Early in the morning on September 18th, William II was having breakfast with Queen Wilhelmina in the small reception room.
At this time, he heard the sound of chaotic footsteps outside the half-open door. He raised his head and just saw Falkenhayn and Little Maoqi, dressed in particularly formal military uniforms, walking into the door, followed by a large group of senior generals.
Immediately afterwards, the high-ranking goddess girls of the Teutonic Knights also poured into the door.
Immediately afterwards, the civilian officials also came in. They were pushed aside by the soldiers and could only show their unity by standing closely together.
The German Empire inherited the Prussian military tradition. Soldiers had a great say in the empire's political system. The General Staff could formulate combat plans and mobilization plans according to their own wishes without consulting civilian officials. Bismarck gave Germany
The remaining dual system of military and political separation has very high requirements on the personal abilities of the civilian leader. He must have extremely clever political skills to check and balance the soldiers. But now, no one in the German civilian system has this ability.
Such a wrist.
To put it simply, in the entire government, only the Kaiser could dictate to the military officers, and the civilian officials basically had no control over the affairs of the military.
Now, this was especially evident in the large group of people in front of the Kaiser. The soldiers stood in a wall as if they were replacing the civilian officials. The Kaiser could hardly see Prime Minister Bateman's head unless he stretched his neck.
This situation made Wilhelmina, who came from the more enlightened Kingdom of the Netherlands, very unhappy, but she said nothing. She just stood up quietly, then bent down and kissed William II gently on the forehead.
"You are busy." After saying this, the queen turned around and led the maids who were still in the room to leave.
"What's going on?" William II asked as he took the napkin away from his neck.
"France has begun general mobilization for war."
"What?" William II dropped the napkin in his hand, "Why?"
He turned and glared at Zimmerman: "Didn't you tell the French that we are only trying to deter the four countries on the Balkan Peninsula?"
"We submitted a note and asked the ambassador in Paris to meet with the French Prime Minister and Foreign Minister in person." Zimmerman looked innocent. "I think our intention has been clearly communicated."
"Then why are they mobilizing?" William II looked shocked, "Why?"
This was the second time he raised this question, but no one among the civil servants could answer it.
At this time, Alexandra von Kluck, the leader of the First Regiment of the Teutonic Knights, took a step forward, put her legs together and saluted the Kaiser, and then said: "I think the French want to fight."
As soon as she finished speaking, Bismarck's granddaughter Catherine von Bismarck said: "My grandfather has long said that seizing Alsace and Lorraine will make Germany and France inevitably have a war in half a century. It's almost the same now.
Half a century."
"Nonsense!" William II knocked on the table hard, causing the tableware on the table to buzz and vibrate. "Bismarck is indeed an extremely good politician and diplomat. But he is not a prophet, let alone a wizard!"
Facing the anger of William II, the generals and concubines were livid and did not answer.
The Kaiser was holding back his anger and couldn't find a reason to vent his anger. He could only sit there and gasp at the unfinished omelette on the plate. After a while, he took a deep breath and seemed to finally calm down.
"So, what do you want to do when you come here in such a large group?"
The generals looked at each other, and then Moltke spoke on behalf of everyone: "Your Majesty, we hope you will immediately order the resumption of the Schlieffen Plan."
"You want me to order an attack on France?"
"That's right," Falkenhayn, the Minister of War, was replaced this time. "During the Franco-Prussian War, after confirming the concentration of troops, Lord Moltke congratulated your grandfather on the victory in advance. The key to winning the entire war was that we were better than the French.
The movement is faster and more troops are concentrated. Therefore, this time we must launch an attack before the French have completed their mobilization."
"I know your theory of preventive war," Kaiser Wilhelm II looked a little impatient. "I also know that when Bismarck was still alive, he said that this concept was 'as ridiculous as committing suicide because of fear of death'; I
We also know what the Franco-Prussian War was about, but what if we attack France and Britain intervenes?"
"Britain will not intervene," Falkenhayn said confidently, and then explained, "because we will beat France to the ground before they are ready."
Falkenhayn's confidence left William II speechless for a moment. At this time, Navy Commander Tirpitz, who had been silent, stepped forward: "Your Majesty, the German Navy is ready to fight the British Royal Navy together with the Sky Battle Fleet.
.”
William II stared at Tirpitz. It was this veteran who proposed to him the strategy of building a large navy. Later, this veteran also fully supported the construction of sky battleships. More importantly, this veteran general was one of the few
There are several Junker nobles who made William II not feel the contempt for him from them. Due to his own disability and childhood shadow, William II always felt that he was despised, especially among those who were genuine.
In front of the Junker nobles.
The Kaiser stared at the veteran for a few seconds, then glanced at his generals.
"I understand," he said, "You want war, you just want war. The Franco-Prussian War was a glorious victory, but at that time most of you were just children, dazzled by the glory of your fathers, so now you want to get what you belong to
Your own glory! You want to show off in Paris like your fathers did, and you want those beautiful medals, is that right?"
The soldiers did not speak, because what the Kaiser said was actually correct. Worry about the threats facing Germany and the desire for glory mixed together to form the most basic subjective motivations in the hearts of these soldiers.
"Okay," William II's voice sounded a little tired, "then let's go to war."
So, at noon on September 18, the German General Staff stopped the new version of the mobilization plan that was being implemented and began mobilizing according to the previous plan - to be precise, this was a revised version of the plan. Moltke had been in the past
In nine months, in addition to formulating a new plan, the old plan was also modified according to the situation, and the number of troops used for the right-wing breakthrough was greatly increased.
Of course, the original idea of the Schlieffen Plan was to defeat France with all its strength before Russia was ready to launch an attack. Therefore, there were not many troops left on the Eastern Front to defend Germany. These troops were placed on the right wing by Moltke.
On September 20, 1908, Germany, having completed its plan adjustments, began to take action.
A group of German cavalry crossed the Luxembourg border, and World War I officially began. (To be continued..) rx