Discussion about this post

User's avatar
Matthew Palmer's avatar

This is stonkingly great work mate, well done! I absolutely adore First World War history - the ultimate steampunk experience (my favourite anecdote is that of British submariners surfacing to then BOARD an enemy vessel...with CUTLASSES), and still very relevant to our present day.

1914 is almost mythical in its scope, which I think you have captured well - so many conflicting viewpoints of one of the most interesting points in European history. I'm not sure where I am with the Schlieffen Plan; potentially doomed from the start but the least-bad out of several crap options for Germany. A two-front war was never going to go well, and the fact that the Germans came very close to clinching it on several occasions - even up to the end of the war - is frankly testament to the sheer survivability of the industrial nation state and the capacity of the German military machine. While I agree that American involvement in the end (sheer reserves of fresh, if inexperienced, manpower) probably was the straw that broke the camel's back in 1918 (especially following the Spring Offensive), I would also note the crippling blockade enforced by the Royal Navy. Germany was literally at the point of starvation by the end of the war, often forgotten in the popular imagination.

Expand full comment
Rob steffes's avatar

Also recall the disastrous French offensive (Plan 19) against the German frontier in 1914. Massive casualties for the French army with almost no gain in territory. Not only could the Germans hold the French off in the West but in the actual event they did.

Expand full comment
11 more comments...

No posts