WW1 opening German offensive

Never underestimate French High command arrogance. Their soldiers were, and are to this day, scrappy as hell. It’s their leadership that has always been questionable.

Did you just link a FIVE HOUR history video on the great war????

Thanks, I do believe I will watch that.

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Did you just link a FIVE HOUR history video on the great war????

Thanks, I do believe I will watch that.

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There's a whole YouTube channel called The Great War that has tons of videos on events leading up to, during, & after WWI through basically the start of WWII

ETA: The Great War channel on YouTube

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There's a whole YouTube channel called The Great War that has tons of videos on events leading up to, during, & after WWI through basically the start of WWII

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Around the 100th anniversary, someone setup rewound Facebook’s timeline to 1914 with all of Europe's leaders shite talking one another throughout the duration of war which was wildly entertaining.

The French weren't stupid. They suspected that Germany being unwilling to guarantee Belgian neutrality meant that the German army had plans for Belgium, which meant a potential right hook against Paris. What the French did not count on, however, were the Germans moving three entire armies (some 750,000 men) around their left flank. They had hoped that Plan XVII - their own assault against German positions - would force Germany to redeploy what troops they were sending against Belgium to the French point of attack. Those attacks were spectacular failures, however.

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Around the 100th anniversary, someone setup rewound Facebook’s timeline to 1914 with all of Europe's leaders shite talking one another throughout the duration of war which was wildly entertaining.

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I wish I had seen that... sure it was hilarious as hell

Sad thing is... a lot had to go wrong for it to not stay just another blow up in the Balkins

3 ruling cousins couldn't keep the peace (King of England, German Kaiser, & Tsar of Russia were all cousins)

Through Belgium into France, and they never see it coming.

Imaginot that.

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Did the French really expect the German army to throw themselves headlong into their heavily fortified border?

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In short, pretty much yes. That’s what they expected.

France has a habit of always preparing for the last war instead of the next war. In the case of WWI, France was prepared to counter the move the Prussian Army an its lesser German allies made in 1870…



But unlike the last war, in 1914 France planned to go on the offensive from the get go. They had their “Plan XVII” in case of war with Germany. It calls for an immediate invasion of Germany as soon as mobilization had been completed. Ironically, this plan also had an option for an invasion of Belgium as well to outflank German defenses.

France doubled down on preparing for the last war after WWI when it built the Maginot Line. The French thought they had the answer to Germany coming through Belgium again by relying on the Maginot line in the south and structuring their army in 1940 the same way it was organized in 1918 to defeat any German thrust though the Low Countries. The French failed to grasp that the combination of combined arms armored thrusts coupled with close air support had fundamentally altered the nature of warfare. France was prepared to fight a 1918 style battle in 1940 This once again lead to disaster and ultimately defeat in just six weeks.

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It’s their leadership that has always been questionable.

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The lion of Verdun wasn’t questionable until he left the military for the comfortable life of a politician and then turned into one of the biggest cucks ever.

Shame.