Quote:
Originally Posted by donquixote99
The tiny quibble is that the Oberste Heeresleitung was a wartime organization and did not come into existence until after the decision for war was taken, so you can't pin the war on the group of that name. The Großer Generalstab is what existed prewar. Of course, the Großer Generalstab 'staffed' the Oberste Heeresleitung when it was formed, so the distinction is not exactly stark....
The big quibble is that it's not clear to me that the Austrians only attacked Serbia with German permission/instigation.
Nonetheless, I do believe the Germans embraced the war in anticipation of a quick and glorious conquest of France....
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Picked nit acknowledged.
Should've used the generic German General Staff.
The Austrians were indeed acting with the Germany's tacit approval and then some. The Germans were surprised at Austria's unreasonable demands of the Serbs which pretty much guaranteed war. The Austrians would've backed off if told to. The Austrians were looking for a little fight, the Germans a big one, the Germans had their weaker brother's back against the Russians, the French had the Russian's back against the Germans, and the British were guarantor of Belgium neutrality and weren't about to let Germany dominate Europe. BOOM!