Strategy

The Chief of Staff then turned to Joseph and stood at attention. "Your Highness, the Regent, General Staff Headquarters judges that if our country commits fully to the war, we should be able to rout the main forces of Prussia and Austria within three months, and take control of Berlin and Vienna within six to ten months."

He was by no means making empty claims.

As a military department approaching modern standards, the French General Staff Headquarters was nothing like the aristocratic officers of old, who needed only to hunt, attend balls and salons in their spare time, and review the troops once a year.

Under the regulations Joseph had drawn up for the duties of General Staff Headquarters, Berthier had to lead his mid-ranking and senior staff officers in devising plans for training, exercises, troop movements, deployments, and the like every day.

One extremely important part of this work was drawing up war contingency plans.

General Staff Headquarters had a dedicated contingency planning office responsible for simulating potential military conflicts around France, and even across Europe, and preparing responses in advance.

The office had twenty-one full-time staff officers in all, and frequently assigned "academic tasks" to officers and professors at the major military academies.

A situation like the present one, with Prussia and Austria stirring up numerous small-scale wars in Central and Western Europe, had been raised by a major at the Royal Military Academy of France as early as four years ago.

The contingency planning office had then assembled personnel and drawn up a complete operational plan covering everything from mobilization to logistics, troop movements to force deployments, and even arrangements for the officers who might be dispatched.

When Berthier said they could rout the main Prussian and Austrian forces in three months, he had actually left some