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Y315: The Changing Nature of Warfare 1792–1945

Planning and preparation: general staffs, army organisation and war plans

  • 3 things to know
  • Unit group 3

Overview

Recall questions on the Prussian General Staff and staff training, mission command, the corps and divisional systems, the Schlieffen Plan and its failure, Plan XVII and railway mobilisation in 1914.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Your recallNot started
Key term

Outline the essentials of the Schlieffen Plan.

Key term

Describe the corps system and explain why it was an advance in organisation.

Key term

Where were Prussian staff officers trained?

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    Explain what the Prussian General Staff was and why it mattered so much.

    Model answer

    It was a permanent body of specially trained officers that planned mobilisation, studied campaigns and war-gamed operations in peacetime, so that Prussia could put a huge army into the field to a worked-out plan.

  2. 2

    Where were Prussian staff officers trained?

    Model answer

    At the Kriegsakademie in Berlin, from which the ablest graduates were selected for the General Staff.

  3. 3

    Define mission command and state the advantage it gave.

    Model answer

    Mission command means telling a subordinate what result is required and leaving the method to him, which allowed Prussian and German commanders to react quickly without waiting for orders from the rear.

  4. 4

    Describe the corps system and explain why it was an advance in organisation.

    Model answer

    A corps was a self-contained force of infantry, cavalry, artillery and services strong enough to fight alone for a day, so an army could march along separate roads and still concentrate for battle.

  5. 5

    Why did permanent divisions matter to the way armies moved?

    Model answer

    A permanent all-arms division could be given an independent task and supply itself on a separate route, which spread an army over more roads and made it far faster.

  6. 6

    Outline the essentials of the Schlieffen Plan.

    Model answer

    A powerful right wing was to sweep through Belgium and northern France, envelop Paris and destroy the French armies in a few weeks, after which the bulk of the German army would be sent east against Russia.

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