hi I'm Griffin Johnson the armchair
historian today's video the Battle of
Tannenberg
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what do the Battle of Tannenberg and the
Battle of Bunker Hill have in common
both our poorly named if battlefield
accuracy is the benchmark the Battle of
Tannenberg was actually fought
approximately 19 miles were 30
kilometers away from Tannenberg near
Allen Stein where Alston located in
present-day Poland 500 years earlier
Poland and Lithuania were joined at the
hip together constituting a dominant
regional power that inflicted a crushing
defeat on the ethnically German Teutonic
order at the Battle of Grunwald
otherwise known as you guessed it
tannenberg this wasn't your ordinary
World War 1 battle this was a 500 year
old revenge arc first let's set the
scene in 1914 the global conflict that
would become known as the war to end all
wars had just begun and Germany found
itself fighting on two fronts but they
were well-prepared they had the
Schlieffen Plan their strategy quickly
knock out France franco-prussian style
but this time invade through Belgium and
then pivot eastward to face the Russians
before they have time to retaliate wait
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No let's proceed with the video so how
did Germany expect to finish invading
France while Russia sat around and
watched while Russia's vast and rugged
terrain insufficient industrial capacity
and lack of infrastructure would
severely hamper its ability to mobilize
Russia's sorry excuse for a railway
system made its railway cars completely
incompatible with Germany's which would
further inhibit the speed of Russian
forces when they reached German
territory on the way there the Russians
would also have to heavily rely on
horses because of poor roads preventing
the usage of trucks not that they had
many of those in the first place in
addition Russian communication lines
were extremely vulnerable to
interception the Germans cracked the
Russians coded radio messages shortly
after the outbreak of the conflict and
even though the Russians caught on and
developed a new code it proved difficult
to provide each Russian commander with a
new code book
thus the Russians resorted to
desperately broadcasting their messages
on the radio without implementing the
new code hoping that the Germans would
somehow miss them what the Germans did
miss was the czars covert order to begin
partial mobilization three days before
the outbreak of the war many of these
troops had been assembled from the
western reaches of the Russian Empire
and were therefore already at Germany's
doorstep as the Russian 1st army under
general paul von brennan kampf
and the second army under general
alexander samsonov marched towards
Konigsberg a stepping stone to Berlin
the Germans realized that they would
have to contend with the Russian Menace
far sooner than they had expected -
after the German defeat at Gumba ninh in
mid-august it was even suggested that
east prussia be completely abandoned the
russian armies in the region totaled
some 500,000 men whereas the German
Eighth Army now under the command of the
once retired general paul von hindenburg
and his chief of staff general erich
ludendorff numbered some 200,000 men
things looked grim for the germans until
a cunning strategy was devised to
prevent the russians from
taking Konigsberg Samsonov's ii army and
renting comps first army had become
separated by the vast Missourian lakes
after the former army stopped to
resupply this meant that the Germans
could divide and conquer taking on one
army at a time without being encircled
Hindenburg decided to focus most of his
attention on the advancing Second Army a
more pressing threat due to its
proximity to Konigsberg he sent a
sizable detachment southward under
command of Herman von Francois to face
them a smaller force was sent in the
direction of the 1st army to deter the
possibility of Renan Kampf ending the
resupply process early and interrupting
the attack on Samsonov's troops in late
August the 8th army detachment
Hindenburg had sent south caught up with
the Second Army which luckily for the
Germans had been slowed down due to a
combination of rough terrain and supply
shortages the battle was about to begin
but before we delve into the details of
what exactly took place we should first
compare the opposing forces to gauge
their strengths and weaknesses first
let's talk RAM troops the Russian army
was composed of mostly new and
inexperienced troops whereas the German
rank-and-file were professionalized
according to a strict Prussian military
doctrine meaning that they had underwent
yearly drills and rigorous training
exercises during peacetime in
preparation for this moment now let's
talk weapons while the Russian soldiers
in the 1st and 2nd Army's didn't laugh
guns they did lack ammunition because of
stretched supply lines as for weapon
