Victor sat on the edge of the trench, lit a cigarette, and silently watched the battlefield of the dark night devour all the German corpses. Pen % fun % Pavilion www.biquge.info

Today they fought so valiantly, and many of them fought until the last lesson, but why did they fail? Because this is where they died. Sun Tzu's Art of War: "If you fight in a hurry, you will survive, and if you don't fight in a hurry, you will die." "Today the Marne line near Reims became the death ground of these German troops, and the entire northeastern part of France became the death ground of Germany. Thousands of kilometers of trenches, thousands of kilometers of barbed wire, the Marne and other rivers and water networks, Verdun and other fortifications made of steel and concrete, and countless soldiers have built the entire northeast of France into a huge war fortress.

Sun Tzu's Art of War: "The first army is to fight, the second is to fight, the second is to attack the army, and then the next is to attack the city." In World War I, the Germans could neither plot to weaken France, nor prevent the alliance between Britain, France, and Russia, nor lure the Entente to leave the trenches and go out to fight in the field, but they chose to "attack the city". How ridiculous it is to think that a government that cannot do all of the first three things can make a wise decision to defeat the enemy in a "siege".

In World War I, the German army fought a casualty ratio of 1:1.6 with the British and French armies on the Western Front, but still could not achieve victory, which was by no means due to the lack of heroic soldiers or the army's lack of good fighting, but only a serious mistake in the government's political and military strategy.

During World War I, the defensive bonus of the trenches was extremely high, with the northeastern part of France having a defensive bonus of almost 50%, while in other areas around Germany, it was almost defenseless relative to the combat effectiveness of the German army, such as Italy, Romania, Tsarist Poland, Tsarist Ukraine, and even the entire Middle East. There are labor, food and other materials that Germany needs in these places, but Germany does not take these things, ******** to attack the northeast fortress area of the French army, fantasizing about defeating Britain and France to dominate the world, and letting millions of excellent troops be used as cannon fodder in vain.

The defeat at the Battle of the Marne in 1914 had already illustrated the nature of the "dead land" in the fortress area of northeastern France, and it was impossible to win in a hurry, and the outcome of the Battle of Verdun and the Battle of the Somme in 1916 was even more obvious to the world: "I am a dead land, do not come here to attack!" ”。 As a result, in 1917, the Russian Revolution broke out, and Germany achieved a complete victory on the Eastern Front, where they could get everything they wanted: land, the Brest Treaty, which the Soviet Union ceded large territories; labor, the millions of prisoners of war in Tsarist Russia, and the various nationalities of the occupied lands; Soldiers, if Poland is declared independent, it can build up a million Polish troops to fight against the Entente; Will there be a shortage of grain, the Polish plain and the big granary of Ukraine in hand? As long as Germany holds the East, it will be invincible.

How many casualties could the Anglo-French forces sustain in 1917? Historically, from January 1917 to November 1918, the German army lost 2.38 million, the French army lost 1.57 million, the British army lost 1.66 million, and the British and French lost a total of 3.23 million. If the Germans built a continuous defensive line, they used the fortress to preserve themselves and destroy the living forces of the Anglo-French army. The change in the offensive and defensive situation can increase the German defense to 150%, and the British and French defense from 150% to 100%, so that the roughly estimated German losses become 1.59 million, the French losses are 2.36 million, the British losses are 2.49 million, and the British and French losses are 4.85 million. Assuming that Britain and France continue to attack and force the Germans to lose 2.38 million to surrender, Britain and France will lose 7.26 million. This is 4.03 million more than the historical real 3.23 million. In fact, with the population of 40 million in France at that time, the population of 46 million in Britain compared with 67 million in Germany and 52 million in Austria-Hungary, there was no advantage, considering that the population of the United States at that time was 97 million mobilized 4.8 million soldiers, and 2 million went to Europe to participate in the war, while Poland had 30 million, Turkey had 10 million, and 30 million laborers were obtained in the invasion of Italy, in fact, the population gap was not large.

