Belgium is a complex country on the map of modern Europe, not only in terms of language, demographics and geographical location, but also in terms of its special international status and international relations.

Belgium was originally part of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, but due to dissatisfaction with the notification of King Wilhelm I of the Netherlands and under the influence of France in July**, Belgium took place in August 1830**, and in November 1831, Russia, France, Austria, Prussia and Great Britain reached an agreement in London and signed a treaty declaring that according to the amendment of the Vienna System of 1815, in order to guarantee the overall peace in Europe, the major powers guaranteed the independence and permanent neutrality of Belgium.

Naturally, this agreement was strongly opposed by the Netherlands, which did not sign the treaty until 1839. And the king of Belgium, after quarrels between countries, finally compromised with each other and decided to be Prince Leopold of the famous House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha.

Belgium is a country of great importance because it and France are located at opposite ends of the English Channel. In order to prevent a possible invasion of themselves, the British considered it extremely important to ensure that Belgium did not join any military bloc, and that Britain had to ensure that Belgium was not used in hostile activities against Britain.

And the core of Schlieffen's plan is precisely to let the right flank of the main attack attack attack France from the direction of Belgium! This would be an infringement of the permanent neutrality guaranteed to Belgium by the great European powers in 1839, and the greatest reaction among them was, of course, Britain.

Of course, the treaty is a waste of paper in Jochen's opinion, as long as it can ensure that the war is won, then tear it up if you want, and there is no need for any psychological pressure. As for Britain's entry into the war, Jochen also felt that it didn't matter, the British didn't want to go to war for a day or two, and even if Germany didn't attack Belgium, the British would find other excuses.

And Schlieffen is not a fool, it is impossible not to consider the chain reaction that an attack on Belgium will cause, so he has also made certain preparations.

The first was to try to persuade the Dutch crown diplomatically to allow the German army to take advantage of the Dutch passage with the "Maastricht cecum" to return to the Belgian fortress of Liège, so that it would be possible to force the French to enter Belgium first for their own safety, so that it would be France, not Germany, that would destroy Belgian neutrality.

Even if the Dutch did not take advantage of it, or the French were not fooled, Schlieffen also considered, first of all, the concept of the navy's risk fleetSchlieffen also understood, as long as the survival of the navy could make Britain scruple and not dare to risk too much into the war, then Germany only needed to assure Britain that it would be enough to restore Belgium's independence and neutrality after the war.

If Britain enters the war, then it is still not a problem, even if the British send more than 100,000 army troops on their island, it will not be of much use in front of the superior German army, as long as France surrenders, the British will not be too entangled.

Not to mention Schlieffen's underestimation of the bad course of the European-stirring stick, the possible resistance to Belgium alone seems too idealistic.

In view of the fact that the possibility of Britain entering the war is directly proportional to the time of the war, Schlieffen has always emphasized in his later years that the key to the plan is to vigorously strengthen the right flank and shorten the war time with heavy military input.

However, this became the reason for Schlieffen to attack his successors, Moltke the Younger and Wilhelm II, because when Moltke implemented the Schlieffen plan later, he did not strengthen the right flank, but instead allocated a large number of troops to confront the French army on the left flank, leading the right flank to attack the insufficiency.

Therefore, some people attacked because Wilhelm II was afraid that the French army would invade the German mainland, and as the emperor's attendant military attaché, he did not have much ability, but Moltke Xiao, who could only sit in the position of chief of the general staff because he was obedient, naturally wanted to ensure that the left flank was not broken through by the French army, so he did not have the courage to continue to strengthen the right flank, and finally led to the failure of Schlieffen's plan.

What's more, it is believed that the development of the navy has squeezed out the valuable national strength that Germany can use to develop the army, and if the navy is not developed, Germany can have more army, so that France in the early stage of the war will be even more difficult to parry, which is the pot of Wilhelm II and Tirpitz.

But in fact, in 1913, Germany's defense expenditure accounted for only 4.6% of its national income, and Germany did not have more spare power to squeeze, after all, Germany was still focusing on development at that time, and it was impossible to follow the madness of the Japanese.

The real problem was that, given the logistical conditions and the space on the battlefield at that time, it was impossible for the Germans to commit more troops in that narrow area, and if they put more troops into it, then the crowding of large armies there would only cause congestion and chaos.

Liddellhart put it this way in his Theory of Strategy: "Let too many troops go through a limited space to carry out a detour, and if Moltke the Younger had not reduced the number of troops on the right flank and allowed them to be more numerous, the situation would have been worse as the troops advanced deeper." ”

Therefore, Jochen has always been unimpressed with Schlieffen's plan, and in Jochen's mind he is more optimistic about the two-front battle plan formulated by Moltke Sr. to defend the west and attack the east, of course, Moltke Sr. did not have a way to predict that the Russians would collapse due to domestic problems as long as the losses suffered accumulated to a certain extent.

Moltke the Elder's idea was to be on the defensive on both fronts at the beginning of the war, and in his view, the French were aiming at Alsace and Lorraine, and if Germany could thwart the French attempts and inflict heavy losses on the French army, the French government would be the first to start the war and suffer a great reputation for incompetence. If they don't want the government to fall, the French will sue for peace, and the rest is a matter for diplomats and politicians. And Germany, which withdrew from the Western Front, was able to teach the Russian, who did not know what to do, a lesson.

In contrast, Moltke Sr's idea, although it may have been somewhat idealistic, left room for a diplomatic solution, rather than a life-or-death world war, and even if the French were not so acquainted, Jochen thought it would be easier to force Russia to happen first than to destroy France completely.

But as long as Schlieffen was still sitting in the position of Chief of the General Staff, Jochen could not interfere in the development of the General Staff's battle plan at will, which was a challenge to Schlieffen's authority, and at the same time would make the Juncker officer corps unhappy with this interference, and Schlieffen was not the obedient Moltke.

Therefore, Jochen can only propose to Schlieffen in some details, such as commando tactics, such as barrage Xu Jin, but it is impossible to completely overthrow Schlieffen's plan.

However, Jochen is not without a backhand, so he is ready to step down from Schlieffen, no matter who his successor is, he will immediately formulate a battle plan for defending the west and attacking the east, even if it is not as complete and thorough as Schlieffen's plan, but the opponent he faces is only a very poor level of Russians.

As for the outbreak of World War I, Germany did not hesitate to implement the Schlieffen plan, in the final analysis, it was the rigid brain of the Germans, after the Schlieffen plan was formulated, the German General Staff devoted all its energy to how to implement the plan, in their opinion, the outbreak of war between Germany and France will definitely precede Germany and Russia, so it is enough to wholeheartedly improve the execution of the Schlieffen plan.

And Moltke Jr. also concealed this fact from Wilhelm II after his succession, that is, the General Staff was not seriously preparing the second set of battle plans at all, until the war was about to break out, and Moltke Jr. found that he did not have enough time to formulate the second set of plans, so in the face of Wilhelm II's request to declare war only on Russia, Moltke Jr. lied, saying that the Schlieffen plan could not be changed, otherwise it would cause great confusion and disaster in the early preparations and the troops already deployed on the Western Front.

So in response to Moltke's answer, Wilhelm II was very disappointed and said: "If your uncle is still here, maybe I can hear a completely different answer." But in fact, during the war, Finkinham, Hindenburg and others completed the deployment of troops on the eastern and western fronts in about two weeks.

If you really say that Moltke is not capable enough to guide the Germans to come up with a new plan, it is nonsense, even if Moltke can't come up with it, give you 5 years, is it that everyone else in the General Staff is dead? It is still possible to come up with a credible offensive plan against the Russians.

With this consideration, Jochen was not prepared to refute Schlieffen's plan while he was still in the position of chief of the General Staff, and even if Schlieffen left office, he would only prepare another plan for defending the west and attacking the east under the banner of making two-handed preparations.

"My Excellency Chief of the General Staff, I am equally confident that your plan will crush the resistance of the French like a heated dinner knife slicing through butter." Jochen complimented: "But now we are not thinking about war, and the Anglo-French alliance is not about military pressure, but about political and foreign troubles. ”

"Originally, Yingfa had differences in political, foreign and colonial affairs, so they did not agree on anything, which would divert their attention and, in some places, depend on our country's statement. But now that they have come to an agreement, it will be detrimental to our foreign and colonial policy, because they can join forces to create obstacles for our country. Mashal took Yochen's words and explained.

"A strong military force will be the most powerful bargaining chip for foreign relations." Schlieffen certainly understood what Machar said, but he could not tolerate a compromise on negotiations with a strong military force, and it was also intolerable to all German officer corps.

"It is impossible for us to use military deterrence on any issue, my Excellency the Chief of the General Staff, this is too naïve, we cannot be like the Russians, who will not do anything but wave their fists, our fists should be in our pockets and only taken out when they need to be swung." Jochen smiled and persuaded.

Then Jochen turned to Machar and said, "But this situation is really bad for us, and although we are now courting the Russians, I don't believe that these guys can be trusted, and we really need to find a breakthrough." “

"Yes, Your Highness, we ......" "Your Highness! Your Highness! Before he could finish his sentence, he was interrupted by a hurried shouting from outside, and then the heavy door was violently pushed open.

Jochen, Marchar, and Schlieffen all looked at the royal guard who rushed in panting, and before Yoheng could open his mouth to reprimand, the other party said in a panic: "Your Highness, Your Majesty the Queen, please come over immediately!" ”R1152