![]() In Russia’s humiliating loss to Japan in the early 1900s, Western military planners had been impressed with Japan’s unexpected strengths as well as Russia’s leadership problems. PLANNING FOR WAR, THE GERMANS did not see Russia as a serious threat. The win also might have strengthened the tsarist government enough that it could have controlled its internal turmoil through the war, with consequences for the world that are fascinating to imagine. A Russian victory would have made German gains in the west extremely difficult to sustain and would probably have shortened the war. If the Russians had won at Tannenberg, Germany would have been forced to devote much more of its resources to the east, for the farmlands of East Prussia are not that far from Berlin. ![]() That does not say it all, but it says a lot. To take just one small example, Russian soldiers who were there remembered their supplies coming up to the line in horse-drawn carts-and seeing German supplies arriving in long trains of motorized vehicles. Tannenberg was a battle of logistics, reconnaissance, communications, and weaponry as much as it was a battle among men. Coming at the war’s very beginning, in late August to early September 1914, it completed the long transformation of warfare into its thoroughly modern form, and it exposed the fatal weaknesses of the Russian army-that it could generate manpower but did not have the infrastructure to support it. Yet few of those battles by themselves had the kind of influence on the postwar world that the Battle of Tannenberg did. MOST WESTERN HISTORIES OF WORLD WAR I place the focus of their narratives on the Western Front, which has become a touchstone of bad leadership and futile slaughter. ![]() Obligated by treaties to declare war in August 1914, Russia was unprepared to attack, and in East Prussia its vast army soon proved no match for German intelligence, reconnaissance, and railways. It also gave detailed plans for the routes the Russian Second Army was planning to use to advance on the Germans. Therefore, the Germans knew where Samsonov planned to march his army and could plan accordingly.Blind Bear at Bay: The Russians at Tannenberg Close This stated that he believed that the German army was withdrawing to Tannenburg. The second intercepted message was sent by Samsonov. Therefore, the Germans could guarantee that Samsonov would get no help from the First Army. The message stated clearly that Rennenkampf’s army was not marching towards Samsonov’s Second Army. One was sent by Rennenkampf to inform Samsonov of his marching plan for the First Army. Two in particular were invaluable to the Germans. If the Russian were hampered by poor communications, the Germans greatly benefited from the ease with which they could intercept Russian messages. Samsonov assumed that Rennenkampf was moving as planned through East Prussia. He was also unaware that the Russian First Army had halted its advance after its success at Gumbinnen. He was unaware of what Hoffman was trying to do despite the fact that the Germans were moving around a vast number of men and supplies. Samsonov was severely hampered by a lack of communications. Both Ludendorff and Hindenburg took great credit for what happened at Tannenburg – but the actual details on how to surround Russia’s Second Army came from another German officer – Colonel Maximilian Hoffman. By August 22nd, they had stabilised the Eastern Front and by August 29th, the Germans surrounded Samsonov’s army. Both men believed that attack was the best form of defence and they ordered that the Eighth Army had to show more aggression in what it did. Generals Ludendorff and Hindenburg, replaced Prittwitz. Prittwitz had feared that his army would be encircled after Rennenkampf’s army had defeated the Germans at the Battle of Gumbinnen. The German commander facing Samsonov, Maximilian Prittwitz, was sacked by Helmuth von Moltke, Germany’s Chief of Staff, for ordering his Eighth Army to retreat as Samsonov’s Second Army advanced. The start of the campaign went well for Russia. ![]() His brief in August 1914 was to invade East Prussia along with General Rennenkampf’s First Army. ![]()
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