Theobald von Schäfer, the archivist responsible for Volume II of the official history, used the anecdotal and descriptive material excluded from the larger work as a basis for Tannenberg (Berlin, 1927), a volume in the Reichsarchiv’s series Schlachten des Weltkrieges. This drum-and-trumpet narrative account, constantly contrasting German heroism with Russian incompetence, invites dismissal as Weimar revisionism at its worst. Its extensive citations of sources, since lost, nevertheless make it a rough equivalent of Golovine, at least for the operations against the Russian 2nd Army.
Almost every regiment of the kaiser’s army produced its own history of World War I. These range from simple précis of war diaries and stupefying lists of dates to well-researched, sophisticated accounts by academically trained historians who made full use of diaries, letters, and interviews. Given the extensive destruction of German military archives for the period, these volumes are the best remaining source of information on the wartime army’s domestic economy. Their authors on the whole strove for honesty. In their pages not all the comrades are valiant and not all the officers are above average. The most senior and socially acceptable regiments, those with the largest funds and the richest old comrades’ associations, tended to produce the most detailed, and correspondingly useful, works. For the 8th Army, Franz von Gottberg, Das Grenadier-Regiment Kronprinz (1. Ostpreussische) Nr. 1 im Weltkriege, Vol. I, Die Ereignisse von Kriegsbeginn bis zum 3l.Juli 1916 (Berlin 1927); Alfred Bülowius and Bruno Hippler, Das Infanterie-Regiment v. Boyen (5. Ostpreussisches) Nr. 41 im Weltkriege 1914–1918 (Berlin, 1929); and Wilhelm Reichert, Das Infanterie-Regiment Frhr. Hiller von Gaertringen (4. Posensches) Nr. 59 im Weltkriege 1914/18, Vol. I, 1914/15 (Berlin, 1930) stand out. Moritz Holzmann, Hanseatische Landwehr im Felde (Geschichte des L.I.R. 75), Vol. I, Bewegungskrieg (Hamburg, 1928), casts useful light on the fight of the Goltz Division; and Ernst Zipfel, Geschichte des Dragoner-Regiments König Albert von Sachsen (Ostpr.) Nr. 10 (Zeulenroda, 1933), gives a comprehensive picture of the patrols and skirmishes that made up the cavalry’s still-vital contribution.
Among the many works published since the original appearance of this monograph, in addition to those referred to in the introduction, four specific studies stand out. It is no exaggeration to say that Stig Foerster, “Der deutsche Generalstab und der Illusion des kurzen Krieges, 1871–1914,” Militaergeschicht-liche Mitteilungen, 54 (1995), 61–95; and Terence Zuber, Inventing the Schlieffen Plan (New York, 2003), have between them provoked a fundamental rethinking of German strategy. Annika Mombauer, Helmuth von Moltke and the Origins of the First World War (Cambridge, 2001), is an equally fundamental revision of the Chief of Staff’s role in war planning. And John Sweetman, Tannenberg 1914 (London, 2002), is a model general-audience narrative, complementing the present work rather than competing with it.
