Warfare
General Staff
The body of officers who serve a commander through planning, intelligence, operations and logistics. The Prussian Great General Staff, formally established in 1814, became the model for many armies: a full-time body studying war continuously and drawing up mobilization and campaign plans, with officers chosen by merit rather than patronage.
Mentioned in
- Chapter I The Long Fuse Overview§3 Blood and Iron: The Unifications, 1859–1871§8 The Balkan Powder Keg§9 Armies and War Plans
- Chapter II Thirty-Seven Days to War §3 Vienna Decides: Berchtold, Conrad and Tisza§6 Serbia Replies, the Powers React, 24–27 July§7 War Declared, Telegrams Crossed, 28–30 July
- Chapter III The War of Movement Overview§1 Mobilization: Trains, Horses and Millions§2 Liège: The Forts, Ludendorff and Big Bertha§6 Tannenberg and the Masurian Lakes§8 The Aisne, the Race to the Sea and First Ypres
- Chapter IV Deadlock §2 The Western Front: From Neuve Chapelle to Loos§5 Italy Enters the War: The Isonzo and the Mountains
- Chapter V The Year of Attrition Overview§10 Romania's Gamble and Germany's New Masters
- Chapter VI The Year of Revolutions §4 Arras, Vimy and the Chemin des Dames
- Chapter VIII The Reckoning and the Remaking §3 The Treaty of Versailles