Why was it necessary for Russia to mobilize its army so much in advance and how did Germany react in World War 1?

Answer 1

It is of great importance to assess why Russia had to mobilise its army so far in advance and the German reaction that followed. The inflexibility of the military plans of the Great Powers constitutes one of the causes of the First World War. It is the number one cause of why the "Third Balkan War" automatically turned into the First World War. It should be remebered that Russia's military strength was based upon a vast number of soldiers, which had to be transported by train. Since the emancipation of the Russian serfs in 1862, the Russian army was mostly comprised of ordinary peasants. They all inhabited an enormous countryside, and many of them had migrated to Siberia due to the regime's encouragement of such migration. Therefore, the mobilisation would be extremely complex. When we arrive in the summer of 1914 the Russia's prestige was at so low an ebb that she could afford no futher blows. Russia had been unable to support Serbia both during the Bosnian crisis of 1908 and the First Balkan War of 1912. The reason had been that she was too weak militarily to challenge Germany and Austria-Hungary. However, in 1912 Russia embarked upon a military re-construction programme as a result of the humiliation. It was supposed to be finnished by 1918, but with strengthened ties to both Germany and France in 1914 she dared more. In order to enhance her prestige and protect the Slavs in the Balkans from Russian influence, she responded to Austria's aggressive behaviour by mobilisation on 25 July 1918. Nicholas II regretted the mobilisation a few hours after his order to start it, but the complex mobilisation process could not be stopped. His generals realised that Germany already new about it and would surely also mobilise. Besides, a halted mobilisation would have dire consequences since it would create a great deal of confusion among the troops and obstruct them from taking forceful action if necessary. What the Russian generals did not know about, however, was Germany's only war plan, namely the Schlieffen Plan. It had been designed by Germany's fromer army Chief-of-Staff von Schlieffen, who was a strategically gifted general. His successor von Moltke, on the other hand, had no strategic skills whatsoever and therefore he copletely followed Schlieffen's instructions. The crucial part of the plan was that Germany should launch an attack on France if Russia mobilised. A swift and decisive victory over France would then enable Germany to concentrate all her power in the east, where Russia would be done with her complex mobilisation. Thus, Germany did not have the margin between mobilisation and war and attacked France when Russia mobilised. Again, the complexity of the war plans contributed to the war. When Chancellor von Bethmann-Hollweg reported that Britain was open for dialogue it was already to late to stop the trains to the west and the world was forced into the First World War. Hence, we may conclude that Russia had to mobilise much in advance since her soldiers were scattered around tha countryside and had to be transported by trains. Neither could the mobilisaton be stopped since that would make Russia unable to defend herself for many weeks. Germany's response was an attack on France, in accordance with the Schlieffen plan. Unfortunately, Germany lacked a margin between Russian mobilisation and war and therefore a world war was inevitable. Please respond to my answer Sincerely, Adam Smith