Guns Of August

25 Pages 6194 Words

ved that the war would be won by the French spirit and the necessity of protection. When Colonel Grandmaison gave extraordinary speeches Fochs ideas, he ignored the part about protection and he excited France with the idea of using French spirit, leading to the abandonment of the defensive and the adopting of the offensive. This new campaign was called Plan 17, and it was decided, The French Army, returning to its traditions, henceforth admits no law but the offensive. They felt that the size of the German army coming in that direction would be small enough that the French could cut them in half. In Britain, although joint military plans were made, conflict often arose from the Cabinet who wanted assurances that Britain would only help if France promised that it would not invade neutral Belgium first. The strategy was for the British army to be concentrated on the left of the French line to stop the Germans. The naval plan evolved into the British safeguarding the English Channel and French coasts, while the French navy would focus on the Mediterranean. All the while, the idea of no commitment was still in effect. Russia, who hoped to regain lost pride in the war against Japan planned to fight with the British and French. It was agreed that they would begin battle on the 15th day, even if mobilization was incomplete. The Russian regime, unfortunately, was very corrupt, so training and the production of ammunition was left obsolete. The Russian General Staff planned to attack Germany to the north and to the south in an invasion of East Prussia, which the Germans did not plan on risking.
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The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, by Serbs was the catalyst for this war. Austria intended to absorb Serbia, and assured of Germanys support, thus delivered an ultimatum to Serbia and soon thereafter declared war on it. Russia, meanwhile, mobilized and Germany issued an ultimatum ordering Russia to demobilize within twelve hours t...