Chapter 289： Military staff (1/2)

”I think we should give Prince Ruprecht a central place. In this case, if we need to discuss some things, Prussia and other kingdoms will be more closely connected, right?” The Kaiser looked pale in front of him. Count Schlieffen said.

The Bavarian exercise has ended. The Kaiser already knows the relevant situation. Overall, there are mixed good and bad news. Fortunately, the Kaiser finally used the hands of others to tidy up the army’s dominant general staff. After all, it is the ruler. Also, if you can only rely on one type of person in the military, you will never feel comfortable in your heart. The Kaiser will be satisfied when there are two or more groups to choose from.

If you put it in the past, the pressure of the Kaiser to reorganize the Prussian General Staff is very great, because more than 80% of the top Prussian officers are Junker nobles. The complex network of relationships between them makes it very difficult for any force to penetrate. At least there is no such power in Prussia. And the Kaiser can only rely on them, because there is no more professional and better officer regiment in Prussia!

But now it’s different. Whether it’s field maneuvers or offensive and defensive exercises, the performance of the Prussian General Staff is unsatisfactory. The Kaiser has sufficient structure to reorganize the General Staff, and come from Bavaria, Württemberg and Saxony. The help of this kingdom gave the Kaiser a new choice in handling military issues.

Therefore, when the Kaiser proposed to turn the Prussian General Staff into the General Staff of the German Army, neither Schlieffen nor Maurer had any reason to object, and the current Kaiser is not afraid of the threat of resignation! And Earl Schlieffen, who realized that the general situation cannot be violated, did not resist this issue, saying that he agreed with the Kaiser's arrangement in principle. But there is still a lot to discuss in detail.

Now the question is here, how can the German General Staff change it! Is it like the Federal Parliament to allocate power in proportion to the army or how? If it is the former, there is not much difference between the change and no change. The position of the Prussian army in Germany is at least 70%! If it is determined according to the proportion of the army, the voice of other states is almost dispensable.

As for enhancing communication between states? There is no need to reorganize the General Staff. The willingness is very simple. Prussia and the major states have military representatives, and the exchanges between the two sides are also relatively frequent. If such a change is made, it would not make much sense for the General Staff to be changed. This result is unacceptable to the Kaiser, and it is equally unacceptable to Prince Ruprecht.

But at the same time, the Kaiser could not accept that other states had the same status as Prussia in terms of military orders, and even threatening Prussia's control over the imperial army could not be allowed. Let other states have veto power over the plans of the General Staff? That is impossible.

”The military serves politics. The role of the General Staff is to formulate a battle plan in accordance with our requirements, not to let the government cooperate with their combat plan! This is originally a way of turning the cart before the horse, and the General Staff should be based on what we may face. Make different plans for different situations, instead of holding a plan from start to finish.”

”The ultimate decision-making power of the imperial military should be in the hands of the emperor and king, not in the hands of the soldiers! We are the masters of this country. Therefore, we should issue orders for the plans formulated by the General Staff, and whether to pass the drafting? A good plan should also be decided by us.”

”In short, it cannot be said that Earl Schlieffen thinks that there is only one plan feasible, so we can only have one plan.” When the Kaiser was troubled by the reorganization of the military system, the prince put forward a new proposal! The General Staff Department should only be a good adviser. As for who to fight and how to fight, another agency has the final say!