. In order to complete the German roundabout operation, the Schlieffen Plan deployed a large number of troops on the right wing of the Western Front, and carried out a large number of ideas such as weapons drills and staff operations. By the end of 1905, the Schlieffen Plan was quite complete.
According to the Schlieffen Plan, Germany deployed eight-ninths of its troops on the Western Front, especially the right wing of the Western Front (i.e., the border between Germany and Belgium), and only deployed one-ninth of its troops on the Eastern Front.
However, Moltke the Younger, who took over as the German Chief of Staff, was frightened by Schlieffen's boldness. He poached 26 divisions from the right wing, strengthened the left and center wings, and strengthened the defense of the French front and the Russian border, thus greatly weakening the army. increased the intensity of the right-wing attack.
Because there were 26 less divisions, the German army became stretched thin. As the German army penetrated deeper into France, the gap between the German 1st Army responsible for attacking Paris and the 2nd Army responsible for tactical coordination became wider and wider, reaching dozens of Kilometers, Kruger, commander of the 1st Army, was worried that his flank would be attacked by the French army.
He discussed with the Commander-in-Chief of the Second Army, Bülow, about reducing the display of the two armies, and this decision was quickly approved by Chief of General Staff Moltke the Younger. After all, at that time, Moltke the Younger was also feeling uneasy about several gaps that had appeared on the front, but were unable to fill them due to insufficient troops, so he thought Kruger's suggestion was reasonable.
The 1st Group immediately changed its direction of march, abandoning its original plan to implement a grand detour from the west and southwest of Paris, and instead marching southeast of Paris. It lost the best opportunity to capture Paris and laid the foundation for the subsequent failure of the Battle of the Marne. The cause of disaster.
The failure of the Battle of the Marne prevented France from total military collapse and reorganized a new line of defense, creating a stalemate on the Western Front battlefield. As a result, Germany lost the opportunity to quickly defeat France and then turn around to deal with Russia. It fell into a terrible dilemma of fighting on the east and west fronts, paving the way for Germany's defeat.
Colonel Bauer, a German staff officer, once recorded this scene: "The desperate Chief of General Staff (Moltke the Younger) expressed to the Emperor (Wilhelm II) with a pale face, Your Majesty, we have lost the war."
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone