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History of the German General Staff, 1657-1945.

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"The History of the German General Staff" by Walter Goerlitz is a concise and well written account of that greatest of war planning and making bodies, the Prussian and German General Staff.

Goerlitz begins his history in the days of Federick the Great, tracing the origins of the staff to the supply officers and royal aides attached to the royal person. Goerlitz continues through the 1700's, tracing the rivalries between royal offices tasked to supply and direct the royal army.

Goerlitz gives excellent attention to the creators of the modern General Staff, Scharnhorst, Gneisenau, and the philosopher of war, von Clauswitz. He describes the early efforts at reform, and the eventual reaction, culminating in the revolution of '48.

Next, the author writes on the Age of Bismarck, and the wars of unification. Von Moltke, von Waldersee, and the sucession to the German throne are all put together to describe the byzantine political world of Imperial Germany.

World War I and Hindenburg and Ludendorff come next. The author describes the roles the two generals played in the war, as they became virtual dictators of Germany. Also described is the unique relationship between the figurehead Hindenburg and unstable Ludendorff. Goerlitz talks about the war and its effects on the Army. This leads to the formation of the Republic and the creation of the new 100,000 man army under von Seeckt. Then come the Nazis and the General Staff's war to survive in the "gangster" world of Hitler. Finally, World War II and the destruction of the General Staff.

Goerlitz concludes that the German General Staff, having learned the lethality of a two front war in World War I, was not responsible for World War II.

Goerlitz's history is well written and well documented. The text is replete with anecdotes and period facts that add extra weight to the military history itself. I highly recommend this book to any student of German, military, or world history.

This is the standard study of the German General Staff and it has stood the test of time. It is a solid history of this famous military organization, that has been made the bugaboo of much of Germany's twentieth century misdeeds, but was (is), in fact, just another army staff, albeit probably better trained both individually and as a group.

This work takes the reader from the beginnings in the seventeenth century through its rudimntary development and use under Frederick the Great, to its renovation and use after the reform of the Prussian army after Jena, and to its final form under the elder Moltke until its demise, after it sold its soul to Hitler by way of the infamous 'Hitler oath', at the end of World War II.

The story is fascinating, is great history, and the book is a good read. It is easy to follow, the author's references are impeccable, and it is a thorough history of the general staff. The weaknesses, though, tend to hurt to overall presentation and are at the beginning of the book. The early, formative beginnings of the staff are actually glossed over, and there is little substantive information given for this period. The critical portion of the development of the general staff, in my opinion, during the Napoleonic period, both before and after Jena debacle in 1806, are done too quickly, and the origins and influences for the staff, particularly the French ones used by Scharnhorst from 1800 onwards, are not chronicled in any detail, and there is only one brief reference to Napoleon's very capable chief of staff, Berthier, in the book. Some of his early staff work and innovations were liberally borrowed by the Prussians, and this important influence by the first great chief of staff in modern military history is unfortunately overlooked.

However, this is an important work and is highly recommended.

Since reading military history in the early 1960s I've heard of this book, remember when it was a selection in various book clubs. Yet I never ordered a copy, not did I seek to find one. So, perusing the books at our local Goodwill recently found this unlikely book among the selections for a very, very low price.

I've come to feel that if one reads on German military history, this book is somewhat of a mandatory book for the home library shelves. My hardcover copy is a 17th printing by Frederick A. Praeger Publishers originally published in 1953, with reprints up through the middle 1960s. The dust jacket is black with a large iron cross on the spine. I suspect my copy to be a book club edition as its binding is in black and gold, while the publisher's I believe were bound in red and green. Truly resembling the colors of the generals of the German General Staff.

The book opens with 8 pages of paintings or pictures of the various members of the German General Staff from the beginning down through WWII. The various chapters are as follows:

The Beginnings

The Fathers: Scharnhorst and Gneisenau

The Philosopher of War: age of Clausewitz

The Man of Silence: Helmut Von Moltke

Preventive War or Coup D'tat: Waldersee

The Master Plan: Schlieffen

War Without Generals: The Younger Von Moltke and Falkenhayn, 1906-16

The Silent Dictatorship: Hindenburg and Ludendorff, 1916-18

The Sphinx: Seeckt and the 'Truppennamt'

The Kingmaker: Kurt Von Schleicher-Hammerstein-Equord

The Uneasy Partnership: Ludwig Von Beck-Reichnau

The Struggle Against War: Fritsch-Blomberg-Brauchitsch

Hitler Triumphant

The Beginning of Captivity

The Revolt

Gotterdammerung

Index

Overall the book contains 508 pages easy to digest, interesting, and informing information; my copy was translated by Brian Battershaw and I feel he did a very credible job. Though I have much Germanic background concerning ancestors who left Germany after the 1848 revolutions only to arrive here just in time for most to perish in our Civil War, I was born much too late to have German as a spoken language in the home, a fact as I grow older, I much regret.

From my reading of this book I find it to be a valuable addition to my military library and would give it a positive rating for anyone involved with the military history of Germany from 1657 down through 1945. Low priced copies can yet be obtained from Amazon dealers.

Semper Fi.

Im glad I finally got to read Goerlitz' history of the German general staff. It is great history of that daunted military edifice that all military historians still remain attracted to. If anything, this book will give the reader a much greater understanding of the militarist mind that has captivated so much of German history from Frederick the Great, to Bismark and Moltke, Seekt and Schlieffen, Manstein and Rommel. For anyone interested in the military aspects of the Third Reich, this book is a must because if anything, it should educate the reader as to the complexities of the inherent Prussian militarist mindset that allowed the foreign aggression of the Hitler regime to almost succeed in conquering the world. It should also educate the beginner as to the stark differences between the German military professionals and the amateurish party cadres in the Nazi Party. Although it is an older writing and a lot of it's geographical facts are obsolete, it nevertheless makes it's main topic easy to decipher. I recommend this book as must reading for the reader interested in the militarist evolution of the German war machine. And the reader will surely understand why the German army was one of the best organized, well-trained and well-commanded military forces in the history of warfare.

In "History of the German General Staff, 1657-1945" Walter Gorlitz traces the rise of the Prussian/German military establishment and its groundbreaking General Staff system. The book manages to capture the scope of the subject in a well-paced and well-written narrative that is impressive in such a relatively small volume. Gorlitz's views on the evolution of the General Staff system from its beginnings under the Prussian reformers through its Imperial heyday and finally to its marginalization and decline in the Third Reich make for fascinating reading. If anything, there wasn't enough on the Second World War, though this is a minor point for such a wonderful book. Those who like it should also check out Trevor N. Dupuy's "A Genius for War", also on the German General Staff.