Was the Prussian military really super efficient and deadly or is it just memes? Were they drastically better than the other armies of their day?
>Where some states have an army, the Prussian Army has a state
>>433226
"The government of Napoleon III of France was undoubtedly startled by the Prussian victory over Austria, and urgently sought to reform their army to face the conflict with Prussia which seemed inevitable and imminent. Their senior officers entirely failed to grasp the methods of the Prussian General Staff. The Chief of Staff of the French Army, Marechal Edmond Leboeuf, fatuously stated in 1870 that the French Army was ready for war, "down to the last gaiter button." In the event, at the outset of the Franco-Prussian War, 462,000 German soldiers concentrated flawlessly on the French frontier while only 270,000 French soldiers could be moved to face them, the French army having lost 100,000 stragglers before a shot was fired through poor planning and administration. (Most of these were reservists who had not been able to join their units before the units were hastily dispatched to join the armies forming up near the frontier.)
During the war, there were again the inevitable mistakes due to the "fog of war", but German formations moved with a speed and precision which French staff officers, accustomed only to moving battalion-sized punitive columns, could not match. In the French (and British) armies of the time, there was an anti-intellectual prejudice in favour of brave and unimaginative regimental officers over intelligent and well-trained staff officers. The French Army paid dearly for this bias in 1870 and 1871".
>>433258
King of bantz.
>>433226
What's the origin of those head spikes?
I'd say they were really super efficient and deadly for a short time in the mid 19th century, the time of wars with Denmark, Austria and France. Before and after that time they there just a little better than the others. The key to was military planning with use of railways, and the others were quick to adopt it.
>>433281
Turkish disemboweling helmets
>>433281
Napoleonic envy.
They had a VERY strict sense of unquiestioning discipline. It did have its side effects.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilhelm_Voigt
>>433281
headbutting people to death.
>>433281
>What's the origin of those head spikes?
It was designed to prevent direct swords hits on the helmet.
>>433277
While the Prussians had some excellent successes, and we can't doubt that it's battlefield performance was without peer in the wars of Bismarck and Frederick II the Great, it would be an incomplete account if we left out the heirs to this legacy in the General Staff. All included, I think the usual "meme" will suffice:
Pros: excellent unit tactics and regimental discipline, fantastic staff officers
Cons: Strategic planning, failure to realize Clausewitz's "war as politics by another means" principle.
>>433258
>HOLY
