General Staff Officers – part two
Bavaria had its own war academy. Almost the entire course of study was book learning but at the end, there was a three-week staff ride. Generally, the entry examination and the following training course were quite similar in Bavaria and in Prussia—the Prussian War Academy had been the role model for Bavaria to erect its own academy. Differences lay in details: in Bavaria the entry examination was not only written but also included an oral examination. The course design was likewise similar and included military subjects such as tactics, engineering, field fortification and ordnance; however, in Bavaria there was a larger emphasis on scientific topics and the students also attended lectures at Munich University. Attendance at these lectures was obligatory in Bavaria, unlike at the Prussian War Academy, where attending university lectures was expected but not required.
Around 1900, there were further attempts to turn the Prussian War Academy into a pure general staff academy by reducing the influence and importance of general scientific content and emphasizing applied military content. Only the Chief of General Staff, Graf Schlieffen, dared to openly resist this effort that was supported by the Kaiser. To Schlieffen, the general academic and scientific training of future general staff officers seemed to be more important than pure military professionalism.
There was one further considerable difference between the Prussian and the Bavarian War Academy. Whereas the Prussian academy put a high emphasis on training tools to support the military leader (Führergehilfenausbildung), the Bavarians focused more upon the art of war itself (Kriegskunst).
General Staff work happened under strict secrecy and behind closed doors. The general public would only recognize General Staff work during the autumn maneuvers and the Kaisermanöver, through the publications of the General Staff itself or the publications of the departments for military history (Kriegsgeschichtliche Abteilungen).
Day-to-day work in the Great General Staff was surprisingly basic. Due to the high level of secrecy, there were hardly any enlisted men (EM) or non-commissioned officers (NCOs) assigned to it. Officers were required to do even the basic work of typing and filing, since most issues were considered top secret and could only be handled by general staff officers. That resulted in an extremely high workload. Working tools were rare and up until 1914, the railroad department had only one typewriter available to it. Besides the telephone on the desk of the Chief of the General Staff, there was only one additional telephone available in one of the corridors that was used by all the other general staff officers. Further, some Chiefs of the General Staff had particular idiosyncrasies. Graf Schlieffen, for example, was a widower, who lived with his daughters after his young wife passed away. Looking for company, he sent a messenger to his direct subordinates, delivering a war game exercise to them on Christmas Eve afternoon. Accompanying it was an invitation to have coffee with him on Christmas afternoon for the presentation of results.