Erstens kommt es anders, zweitens als man denkt:
Above all, Schlieffen ignored a modern war that might have revealed more about mass warfare in an industrial age than Cannae or Leuthen or Sedan: the American Civil War. To be sure, the General Staff had studied the American odyssey, but concluded that it was “un-European“ and hence „uninteresting.“ After all, it was a family squabble between „democratic republics,“ fought by „social democratic militias“ and distinguished by a lack of „competent generals.“ Poor training, poor equipment, and poor quality of troops had translated into protracted conflict and eventually trench warfare. The notion of maritime blockade was alien to the Prussian mindset and hence ignored. European military professionalism, the argument went, would avoid the pitfalls experienced by the amateurish Americans.
Quelle: Herwig, Holger H.: „Germany and the ‚Short-War‘ Illusion: Toward a New Interpretation?“, in The Journal of Military History, Vol. 66, No. 3, (2002), S. 687.