The morale of the army in attack and defense is different, and the morale and support of the army in the invasion of other countries and the defense of the country are different. In a war to defend the country, the people at home will not surrender, and their ability to bear casualties will increase exponentially, because they feel that they are righteous and fighting for their homeland. As for the troops and civilians of invading other countries, they can hardly bear the heavy casualties. When the war is going well, they will praise the bravery of the army, but when the war is scorched or lost, they will criticize the incompetence of the government, the government for wasting the lives of soldiers and the wealth of the people, and the class contradictions in the country will intensify. So in World War I, there was no revolution in France, where the population had suffered greater, and the German emperor was ousted from the throne by his loyal naval soldiers. Aggressive warfare generally starts smoothly and then slowly fails; Defensive operations are generally about defeat followed by victory, and the army and the people can accept defeat before victory, and cannot tolerate victory before defeat.

In World War I, France was the weakest of the three Entente powers. In World War I, the French army was extremely strong-willed, because of the belief in defending the country and the determination to recover Alsace and Lorraine. If the number of French troops was first consumed in defensive operations, and then Alsace negotiated peace with Lorraine and the French army at the right time, success or failure would inevitably weaken the French army's will to fight. Historically, everyone in France was war-weary after World War I, because France was about to reach the limit of social tolerance for the loss of the adult population. Based on the analysis of France's population of 40 million, there are 20 million men, one-third of which is 7 million young adults aged 20-40, and 4.93 million casualties in history France. The German army took a defensive operation, and it was easy for the French to lose 2 million more people, and maybe the French army would lose 1 million more if it attacked for one more year. Therefore, as long as the German army adopts a defensive position and expands the exchange ratio between the two sides, France will first be unable to bear the casualties and automatically withdraw from the war, and the French army will only be a spectator after losing its vital strength.

France could not have been a spectator, because the war took place mainly on the Franco-German border, and American, British, and other colonial troops came to French territory to help it fight. France had to send troops to fight along. If they were on the offensive, Germany would have reaped a high exchange ratio, and the French youth would have been killed and wounded on the battlefield. If they don't attack, millions of Americans, British, and colonial soldiers, who have been hungry and thirsty for 365 days, will take turns to comfort the lonely and romantic French beauty, and a year later a French United will be born. When young people in France become war-weary, internal contradictions will intensify, and at the same time, the contradictions between the French army and the armies of other countries will also intensify. According to the real historical casualty estimates, the French army could not hold out in 1921 on the premise that there was no hope of victory, and if the casualties of active defensive operations were extrapolated, the French army could not hold out in 1919.

In this way, the Allies could maintain the front on the Franco-German border, creating a stalemate. This situation is very favorable for Germany, because the Allies have more Poland, Ukraine, Romania, and even Greece, Italy and other places than before the war, and they are showing a winning trend. Not only did the Entente lose an important ally, Tsarist Russia, but it was also unable to protect its territory on the European continent except for France, which would have led to its defeat.

In this situation, whether it is peace negotiation or stalemate, the Allies have relieved themselves of the weakness of the two-front war and have a better situation than before the First World War. Therefore, the defeat of Tsarist Russia in 1917 was the best time for the strategic environment of the Allies, and it was also the time when they were closest to victory.

However, the wise rulers of the Central Powers, who would not "plot, fight, and fight," would not take advantage of the victory at all. Under the pressure of the common people, capitalists, soldiers and other forces in society (because of the war launched by the Central Powers, the people and the army have always fantasized about the rapid defeat of the Entente bloc), they continue to throw the army that defeated Tsarist Russia on the Eastern Front into the meat grinder of the Western Front, launch futile attacks again and again, and squeeze out the last drop of their own blood.

In 1917, the Confederate group operated two companies at the same time, the western line and the eastern line, and the western line company had lost 5 million yuan because it did not adapt to the market, and 5 million yuan in capital, and at the same time lost 300,000-500,000 yuan a year if the production line was idling. The Eastern Front Company has a capital of 1.5 million, and because of its technology adapting to the market, it has defeated its competitor Tsarist Russian Company, and has completely occupied the market where the Eastern Front Company is located, with an annual profit of more than 1 million.

How can you increase your wealth in such a situation?

The arrogant board of directors of the group, which "does not understand the market, does not make relationships, and does not develop new technologies", made the decision to transfer 1.5 million yuan of capital from the eastern company to the western company, and engaged in a bloody and cruel price war with rival British and French companies, and finally ran out of funds and filed for bankruptcy.

The arrogance, emptiness, and low sight of the Allies, especially the German ruling circles, finally buried the hope of victory.