ABSTRACT
The conflict with Japan in 1904 had been brought on by a cabal of rascally adventurers at Court and had linked Russia's destinies with Asia, hence with all that was backward, despotic, and humiliating in Russian life. The "thoughtful and well-informed" seemed limited to the successive Finance Ministers, who alone showed awareness of the fact that Russia was deperately poor and could not really afford to play the great-power game. Even the Russian peasant responded to the call to the colors as never before. East Prussia had been a favorite training ground for summer war games against Russia. The consequences of the failure of the Schlieffen Plan, however, would be concealed by Hindenburg's victory in East Prussia. From France, with the lightning speed of the splendid German railways, two additional army corps were shipped to East Prussia, thereby further disrupting the timetable of the Schlieffen Plan.
