the cold harsh, Russian winter, such as the case of Napoleon. Even thoughSchlieffen came up with this wonderful and well thought out plan, his successor, Generalvon Moltke, changed the plans entirely. Like Germany, France also concocted an offensive plan. So absorbed in theirpride for their country, they never even gave thought to having a defensive plan. All,because they wanted to see Germany suffer after the humiliation of Sedan. Thishumiliation was “the last straw” after so many years of defeat, they felt that if they won awar, their pride could be restored. So, they come up with Plan 17, a plan which directeda march from Paris to Berlin until Germany surrendered. Because of the embarrassingdefeat in1905against Japan, Russia’s-a French ally-status quo was severely disturbed. Which meant that France could possibly go to war without an ally. After a threat wasthrown from Germany, France quickly turned to their other ally, England. But because ofthe outcome of a resent election, the new elected turned out to be a Liberal, and liberalsare against involvement of foreign affairs and war in general. Consequently, the Frenchwere forced to seek support from England unofficially. It wasn’t until 1910 that anyprogress was made towards making a military plan that would be compatible with that ofthe French. British General Henry Wilson was assigned to arrange this military plan. And this plan eventually became the official plan of the British government in any case ofa war between France, and Germany. Russia was considered a “steam roller” to the British and French because f its vastsize and powerful attack once it got going. But, getting going was the slow part. However, appearances aren’t everything. Russia lacked sufficient leadership, suppliestraining, and organization. Under the direction of General Sukhomlinov, the armyvegetated and soon began to deteriorate. Instead of spending g...
