Tannenberg 1914
By: John Sweetman.
Series: Cassell's Fields of battle
Publisher: Cassell; Orion Publishing Group, Limited
Published: 2002
Place of publication: London
Language: eng
Number of pages: 232
Subjects: Tannenberg, Battle of, Stębark, Poland, 1914.
Description: "In August 1914, when Germany marched into northern France, Tsar Nicholas II found himself in a dilemma. According to a treaty with the French, he was obliged to attack Germany in order to prevent his ally from becoming completely overrun. But Russia was not ready for battle. Its troops were unfit and undertrained, their equipment inferior, and the supply routes to the front worse than rudimentary. Yet the tsar stood by his treaty, confident that he would be able to overwhelm the Germans through sheer weight of numbers." "So began the Tannenberg campaign. Over the course of the next six weeks the Russians found themselves repeatedly outmanoeuvred and outwitted by their German counterparts. Incompetent leadership, faulty reconnaissance, lack of secrecy and poor communications made defeat seem almost inevitable. By mid-September, Germany had virtually annihilated one Russian army, and turned a second on its heels." "In this interpretation of events, John Sweetman re-examines one of the most important battles of the twentieth century. He explains exactly how the Germans managed to defeat a force twice the size of their own, and analyses what effect the outcome of the battle had on the course of the First World War."--Jacket.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. [217]-220) and index.