The First Month of World War I (Which Charted the Course of the Rest of the Century) Adapted from

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The First Month of World War I (Which Charted the
Course of the Rest of the Century) Adapted from
The Guns of August by Barbara Tuchman
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Between 1871 German Super-Patriotism Combined
With German Suspicions to Create a March Towards
War

• 1871, Germany defeated France and Unified
• German Patriotic Drunkenness
• Frances Simmering Anger
• German arrogance (under Wilhelm II) , angering
  both Russia and Britain and allowing France to
  Make Alliances with These Two
• General German/Social Darwinistic Belief That
  Germans were Destined to Expand Their Power By
  the Sword
• The rise from 300 mini-states to 1st rate
  superpower was the result of warfare! Fortune
  favors the bold.
• Krupp weapons manufacturers
• Challenge to the British navy
• Germans See Conspiracies Against Their Greatness
• Why wont everyone else realize how great Germans
  are? Why, when we talk about ourselves as clearly
  the most advanced race, does this seem to
  irritates others?
• Why have we Germans been left out so completely
  from Imperialism?
• We are surrounded by foes who wish to choke
  German resources and prevent the Manifest
  Destiny of German hegemony on the continent
• Should war come, Germany is surrounded
• France to the West
• Russia to the East
• the British can choke off our supplies by
  creating a naval blockade
• we have to win quickly

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The Key to World War I (and to World War II as
well) The Magic Shiny Center of the Whole Thing

• Germans think- European war is eventually
  inevitable. There is too much jealousy of German
  greatness.
• Germany may be defeated. Thus, Germany must pick
  the time of battle to ensure it is optimal. The
  only way to choose the exact moment of battle
• Germans decide that the perfect moment will
  arrive in 1914, when the German army reaches its
  full strength, but before Russia industrializes
  sufficiently to be a major challenge in the east
• Thus, the central paradox of the war --- Germans
  decide on a preemptive assault, but dont see
  themselves as aggressors- the facts on the ground
  compel them to act

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Schlieffen Plan

• Knockout France in one fell swoop
• Calls for a knockout blow right wing
• German center facing France must fake a retreat
  to draw the French army in and then hold it
• Then turn and deal with a slow to mobilize Russia
  
• East Prussia may have to be abandoned until the
  Western forces can get there
• Germans are meticulously organized
• Paris will fall on the 39th day, in time for
  troops to re-embark to meet the Russians on the
  Eastern front
• This will stop the Russians short of Berlin

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(No Transcript)
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With 20-20 Hindsight This plan was the Right Plan
Militarily/Logically, but it Required the
Acceptance of Decisions that Went Against Human
Nature and Fell Apart in the Heat of the War

• Belgium is Key
• After the Napoleonic Wars (when the British
  feared invasion from Napoleon) the British
  insisted that Belgium be a neutral country (since
  it was the perfect embarkation points for an
  invasion of the England)
• Belgium was the easiest route for armies, so all
  powers had guaranteed its neutrality (including
  Germany)
• German attack begins
• Germans have built a few super weapons
• Story turns into the Lord of the Rings here
• Explain superweapons
• These weapons pierce the French fortress line in
  the North
• French have highly underestimated the forces
  coming at them- the Germans have thrown in
  everything from the East and basically their
  entire reserve
• All is Looking good for the Germans- a hole has
  been punched in the French defenses and there is
  little between the German Army and Paris
• But, things start to go wrong
• Belgians resist- this is a nightmare in a whole
  set of ways for the Germans
• Why would they do it? They have, say 50,000
  troops against a million Germans
• They will be (they are slaughtered)
• Decision to fight centers largely on the
  knowledge that if the Germans win, Belgium will
  cease to exist- if the allies win, Belgium
  remains independent
• Germans Take some casualties, weakening their
  right wing
• Have to leave forces behind to guard against
  fortified Antwerp that could launch
  counterattacks

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• Germans, using similar logic to their decision to
  launch a preemptive counterattack, have decided
  that the kindest way to defeat a smaller enemy
  is to show brutal reprisals to convince the
  population that resistance is futile
• Whole towns of Belgians are massacred when a
  single Partisan fires on German troops
• International reporters, many from the
  still-neutral U.S. report on the brutality
• Turns world against the Huns
• German right wing is unstoppable
• Smashes through defensive lines
• Continues towards Paris
• French high command has the exact wrong!
  Strategy- let them come in, it will help us
  attack up the middle
• French attack up the middle is crushed easly and
  thouroughly
• In this war, the offense if pointless
• One reason tha the offensive of the Germans is
  working is because the Frnech refuse to take
  defenisive positions in any batle, prefering to
  nobly charge straight into the enemy

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• German plan wavers
• British enter the fight
• Tiny force lands on the continent, but Germans
  had hoped the British would stay out
• They might of the British Empire means that if
  the Germans dont win in a matter of weeks they
  are screwed in the long run
• After the French offensive is crushed in the
  center, the German officers there refuse to keep
  retreating as the plan says.
• A legacy of having the elites run the military-
  all seek their honor
• Attacking Germans start to cut through the French
  and the Germans start to envision crushing the
  entire French army in the field rather than
  bypassing it to Paris
• Right wing starts to get orders to bypass Paris
  and trap the French army
• Meanwhile, the Russians launch a crazy attack two
  weeks into the war (rather than the 6 wks
  expected)
• There is a reason that the Germans thought the
  Russians needed six weeks -gt they have almost no
  raillines Their troops have almost no supplies.
• Yet, here they come marching into some of the
  ancient heartland of Prussia
• The German high command abandons its own plan and
  begins to ship troops East pulling them away from
  the seemingly all-but-over fighting in the West
• The fascinating fact here is that the Russian
  forces are trounced- they are literally starving
  to death and have no ammunition
• This will eventually lead to the collapse of the
  Tsarist government in Russia and the Russian
  Revolution, the rise of Communism and all of this
  other crazy stuff, but in a strange way, the
  sacrifice kind of works, because the German
  attack in the West falters
• In the end, the Germans, exhausted by a four week
  march at 20 miles a day, outsripping their own
  supply lines, turn their flank to a small part of
  the French army that is protecting Paris
• This army attacks the Germans and stops their
  progress
• Start of trench warfare
• Germans had stated themselves that if the war
  wasnt over in 6 weeks they couldnt win
• On the other hand, how do you admit this once
  your plan has failed