The Development of Infantry Doctrine – part two
The Development of Infantry Doctrine – part two Only a very few elite Prussian units, such as light infantry battalions (the Jäger), were equipped with the more precise rifled muzzleloaders.…
The Development of Infantry Doctrine – part one
The Development of Infantry Doctrine – part one Why was there such a gap between the prevailing doctrinal idea of war and the truth of actual war in 1914? The development of…
HKK – Höherer Kavallerie Kommandeur – part one
HKK - Höherer Kavallerie Kommandeur - part one Just about everyone who is a fan of World War I has the wrong understanding of corps sized cavalry units in the German…
General Staff Officers – part two
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.…
The Sonderrechte Grand Duchy of Baden
Yesterday, I was asked why the blog archive contained the names of four states but not Baden. Those four states were kingdoms. They each had their own king. Baden was…
General Staff Officers part 1
General Staff Officers part 1 One of the reasons that our books are so different from others is because of our intimate knowledge of the “red donkey”. These were manuals…
The Population-part four –The Proletariat-second half
The Population-part four –The Proletariat-second halfThe proletariat lived in residential segregation and feared layoffs or any change in circumstances that would affect their ability to earn wages. Between 1870 and…
The Population-part three –The Proletariat-first half
The Population-part three –The Proletariat-first half – yes a long one.About two-thirds of the population made up the proletariat, split between agricultural workers and the urban manual laborers. Most had…
The Population-part two –The Bourgeoisie
The bourgeoisie made up approximately 30 percent of the population. The term bourgeoisie originally denoted a wide range of individuals, from substantial business owners to small shopkeepers, from unbelievably rich…
Law of Land Warfare
A view of the inevitability of civilian involvement in combat and an "appropriate" military response permeated the German military. There was an anti-French feeling against the "people's war" or “levée…