The German Empire also fortified its borders, but Chief of the General Staff Helmuth von Moltke the Elder desired the ability to break through Franco-Belgian fortifications. Although German artillery had been effective during the Franco-Prussian War, it had been allowed to stagnate. By the 1880s the barrel diameter of the German Army's most powerful gun, the field howitzer, was no longer adequate against fortresses. Moltke began requesting more powerful guns that same decade. More powerful artillery became essential to his successor, Alfred von Schlieffen, who planned to quickly defeat France by sweeping through Belgium in response to the 1893 Franco-Russian Alliance. To be able to reduce French and Belgian fortresses, the "" (Artillery Test Commission, APK) formed a partnership with Krupp AG in 1893. The first result of this partnership was a mortar, accepted into service four years later and designated the "schwerer Küstenmörser" L/8, but known as the Beta-Gerät to disguise its purpose as a siege gun. Tests in the mid-1890s showed that the Beta-Gerät could not destroy French or Belgian forts, even with improved shells. Interest in a more powerful siege gun waned until the Russo-Japanese War, during which the Japanese Army used coastal guns brought from Japan to end the 11-month long Siege of Port Arthur.