History 2179 Lecture : Lecture 2 seeking decisive battles
22 Jan 2022
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Alfred graf von schlieffen (1833-1913): chief of the imperial german general. Kaiser wilhelm met with his senior general, helmuth von moltke, nephew of the legendary general who had led prussia armies to lightning victories over. Denmark, austria and france between 1864 and 1871. Kaiser asked moltke to prepare for the possibility of war with russia. Moltke informed the kaiser that a war with russia alone was not possible because german war planning called for a war against france first, in order to eliminate russia s principal ally. Germany s global aspirations and the kaiser s clumsy diplomacy placed. Moltke and his predecessors in the difficult position of having to face a multifront war against superior numbers on land and at sea. The signing of the triple entente (russia, france, and britain) in 1907 had bound germany s three most powerful rivals together; moltke had therefore assumed that war with one meant war with all.
