Schlieffen Plan.
The greatest war plan of the 20th century.
A war model that all military academies should study.
After the Franco-Prussian War in 1870, France harbored great hatred for Germany.
All right.
Not much actually.
Because of the transition from a monarchy to a republic, France no longer follows that system.
However, both the French and the Germans have a consensus that the war between Germany and France is not over, and they will eventually face another war.
In the eyes of the Germans, the best way to prevent the rise of France and avoid France's revenge on Germany is.
Total destruction of France.
The Schlieffen Plan was established against this background.
This was the war plan that had been worked out over a decade by German Imperial Field Marshal Alfred Graf von Schlieffen.
To put it simply.
That is to quickly defeat France on the Western Front and then crush Russia on the Eastern Front.
If it's a little more complicated.
It is complicated enough to an unimaginable degree, from military mobilization, troop organization, logistics supply, transportation and communication, financing, industry and medicine, war economy, etc. This is a war of annihilation level with millions of troops mobilized.
After numerous modifications.
Finally, it evolved into the current combat plan with Moltke the Younger as the main army commander, and seven army groups were dispatched to France on the Western Front.
First Army: Commanded by General Alexander von Kluck.
Second Army: Commanded by General Karl von Bülow.
Third Army: Commanded by General Max von Hausen.
Fourth Army: Commanded by Crown Prince Albrecht of Württemberg.
Fifth Army: Commanded by Crown Prince Wilhelm (nominal).
Sixth Army: Commanded by Crown Prince Rupprecht of Bavaria.
Seventh Army: Commanded by General Friedrich von Georgy.
The Eastern Front is.
Eighth Army: Commanded by General Maximilian von Prittwitz, replaced by General Paul von Hindenburg on 23 August 1914.
August 4, 1914.
Germany declared war on Belgium and demanded its surrender.
King Albert I of Belgium rejected this request and delivered a speech at the Brussels Parliament, calling on all Belgian citizens to unite, drive out the Germans and defend Belgium.
But this sounds a bit wishful thinking.
The Belgian regular army totaled 120,000 men, 65,000 reservists, 46,000 militiamen, and 18,000 reservists.
A total of 220,000 people.
The armies attacking Belgium were the First Army, the Second Army, and the Third Army.
A total of 750,000 people.
This war is not based on a single concept at all.
The most famous of these was the Battle of Liège, which was also the first battle of the war.
The Fortress of Liege refers to the twelve fortresses surrounding Liege. It is known as the strongest fortress in Europe. In order to destroy this fortress, the German army dispatched about 30,000 people from the Second Army to attack the fortress, commanded by General Otto von Emich.
This was also Ludendorff's famous battle.
Because the commander of the 14th Brigade died, Ludendorff temporarily took over the brigade and became famous for leading the brigade to occupy the commanding heights.
The defenses of the fortress of Liège were strong.
It's also in vain.
Everything was meaningless when the two German super-behemoths arrived at the fortress group. These two behemoths were the Krupp 42 cm howitzer and the Skoda 30.5 cm howitzer.
August 16, 1914.
The fortress of Liège fell.
When this news reached Germany, it immediately caused an uproar in Germany.
Compared to the brutality of the war on the front lines.
This was true in Germany and other countries, except Belgium. They all believed that the war would end soon. Whether it was King George V of England, Emperor Wilhelm II of Germany, or Tsar Nicholas II, they all believed that the war would end soon, no more than two or three months. Those who thought it would last for six months were defeatists.
Among them, Karl Legin, chairman of the International Trade Union Confederation and the General Council of German Trade Unions, contacted the Socialist Party and began to lead the Castle Peace Policy, which meant that all trade unions would stop strikes during the war and everything would focus on the war.
It is obvious that Germany has a fanatical militarist system. Of course.
While the victory of the Battle of Liege was being celebrated everywhere in Germany.
Prince Eitel arrives at Sanssouci Palace.
Because everyone's attention was drawn to the front line, Prince Eitel could only come to see Hilde in private, and Hilde had disappeared in the past few months.
No one paid attention to them at this time.
The weather in Brandenburg in August was not hot, with a temperature of only about 20 degrees Celsius. The sun was not scorching either, and it was gentle inside the Sanssouci Palace.
This is the residence of the Princess of Alsace-Lorraine.
As the war was raging, Hilde was not idle, for example, she stayed in the Worshipless Palace to feed the fish.
Knowing that the new princess liked to raise fish, various nobles and high-ranking officials of the German Empire sent her various kinds of fish. In fact, Hilde didn't know which ones she knew, but she accepted all of them.
Hilde threw all the fish into a fish pond, which resulted in a bloody scene. (2) When Prince Eitel arrived at the Palace of Sanssouci.
Hilde was sitting by the fish pond feeding the fish.
Her long white hair was tied into a ponytail, and she was not wearing a military uniform, but a black off-the-shoulder jumpsuit.
Under the sweater, you can see the white skin, swan-like neck, delicate collarbone, round shoulders, and proud
The chest and the armpits that can be slightly seen when raising the hands.
Hilde's smooth and flawless legs were revealed under the skirt, looking somewhat dazzling under the sunlight, and her slender feet were wrapped in black high heels.
This kind of loose one-piece sweater will give people the illusion that they are not wearing anything underneath.
Only Hilde knew whether she was wearing anything underneath.
Prince Eitel had no time to admire Hilde's beauty at this time. He walked to Hilde's side.
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"Hilde, if this was the first day I met you, I would really think you were a little princess who had nothing to do with the war. But I am not. We have known each other for a long time, and we both belong to the war. Now, the Battle of Liege is over, and you are actually here feeding the fish, and I am actually here watching you feeding the fish!"
"What's the rush?"
"Do you know how people look at me? Their eyes seem to say, as a Prussian prince, I actually...
Prince Eitel said no more.
Prince Eitel's anxiety was not without reason.
In this war, every young man wanted to make achievements, and Prince Eitel was no exception, and his desire was even stronger. Originally, Prince Eitel had not shown up according to Hilde's wishes, but when the war broke out, Hilde still asked him to stay in Berlin, which was almost an insult to Prince Eitel.
Unexpectedly, Hilde just told him not to rush.
Prince Eitel thought H
ilde had deeper plans.
I didn't expect that the Battle of Liege was over.
Hilde was still feeding the fish here, which Prince Eitel couldn't accept.