Why did the Central Powers ultimately lose the war?
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Werner
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Re: Why did the Central Powers ultimately lose the war?
The Kaiser ordered all his officers to read Mahan's The Influence of Sea Power Upon History, so I am sure the Kaiser had more than a passing knowledge of American military philosophy.
If an unfriendly power had attempted to impose on America the mediocre educational performance that exists today, we might well have viewed it as an act of war.
-- "A Nation at Risk" (1983)
-- "A Nation at Risk" (1983)
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chuck
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Re: Why did the Central Powers ultimately lose the war?
The Influence of Sea Power Upon History's influence is on future US naval outlook, it is not an expression of contemporary American military philosophy.
Assessing the impact of new area rug under modeling table.
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Pieter
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Re: Why did the Central Powers ultimately lose the war?
At first it does, and this was seen by the generals writing the plans for 'Fall Gelb" in '39/'40 as the main reason the Schlieffen plan failed.
All else being equal however Antwerp becomes an active port of war as there's no 1839 treaty with the Netherlands to be considered and the BEF gets in through Antwerp and into a core hub of the belgian railway system. The defence of the port gains a number of Krupp built 9.4" and 11" pieces as the dutch navy had some interesting long range artillery (no, you don't operate paraffin running U-Boats in a difficult estuary area) and becomes a real problem in the race to the coast.
Difficult situation and it gives some support to Moltke's decision not to go through The Netherlands.
All else being equal however Antwerp becomes an active port of war as there's no 1839 treaty with the Netherlands to be considered and the BEF gets in through Antwerp and into a core hub of the belgian railway system. The defence of the port gains a number of Krupp built 9.4" and 11" pieces as the dutch navy had some interesting long range artillery (no, you don't operate paraffin running U-Boats in a difficult estuary area) and becomes a real problem in the race to the coast.
Difficult situation and it gives some support to Moltke's decision not to go through The Netherlands.
chuck wrote:Let's try a more plausible scenario:
Would it help Germany if she invaded holland to ease her passage through Belgium?
?