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The Changing Nature of Warfare, 1859–1991: Perception and Reality

Von Moltke and the Prussian general staff

  • 2 things to know
  • Paper 3

Overview

Recall questions on what the general staff was, marching divided and fighting united, Auftragstaktik, Koniggratz, and Grant's use of the same technologies.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

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Key term

What was the Prussian general staff?

Key term

What was Auftragstaktik?

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    What did Moltke and his staff officers contribute?

    Model answer

    Helmuth von Moltke (the Elder) used the general staff to plan mobilisation and exploit railways and the telegraph for the rapid concentration of forces.

  2. 2

    How did Prussia use new technology in 1866?

    Model answer

    In the war with Austria, the needle gun and rail-based mobilisation brought swift victory at Königgrätz (Sadowa).

  3. 3

    How did Grant use the new technologies in the US Civil War, 1863–65?

    Model answer

    He exploited railroads, the telegraph and mass firepower and supply to wage a war of attrition against the Confederacy.

  4. 4

    How did Prussia use new technology in 1870?

    Model answer

    In the Franco-Prussian War, Krupp artillery and general-staff planning defeated France, culminating at Sedan.

  5. 5

    What was the Prussian general staff?

    Model answer

    A permanent body of specially trained officers who planned mobilisation, railways and campaigns in peacetime, which no other army possessed.

  6. 6

    What was Moltke's operational method?

    Model answer

    Marching separate armies along different routes and converging them on the battlefield, made possible by railways and telegraph, summarised as march divided, fight united.

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