Germany, the real fighting nation: caught between the french and Russian powers, they will either resist or be beaten!
The geographical location of Germany and France and Russia before World War I
Germany is a tough country, but it is also a sad country. These are two of Germany's own attributes, and they have followed her from the day she was born.
Prussia stepped on the corpse of the "Second French Empire" to unify Germany, from birth, Germany is a world-class power, after winning the Franco-Prussian War and capturing Napoleon III, Germany completely replaced the position of French continental hegemon.
Of course, France, which was knocked over by Germany, is not a vegetarian, and this old army power has never given up revenge. In the two world wars, the German-French struggle for hegemony has always been the highlight, and, whether it is World War I or World War II, France is the victorious power, and Germany has lost miserably!
But France is not yet Germany's nightmare, because in the east of Germany, there is a polar bear far more terrible than France, and all the time it wants to tear a piece of meat from Germany - Russia in the east, France in the west, which is Germany's greatest sorrow.
Several major european powers at the beginning of the last century
For Germany, the most terrible thing is the attack between France and Russia, no matter how strong it is, it only has one-on-one strength, and if France and Russia form an alliance against themselves, there is no second result except to be overthrown.
Therefore, if the German leaders want to do their best to avoid this passive situation of two-sided attack, the ideal is to pull one and fight one, at least to stabilize one first, if France and Russia are their own enemies, then they must also avoid two-front combat, first use blitzkrieg to quickly defeat one, and then turn around to deal with the other.
This was almost the only "basic state policy" since Germany's independence.
Map of the Franco-Prussian War
Of course, a sinister geographical location does not necessarily mean being beaten up, depending on how Germany's leaders handle relations with neighboring countries.
In fact, for a long time, Germany's "interpersonal relations" in Europe were not bad, so her "geopolitical landscape" was quite comfortable.
In the case of Bismarck, the "iron-blooded chancellor" who unified the German Empire and captured Napoleon III, this tough old man on the European continent was not a stunned young man who fought with everyone, on the contrary, he never believed in pulling one faction to fight one faction, and never forced himself to a dead end.
Bismarck knew very well that the Franco-Prussian War had beaten France hard, and it was not a big deal to let France cut the land, the key was that you captured the emperor alive, which made the proud French people mix in Europe in the future?
Bismarck
Thus, for Bismarck, the policy of fighting France was "not the fiercest, only more fierce", and must be completely subdued - this policy had a far-reaching impact on Germany, and in all important wars, the western conquest of France has always been the first choice.
But for the Eastern Front, Bismarck was very wise to ally with Russia because he knew the polar bear could not afford to offend. At the same time, this old guy who looks fierce and is actually scheming has been pulling allies to Germany, and Britain, the world's number one naval power, is a good friend of Bismarck.
Under bismarck's leadership, a reunified Germany quickly became a world-class power, and Germany's ambitions became more and more inflated.
The Schlieffen Project
After the fall of the old chancellor Bismarck, Germany's military strategic direction was swayed by the elder Moltke and Schlieffen.
Moltke Sr. and Schlieffen were both geniuses of their time, especially Schlieffen, who had anticipated germany's future war in the east and west and attacked by France and Russia in the future war, so he had written the "Schlieffen Plan" early on: launch a blitzkrieg, quickly defeat France, and then turn against polar bears.
Moreover, in the "Schlieffen Plan", the strategic focus was on the right wing, and after his death, Schlieffen never forgot the focus of his strategic offensive: "Do not weaken my right wing!" ”
The Franco-Prussian War French army surrendered
Of course, the plan could not keep up with the changes, and by the time world war broke out, the situation had changed a lot from the time of Schlieffen's lifetime, and the successor chief of staff, Moltke Jr., seemed to have a vendetta against Schlieffen, specifically transferring schlieffen's emphasis on the right wing forces on a large scale - the final result was that the "Schlieffen Plan" collapsed, Germany was caught in a two-sided siege, and finally the blood ran out and then defeated and surrendered.
Now there are all kinds of remarks on the Internet, some saying that the "Schlieffen Plan" is originally unreliable, some condemning little Moltke, and some praising Xiafei... But in any case, it is always an afterthought.
But the most valuable thing about the "Schlieffen Plan" is to see that Germany is facing the dilemma of an east-west attack, hoping to quickly defeat France with blitzkrieg, and then attack Russia in the east - this idea has a profound impact on the strategic direction of the German army in World War II.
General Xiafei
We are very unhappy to see that from the time of Bismarck to the time of Schlieffen, there was a clear change:
In Bismarck's time, the old prime minister has always avoided going to war with several major powers in the world at the same time, in addition to fighting France to the death, russia on land and England on the sea, are trying to win - this shows that Bismarck is very wise: Germany has a chance of winning against a France, but at the same time to fight against several major powers, strategic and tactical confrontation, the final result can only be beaten by fat.
In the Schlieffen era, at this time, Germany's national strength was booming after more than thirty years of recuperation, so that the German rulers were swept away by victory, mistakenly thinking that super-first-class national strength plus super-first-class army plus super-first-class strategy was equivalent to changing all super-first-class countries!
The mighty Second German Empire
Therefore, we see that the core of the "Schlieffen Plan" is to "avoid fighting on both fronts at the same time", to fight France and russia slowly, not to "avoid double-front operations". That is to say, in Schlieffen's subconscious, Germany at least has the strength of one or two, but not at the same time.
This strategic idea also provided theoretical guidance for Germany's later actions in World War II, and even went further: Germany in World War II almost became a flat-headed brother who was not afraid of heaven, scaring itself, and the blitzkrieg defeat of France made Germany overjoyed, and even dared to go to war against Britain, the strongest country on the sea in Europe, and the strongest country on land, the Soviet Union, almost challenging the whole world.
If Germany is a sandwich at best, then the war between the east and the west and the north like World War II has become a dumpling!
Europe in World War II
For Germany, there were three most far-reaching wars:
The first, the Franco-Prussian War, defeated the mighty France, the French Emperor Sedan surrendered, Germany was unified, the King of Prussia became the German Emperor, and Germany was born.
In the second, The First World War, the "Schlieffen Plan" collapsed, the "Second German Empire" collapsed, and Germany was forced to surrender with blood.
The third, World War II, the success of the blitzkrieg military power Poland, the success of the blitzkrieg of France, the british air battle did not get a bargain, the "Barbarossa Plan" blitzkrieg Soviet bankruptcy, and finally Germany surrendered.
The Germans blitzed France
In summary, since the founding of the country, Germany has always been in the shadow of the two major powers of France and Russia, fearing both French revenge and Russia's sneak attack. All future German war guidance was based on this geopolitics.
Through the above elaboration, it is not difficult to see that Bismarck's level is obviously slightly better than Schlieffen's level, Schlieffen is to avoid two-front simultaneous combat, and Bismarck is to avoid double-front combat. One consideration is how to fight, and the other is how not to fight, which is not a level of consideration at all.
Of course, in essence, a country's strategic security and geographical location are related to it, but it is also related to the founding policy, otherwise why was Germany invincible in the Bismarck era, but lost in World War I and World War II? From a geographical point of view alone, Switzerland would have perished dozens of times.
Geography of Switzerland