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Germany did not realize that even though they envisaged how to go to war with France, they ignored the most crucial issue: the France of today is no longer the France of the past. The Germans thought that there was no problem in crushing France, but they did not consider that France had undergone great military changes after the Franco-Prussian War, and now they are no longer the Second French Empire that was crushed on the ground.

Although Moltke is known as the great Silent Man, there was a bias between Moltke and his successors, including Schlieffen, regarding France's war policy, which led to their miscalculation of the war situation.

Moltke still sees things in the same way as he did during the Franco-Prussian War, and it was not until 1890 that he predicted that the next war might last seven years, or even 30 years, because the resources and domination of the modern state are too great to be forced to lose the ability to fight in a single battle.

His successor, Moltke the Younger, put it even more thoroughly in 1906: "It is a national war, not a decisive battle, and it must be exhausted by a long and bitter war, otherwise a country will not succumb, and in such a war, even if it is won, it will not be worth the loss." "The Crown's saying is that there are only losers and no winners in this kind of war.

Of course, if they could have foreseen the future, then they would have known that this war was the last victorious battle of the German Empire to expand its territory. Because from then on they will pay a huge and terrible price for waging wars, a war that has not exhausted the national power and has no winners.

Napoleon was the only one in Europe who saw through this, so he knew very well that this was the last chance to unify Europe, and that no matter what the cost of the eventual victory, France would not have the last laugh.

The landing of British troops at Pampolle apparently did not escape the eyes of the French, who were bombarded with intense artillery fire as soon as they landed, and the French absolutely did not allow the British Army to open up a second battlefield, threatening the security of their rear.

Frederick III had already asked Germany to intervene in the war more than once. Now Berlin is even more anxious than we are in Paris, am it not Frederick III who is worried that he will miss the opportunity? ”

Foreign Minister Dekaz complained to Napoleon that "Germany is more like an aggressor than the British." They wanted to use this war to deploy troops into Germany and control the northern part of France. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is doing its best to mediate to prevent their plot from succeeding. ”

Napoleon chuckled and said, "Don't worry, there is no chance for Germany now." The longer we were in a tug-of-war with the English, the more anxious Frederick III became, but for a day before France was conquered, the Germans would not have a chance to invade us. ”

At this point, Foreign Minister Dekaz was also a little puzzled, and he asked rhetorically, "Why didn't Frederick III just choose to sit idly by, so that Germany would gain greater benefits, and the struggle between Britain and France would greatly damage the vitality of the two countries, while Germany would be able to become the power supremacist of the Reich without any effort." ”

"Because Frederick III's ambitions were as great as those of the Tuileries."

Only the opponent knows best what is going on in his opponent's mind, and Napoleon was no different. He said calmly, "Frederick III hopes to be able to expand his territory and sphere of influence to most of Europe like the First French Empire, and even if he doesn't, defeating Russia can also use this war to completely subvert the situation, after all, it was France that caused the war, and they are just a group of villains who steal the fruits of victory." ”

Therefore, Frederick III was reluctant, he did not want both sides to lose, but wanted to completely destroy everything in France, and let Great Britain never have the ambition to get involved in European affairs in the future. Perhaps now that the General Staff has drawn up a plan for a full-scale invasion of France, they will have the opportunity to stand up as an important force to change the world until the war is unfavorable for France or it is directly pushed by Great Britain. ”

But Napoleon knew very well that Moltke himself was now powerless, and the German General Staff knew that his great plan was not a formula for victory, but an extremely risky gamble.

They fantasized that Britain would be able to defeat France, but in the current situation, it was very unlikely that Britain would defeat France, and the best outcome would be for both sides to lose. However, they launched an invasion when France had no time to take care of itself.

However, Napoleon made double preparations, one was to spend more than ten years on the Franco-German border to build a defensive line, so that he had enough foundation to block the German army from moving south, and deployed all the elite of the Rhine Army on the northern front, to prevent Germany from breaking through the defense line and quickly cutting into the central part of France.

The last line of insurance was the alliance between France and Russia, which Napoleon had instructed and the French ambassador had made clear to Tsar Alexander III.

"Once France is invaded, it means that the Germans will have more than 80% of their main forces deployed along the Franco-German border, and their border with Russia is defense-empty. It's perfectly possible to take advantage of the situation and occupy them. This was the tsar's only chance to expand his territory and gain dominance of the Balkans. ”

Napoleon mobilized the greed and ambition of every country involved in the war, and Alexander III was essentially the same as Frederick III, who both wanted to be the only empire on the continent.

But as the General Staff had predicted, we were too weak to defeat France in a short period of time, and then turn around and attack Russia. It was not possible to expand the German Army to the number needed to achieve its plans. He had thought that at least eight provisional armies should be cobbled together, but this ideal was not achieved. Because for Germany, the current strength is already their limit, first attacking France, annihilating the British army that invaded the French mainland, and then turning around to face the possible attack of Russia, this kind of operation is staggeringly difficult.

Therefore, the plan to complete the two-front battle was to capture him only when the French were unprepared. And also to minimize the losses of the German troops.

Now France was on guard against its allies as much as a thief, and the German General Staff was at a great difficulty as they were at a loss as to what to do, let alone whether the plan of the invasion would ultimately succeed.

So the Germans were still waiting, waiting for the British to break the tide of the war and tilt the situation in their favor.