ABSTRACT
The Russian army was estimated as lacking confidence and the French army as being weakened by poor morale and weak training because of the transition from a two-year to a three-year term of military service. For the army it was the opportunity for the preventive war which it had advocated since 1912. The Prussian General Staff and Ministry of War seemed to agree that the timing was opportune. German artillery was considered as being superior to the Russian and the French, particularly in respect to howitzers; so was the German infantry rifle. Bethmann-Hollweg fully agreed with his Secretary of State. Alfred von Tirpitz, the man responsible for the building and the general strategy of the German navy, was not in charge of its day-to-day use as an instrument of war, although he had in his capacity as Chief of Staff in the High Command from 1892 to 1895 been responsible for this task.