Index
Aehrenthal, Alois Lexa, 36, 38, 42, 47
Air reconnaissance, 152–53, 169, 189, 192, 267, 300, 311–12
Alexander III, Tsar of Russia, 19
Alieuv, Eris Khan, 137, 189
Army Bill of 1913 (German), 70–71
Army, French, compared with Germany, 31–32; strategy and tactics, 52–53
Army, German: and strategic planning, 20–22, 25–26, 30–35, 43–46, 59–60, 98, 335–46; and views on war, 58–59; military intelligence, 61–63, 95–98; officer corps, 108–11, 272–73; socialists and, 109–10; regimental system, 111–12, 113–14; as socializing institution, 112–13, 116–17; doctrine and training, 114–15, 124, 164–65; mistreatment in, 115–16; structure of, in 1914, 117–20; tactics, 121–23, 174; reservists in, 123–24, 142–43, 149–50; uniforms and equipment, 148–49; intelligence, 150–51; morale, 252–54; pioneers in, 272–73
Army, Russian: deployment, 25; and economy, 27; effectiveness, 62–63, 64–65 and possible Baltic invasion, 64; mobilization of, in 1914, 97–99 officer corps, 126, 134–35 doctrine, 126–27 strategic planning, 127–31 organization, 135; supply system, 215–16 communications, 216–17
Artamonov, Lt.-Gen., 233, 250, 252
Artillery, German: organization, 119–20 material, 119–20 communications, 176–77 tactics, 185
Artillery, Russian, 136, 151–60, 313
Austria-Hungary, foreign relations of, 20–21, 24, 36, 41, 54; new sick man of Europe, 75–76 and Serbia, 85–87 war plans, 143–44, 156–57 disaster of, in 1914, 326–27
Bakunin, Michael, 13
Balkan League, 48–51
Balkan Wars, 51–52, 56
Bartenwerfer, Capt., 287–88, 290
Bauer, Max, 330
Beck, Ludwig, 65
Below, Otto von, 108; commands I Reserve Corps, 188, 209–10 at Gumbinnen, 188–90 at Bischofsburg, 240–48 and advance on Allenstein, 265, 286–90, 298–99, 303–04; subsequent career, 349–50
Benecke, Capt., 271–73
Bennigsen, Adam, 147, 148, 160
Berchtold, Leopold von, 84, 86
Bernstein, Eduard, 16, 71
Bethmann-Hollweg, Theobald von: and Britain, 46–47 and Russia, 46, 69; and Balkans, 56–57 and Concert of Europe, 58–59 and military budget of 1913, 70–71 and Austria, 75–76 and July Crisis, 88–94 and prospects for a separate Russian peace, 337–44
Bismarck, Otto von, 2, 10; Russian policies, 16, 20–22 and Lombardverbot, 23–24 and Reinsurance Treaty, 23; resignation of, 26
Blagoveschensky, Lt.-Gen., 243–47, 315–17
Bloch, I. S., 34
Bosnian Crisis, 36–42
Brecht, Maj.-Gen., 151, 296
Brusilov, Alexei, 64
Buchanan, Sir George, 77
Bülow, Bernhard von, 333; on Russia, 24–25, 29–30 and Weltpolitik, 29; and Bosnian crisis, 38–42
Bülow, Karl von, 67, 294
Cambon, Jules, 52
Caprivi, Leo von, 26, 32
Cavalry, German: doctrine, 151–52 at Gumbinnen, 180, 189, 210
Cavalry, Russian: organization, 136; doctrine, 146–48 and reconnaissance, 217
Congress of Berlin, 16
Conrad von Hötzendorf, Franz, 45, 67–68, 84, 327, 339
Conta, Richard von, 162–66, 174, 176, 234–37, 250–55, 279–80, 304–06
Crown Council (1912), 55
Danilov, Yuri, 129
De moribus Ruthenorum (Hehn), 17
Drechsel, Maj., 296
Durnovo, Pavel, 78
East Prussia: strategic geography of, 32–33, 145–46 ethnic tensions in, 106–07; Russian behavior in, 159–60
Einem, Karl von, 61
Elze, Walter, 240–41
Fabeck, Col. von, 201
Falk, Maj.-Gen. von, 165–66, 167, 172–73, 237, 250–55, 282
Falkenhayn, Erich von, 98, 138, 335; and eastern front, 337–45
Franco-Russian alliance, 26, 28, 49–50, 52–54, 71–72, 127–28
François, Hermann von: proposals for defense of East Prussia, 155–56 initial deployment of I Corps, 158–59, 161–62 at Stallupönen, 162–67 convinces Prittwitz to attack, 170–71 at Gumbinnen, 172–77 and proposed retreat, 191–92, 194, 156–202 concentration of I Corps against Samsonov, 229–31 conflict with Hindenburg and Ludendorff, 233–38 and attack on Usdau, 250–55 advance on Neidenburg, 278; concern for southern flank, 310–13, 315, 317; after Tannenberg, 325, 330, 350
Frantz, Capt., 151
Franz, Josef, Emperor of Austria-Hungary, 77, 84