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Although Frederick III kept urging, Moltke made other arrangements. The General Staff has been studying the question of France and Russia for many years, because Germany is located at the crossroads of Europe, surrounded by great powers, and is strategically disadvantaged, and can easily fall into the embarrassing situation of being attacked on both sides. Therefore, shortly after the reunification of Germany, the German General Staff Headquarters began to study how to deal with a future full-scale European war. No one threatens Germany more than Russia to the east, France to the west, and Britain to the sea. For the Army, war in Europe meant fighting both France and Russia. Therefore, the topic of study by the General Staff Headquarters is how to win two wars at the same time.

Since the end of the Franco-Prussian War, Paris has begun to build a series of defensive fortresses. France then built a series of fortresses centered around four cities along the 150-mile Franco-German border. The southeast begins in the Alps, Switzerland's impregnable barrier, with strong concrete fortresses stretching out from Berfort, Urbinar, Tühl and Verdun. A wide gap was designed between Erbinar and Tur to serve as a huge trap to welcome the enemy in, which was then annihilated by crossfire fired from a well-covered concrete box bunker. About twenty miles north of Verdun are Luxembourg, Belgium and the rugged Ardennes Forest.

As Moltke's assistant, Wadsey had previously carefully studied the balance of power between the two sides and had a bold idea: to take advantage of Germany's rapid mobilization of forces to defeat France first, and then turn back to concentrate on a possible invasion of Russia.

Everyone was confident that the defeat of France would be a repetition of the war of 1870.

The German army, both in quantity and quality, far surpassed its neighbors. By the time they could only build ridiculous machine-gun bunkers and artillery groups, the Germans were already able to use the railroad to bring a million troops to the front at will.

Wadsey judged that Russia's backward military mobilization system required at least six to eight weeks for Russia to complete its military buildup against Germany. During this time, with its dense railway network and clever ingenuity, Germany was well positioned to quickly complete the military build-up and defeat the French, and then turn around against the Eastern Front.

All of this analysis is based on the lessons learned from the Franco-Prussian War, and the German forces were able to quickly bulldoze France after opening the northern front. If they had taken advantage of neutral Belgium, the battle would have ended more quickly.

This is also one of the reasons why Moltke deployed his troops on the Eastern Front, if he really wants to tear his face and wage war, the Kaiser cares about the life and death of your little Belgium, and the next step in defeating France is probably to include Belgium and the Netherlands into his territory.

German expansion was based on bloodshed and sacrifice.

However, Wadsey's idea did not have all the support of Moltke, he was ready for a full-scale war with France, but not for a full-scale war with Russia!

The First French Reich had taught Germany with a lesson in blood and tears that they could not break through each other's natural barriers for the time being.

Capricorn's view, however, was to concentrate its forces against France, and if Russia attacked them, it only needed to block the enemy near the border, and there was no need to attack them. It was delayed until the German legions were withdrawn to the defense, or Austro-Hungarian reinforcements came to their aid.

"Now we don't crush Russia, what if they turn around and bite hard in the back of Germany?"

Wadsey was very unhappy with Moltke's concessions, which in his eyes were a recoiling plan. Russia has bullied itself, and it wants to limit the war to the vicinity of the border?

"We have now concentrated all our forces on the French border, so if the Russians take advantage of it, will we have to push them back near the border?" ”

Moltke gave him an angry look and said earnestly, "As I said, Germany is not ready to go to war with Russia now. ”

"What is Russia! Their vast territory, backward railway network, and aging mobilization mechanism for war have greatly reduced the speed of Russia's war response. ”

Wadsey expressed German disdain for Tsar Alexander III, and it was ridiculous that a backward industrial country should want to play a part in the position of a European power.

He saw Russia as the last step in the German conquest of the world, and it was not difficult to get the French to surrender, but it was not difficult to defeat the Russians. The cold tundra of Eastern Europe is destined to make it difficult for the country to rise to become a true empire, but it will also keep the country alive for a long time.

The glory is short-lived, but the decline is long.

Moltke looked at the map and said, "But again, the backward roads are greatly detrimental to the German conquest of the vast Russian territory, and the strategic depth and long supply lines provided by the wide east-west length, the harsh winter conditions, and the huge number of 'steam rollers' will make the Russian battlefield a protracted war." Don't forget how Napoleon lost back then. It was precisely because of the defeat in that war that France lost a great situation! The conquest of Russia was the last and most difficult step in the conquest of Europe. ”

Wadsey remained unrelenting and continued, "The Vienna side should also assist, after all, we are allies. ”

"Vienna was interested only in the problems of the Balkans, and as for the question of the expedition to Eastern Europe, Joseph I did not want to mix it at all. So in the end, it was Germany, not Austria-Hungary. ”

Moltke told the other side to focus all his attention on the French front, and he said to Wadsey, "The Kaiser is gradually losing patience, he wants to get involved in the French dispute, he wants the German army to take the initiative and fight across the border without the permission of France." ”

Wadsey wondered, "Isn't that great?" In this way, we can take advantage of the situation and control a large part of the territory in the north of France. And stationed troops on the soil of France for the sake of justice. ”

Moltke was not optimistic about Wadsey's operational ideas, although taking the initiative to attack France was the main purpose of the General Staff Operations Department. But this was a reference in the ideal situation of a war between France and Germany, and as soon as a third country was added to the intervention, the situation changed.

The French mainland became the battlefield of the three nations, which was obviously quite different from the original battle plan;

"Do you think the French don't have this idea? The Rhine Corps they deployed on the Northern Front was a battle-hardened elite, and the French were not fools, and their deployment was not only against the British, but also against us! ”

"Lord Wadsee, I hope you understand something. Since I am sitting in the position of Chief of the General Staff, I am responsible for the safety of the German soldiers, and I cannot let them die in vain! ”

It was the first time that he, as Moltke's assistant, had been condemned in such a harsh tone. Although Wadsey was not convinced, out of respect for the class of Officer Juncker, he unconditionally obeyed the orders of Chairman Mao's Chief of General Staff.

Just remembering the loss of the opportunity to defeat Russia, he felt sorry in his heart.

Moltke saw through the other party's thoughts, so he pointed to Wadsey and issued a straightforward mission, "I need another plan now, how can Germany win by surprise when we are attacked by France and Britain at the same time." I have a bad feeling that this battle plan is not as simple as I imagined. There must be a bigger conspiracy behind Paris waiting for us to step on. ”

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