types both German and Russian forces
were equipped with
variants of the Maxim machine gun the
primary rifle used by the Russians was
the most Nagant whereas for the German
it was the Gewehr 98 German riflemen
were better off than Russian riflemen if
only because of the fact that they were
equipped with more ammunition with
regards to artillery even though the
Russians had nearly doubled the amount
of artillery pieces than its German
counterpart the Russians were hindered
by the fact that their artillery wasn't
always distributed evenly allowing the
Germans to outgun them with better
organized and more mobile batteries
furthermore every German division had a
true battalion of cutting-edge 105
millimeter field howitzers which were
superior to anything the Russians could
field as for leadership the German
military clung to an aristocratic
tradition that bred disciplined
world-class commanders who often had
combat experience Russian officers by
contrast we're the subject of ridicule
aimed at a perceived lack of logistical
and organizational ability based on the
terrible communication and lack of
reconnaissance at Tannenberg this
ridicule was rightfully deserved the
Russian military also had an
aristocratic tradition but it did not
produce the same effects when the Tsar's
first cousin once removed the Grand Duke
Nicholas was named commander-in-chief of
the army he had no clue what to do with
such a massive force on such short
notice
allegedly he wept when he learned of his
appointment to make matters worse
samsonov and fond Renan Kampf who were
actually decent commanders were unable
to effectively work together because the
two absolutely despised one another
their feud goes back to the 1905 Battle
of Mactan during the russo-japanese war
when samsonov publicly shamed Renan
Kampf for the Russian defeat this feud
was well known and did not escape the
ears of max Hoffman staff officer of the
8th German army Hoffman had served in
the russo-japanese war as an observer
and knew full well of the extent of the
Russian generals hatred for one another
indeed he knew how to exploit it across
the board Germany had distinct
advantages over the Russians with the
only exception being sheared
and power and a seemingly infinite
supply of vodka in addition to all of
the affer mentioned advantages the
Germans seemed to have luck on their
side too
the detachment under the command of von
Francois against orders held back
instead of attacking immediately his
commanders weren't pleased Ludendorff
was utterly fuming Hoffmann however
convinced his commanders to trust
Francois another detachment of the 8th
army which had been in retreat against
the Second Army was now engaged by
Samsonov who thought he had the upper
hand but on August 27th Hoffman's trust
was rewarded as von Francois and his men
struck Samsonov's left flank in a
surprise attack the assault sent the
Russians into a retreat after this
engagement von Francois once again
disobeyed his orders
this time venturing further east than he
was supposed to in an effort to encircle
the Second Army on his own on August
29th von Francois and his men joined by
two other detachments caught Samsonov
off guard yet again seeing this
Hindenburg promptly ordered an
encirclement of the Russian troops to
which the Russian Grand Duke responded
by ordering von grunen Kampf to come to
Samsonov's aid and of course they didn't
make it in time whether this was
intentional or not is up to debate as
samsonov was being attacked on all sides
his command post only offered a view of
his army center column which was
attacking a seemingly weak German
position samsonov had little to no
visibility of his flanks which as a fer
mentioned were being brutally hit by the
Germans had he known this he could have
dispatched men from the center column to
relieve his flanks were withdrawn from
the battlefield with most of his men
left standing only a day later the
second army surrendered to the Germans
after being completely enveloped and
Samsonov rather than face the Czar's
wrath straight deep into the forest and
took his own life
since the first army was never more than
about 70 miles away from the Second Army
during this time the Germans eventually
caught up to von Renan Kampf and
defeated him - at the Battle of the
missourian Lakes the Grand Duke had no
choice but to recall his remaining
forces for his role in repelling the
Russians Hindenburg became a national
hero and was promoted to Field Marshal
he and Ludendorff basically called the
shots for the rest of the war and after
it concluded Hindenburg went on to
become president of the vemma republic
von Francois was deservedly given the
nickname of the Fox and Hoffman
sadly got little recognition by
comparison the Russian army never really
recovered from this defeat and the
situation only worsened for the Tsar
from then on
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you