Erich von Falkenhayn and the question of understanding war | Prof Holger Afflerbach
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 4 ก.ย. 2024
- In this presentation, Holger Afflerbach starts with Falkenhayn's statement from autumn 1914 that "we were all blind" because we had not understood the lessons offered by the Russo-Japanese war.
Was Falkenhayn correct? Did they not understand modern war in the years before 1914? This will be asked for the military world in Germany before 1914 and for Falkenhayn as an individual, using pre-war sources.
Holger then addresses the technical understanding of new weaponry and their consequences on the battlefield towards attitudes towards war, presenting Falkenhayn as an example of extremist war enthusiasm, and how that changed in the first months of the war.
This was filmed as part of The Western Front Association's 11th President's Conference : '1913 Expectations Meet the Realities of War'
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Interesting talk here! Falkenheyn I think gets a bad reputation due to Verdun, but he did a good job throughout late 1914 and 1915, salvaging a pretty precarious situation after the Marne and inheriting the chaos, he stabilised the front quite well and had the right idea assaulting Ypres to try and take some main channel ports, he failed but managed to secure a good defensive line and his army adapted to trench warfare quicker than the entente powers. He conducted a successful limited offensive in late 14 around soissons too. He also managed his troops well sending reinforcements to the eastern front when needed especially when the Russians were amassing around Warsaw and moving on Łódź, the brilliant generalship of Hindenburg and Ludendorff as well as others did a good job at stopping Russian offensives in summer throughout autumn and winter 1914 and Falkenheyn can’t take too much credit for that but he did allocate the right amount of resources effectively….
He then repulsed all the main allied offensives on the western front in 1915 and held the line, whilst in the east presiding over the largest breakthrough offensive of the entire war, the Gorlice Tarnow offensive in which the Russian army retreated hundreds of KM and suffered huge losses, the Germans took all of Poland and the Baltic states, and the eastern front was no longer a significant threat from then on, he then had a good idea for Verdun which was unfortunately executed poorly and it got away from him as the battle dragged on, and his idea of not giving an inch and immediately counter attacking all lost ground also cost the Germans high casualties in a war of attrition they couldn’t afford long term, so it’s understandable why he was replaced by Lundendorf in summer 1916,
Falkenheyn then did a great job commanding an army group in an offensive against Romania in October onwards 1916 and did well on the eastern front. Overall I feel an underrated leader who did a fairly good job for majority of his time as chief of staff, but who also made some large blunders and was understandably replaced.
Thank you excellent talk.i learnt such a lot . Was not expecting to find the top German Army advisor to have been anti WW1.
Excellent presentation. Please have this guy back again, very knowledgeable.
"suffocating in lies, self praise, and laziness" - such a great line
Thankyou, this is excellent and has given me a much more rounded appreciation of von Falkenhayn.
Your interesting guest speaker showed a remarkable photograph at c 28:02 of the deputy Prussian War Minister General Groener.
I have not ever seen anything as dashing, and imagine it unlikely that we might see as above, surging around the m.o.d.
I am never disappointed by your presentations.
thank you continuing to enlighten me and others
with them.
Excellent material and structure, a very clear and wise measage.
An excellent and insightful presentation.
Superb lecture - many thanks
An interesting product of his time
Did F say don't give up an 'inch'? He used English units?
No, "inch" here is the correct translation for the german expression "Zoll". - In Germany, the old pre-metric dimension unit "Zoll" is still often used today instead of "Zentimeter" as a metaphor for a very small unit. Falkenhayn used "Zoll" in his wording, not "Zentimeter".
One have to keep in mind that the roman uncia (1/12;) was introduced officially by Charlemagne, so it was widely used in Germany until the 20th century. The decimal system was introduced in Germany by the French after the Revolution and during Napoleon's supremacy (second Rheinbund 1806). After 1814, it was not in common use any more and re-introduced in Germany only in 1872.
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What can we learn from these insights with regard to Russia's invasion of Ukraine? A trigger-happy military (or Putin for that matter) looses against an alliance that starts gathering its forces over time and the only option is to avoid being overwhelmed? I hope so.
33:07 ich kann mich an nichts erinnern😂