For Frederick the Great, the prescription for warfare was simple:
kurz und vives ("short and lively")--wars that relied upon swift,
powerful, and decisive military operations. Robert Citino takes us
on a dramatic march through Prussian and German military history to
show how that primal theme played out time and time again.
Citino focuses on operational warfare to demonstrate continuity
in German military campaigns from the time of Elector Frederick
Wilhelm and his great "sleigh-drive" against the Swedes to the age
of Adolf Hitler and the blitzkrieg to the gates of Moscow. Along
the way, he underscores the role played by the Prussian army in
elevating a small, vulnerable state to the ranks of the European
powers, describes how nineteenth-century victories over Austria and
France made the German army the most respected in Europe, and
reviews the lessons learned from the trenches of World War I.
Through this long view, Citino reveals an essential recurrent
pattern--characterized by rapid troop movements and surprise
attacks, maneuvers to outflank the enemy, and a determination to
annihilate the opposition--that made it possible for the Germans to
fight armies often larger than their own. He highlights the
aggressiveness of Prussian and German commanders-trained simply to
find the enemy and keep attacking-and destroys the myth of
Auftragstaktik ("flexible command"), replacing it with the
independence of subordinate commanders. He also brings new
interpretations to well-known operations, such as Moltke's 1866
campaign and the opening campaign in 1914, while introducing
readers to less familiar but important battles like Langensalza and
the Annaberg.
The German way of war, as Citino shows, was fostered by the
development of a widely accepted and deeply embedded military
culture that supported and rewarded aggression. His book offers a
fresh look at one of the most remarkable, respected, and reviled
militaries of the past half millennium and marks another sterling
contribution to the history of operational warfare.
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