![]() There would not have been the dreadful slaughter and suffering of the next four years and it is even possible that the Second World War would not have happened. An early Russian victory could have knocked Germany out of the war within weeks and the implications of this opportunity were immense if the Imperial Russian Army had advanced on Berlin then Germany would have had to admit defeat. They crossed the border and advanced well into East Prussia within days of war being declared and the way to Berlin was open. The High Command estimated that the Russians would need about six weeks to mobilise their immense army, but the Russians surprised everyone by going into action sooner than expected. The German strategy was to hold back the Imperial Russian Army using defensive tactics while seeking a swift decision over the French and British in the west. The majority of Germany’s troops were committed to the Schlieffen Plan, an offensive formulated by General Schlieffen, which planned to attack France by passing through Belgium. The German High Command’s nightmare was to be involved in a war on two fronts, but that is precisely what happened in 1914: they faced the Russians on their borders in the east and the French and British in the west. A German communications squad behind the Western front, setting up using a tandem bicycle power generator to power a light radio station, much later than the 1914 Battle of Tannenberg, in September of 1917.
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