In the course of historical development, in many major historical events, there will always be unexpected results due to some small factors, which is surprising.
For example, in the First World War, there was a slap that directly led to the death of 120,000 soldiers and the capture of 140,000 officers and soldiers, and this slap can be called the most costly slap in history. The figures implicated in this slap were two senior generals of the Tsarist era, who were the commanders of the First and Second Armies of Tsarist Russia at that time. In the face of the German attack, no one expected two senior generals in the Russian army.
It is really regrettable that it would be dissatisfied with a slap, which eventually led to a major defeat on the battlefield of the Eastern Front of the Russian Army in World War I. What kind of grudge did these two generals have, so that after many years, even in the face of the dangerous moment of foreign invasion, they could not let go of their prejudices and join hands to resist the enemy.
First, the hatred generated by a slap
One of the two Russian generals was Pavel of the First Army of the Russian First Army. General Trechakov, the other was Alexander of the Second Army of the First Army. General Samsonov. Although the two are in the same camp and have worked together, the two have always been at odds, and can even be said to be enemies. Why? The feud between the two can be traced back to the russo-Japanese War that broke out in the early 19200s, when Trechakov and Samsonov served together in the Far East and were sent to Shandong, China, to jointly attack the Japanese and alleviate the military pressure on the Russian army in the eastern Liaoning region.
In one of the sorties, General Samsonov was ordered to attack a Japanese garrison, but in the course of the attack, Samsonov was besieged by Japanese forces. At this moment, Samsonov hurriedly sent someone to ask General Trechakov for help, but unexpectedly, Trechakov did not choose to send troops to help in order to save his troops.
In the end, General Samsonov's troops suffered heavy losses due to the fierce siege of the Japanese army, but fortunately they were not completely annihilated. After a break, Samsonov accidentally saw Tretchakov at a train station. The two could be said to be enemies who were extremely red-eyed when they met, and Samsonov couldn't help but say that it was a slap in the face to directly rush forward to Tretchakov, and where Tretchakov could bear this breath. On the spot, the two fought in front of many subordinates, and the scene fell into chaos for a while, but later it was their subordinates who desperately tried to stop them and separated them.
Since then, the two have also remembered and hated each other because of this slap. Later, after the defeat of the Russo-Japanese War, the Russian army withdrew from northeast China and entered the Russian Far East for deployment. Samsonov and Trechakov were temporarily separated. No one expected that after many years, the two of them would work together again, but this time the object of the battle became the Germans, and the battlefield changed from the Far East to Eastern Europe.
Second, when the danger is imminent, a great war is about to break out
When Samsonov was in the Russo-Japanese War, he was brave in battle and loved by his superiors. Therefore, after the Russo-Japanese War, Samsonov was promoted and reused. At the outbreak of the First World War, he was already a senior general in the Russian army, commanding the most elite units of the Russian army.
Because Samsonov's succession as commander of the Second Army was a perilous order, Samsonov was very confused when he first took office. Not only because of the lack of experience, but also because of the delay in the supply and personnel of the newly appointed troops, the entire corps was not able to exert its due strength. At that time, Samsonov's troops belonged to the command of the First Group of Russia, and the Russian First Army was personally commanded by the royal generals, not only the equipment and supplies of the troops far exceeded those of the general Russian army, but more importantly, the opponents of the First Army were not strong.
At that time, the Russian First Army consisted of two corps, a total of 30 infantry divisions and 8 cavalry divisions, a total of 450,000 troops. The Germans confronting the First Army were no more than a hundred thousand men. The First Army was stronger than the German army in both strength and equipment, so the First Army could be said to be full of confidence, waiting to invade Germany and show off the strength of Russia's military strength to the European countries. Therefore, under the authorization of the Tsar, the Russian First Army began to gradually attack the German army, and a life-and-death war was about to break out.
Third, the tragic cost of a slap
When Trechakov's First Army entered Germany, it was first attacked by the Germans, and then easily repelled by the Germans. The proud and complacent Trechakov held a grand celebration feast that night. In this attack, Trechakov originally wanted to compete with Samsonov for the limelight and win the credit, so as to repay the slap in the face of the past. Trechakov had no idea that he was falling into the trap of the German army step by step, and just when Trechakov was satisfied, the German army had already transferred most of its main forces to besiege the relatively weak Samsonov army.
The Germans were nothing more than a daring gambler, trying to ignore the existence of the Tretchakov Legion outright and pin all their hopes on the troops who defeated Samsonov in one fell swoop. In fact, as long as Trechakov could proceed according to the normal military plan, it was fully capable of Samsonov's Second Army to attack the German army back and forth, and then returned with a big victory.
However, the final facts proved that Trechakov was completely blinded by hatred, and finally sat back and watched Samsonov's entire army collapse and the russian First Army collapse. Much of this German confidence came from hoffmann, a combat staff officer in the German Eighth Army at the time, who was sent to visit the Russo-Japanese War in his early years. Thus, he was aware of the feud between Samsonov and his Trechakov, and together with the analysis of Trechakov's data collection, Hoffman proposed this plan to his superiors.
The situation developed exactly as in the German pre-war plan, and Tretchakov, after receiving the news that the German army was besieging Samsonov with all his might, was completely dismissive, believing that it was the Second Army's efforts to delay its own offensive. In order to rob himself of the credit, Trechakov remained still, and eventually, because of Trechakov's inaction, the Second Army was completely destroyed. As many as 120,000 soldiers were killed, 140,000 were captured, and the Russian First Army was seriously injured. General Samsonov also committed suicide in shame to apologize. After the war, after an investigation, the Tsar decided to dismiss Trechakov, who refused to come to the rescue, and expel him from the army. Samsonov and Trechakov, two senior Russian generals, were slapped in the face in the early years.
Since then, he has changed from a comrade-in-arms to an enemy, not only missing the opportunity to communicate, but also finally causing the defeat of a battle that should have been won, which is really regrettable. As a military commander, Samsonov's command ability on the battlefield is admirable, but his temper is very hot, so he offends many people, and in the end, the shortcomings of this problem also bury his life. A slap that mistakenly sent the future of the two generals, buried the lives of hundreds of thousands of soldiers, and changed the fate of Russia in World War I to a certain extent, which is indeed the most expensive slap in history!