What was it about the German Way of War that has resulted in a near universal acceptance of that nation’s battlefield excellence? How did a nation recognized for its military supremacy end up on the losing side of two world wars? Author Michael Palmer offers his two-part thesis:“First, the Germans, unlike the Americans, failed to mature strategically as their nation grew and became more powerful. Second, the Germans, along with virtually everyone else, misinterpreted the lessons of their own successes against Denmark (1864), Austria (1866), and France (1870) and concluded that they had to and could successfully wage short, decisive wars in the age of industrial warfare. Reality caught up with them during the years of 1914 to 1918 and 1939 to 1945, and the world, the Germans included, paid a horribly steep price for that mistake.” Palmer describes the major battles and events of every major German war during this period, offering insight and analysis to help the reader sort out the causes and effects of each war, including: The Franco-Prussian War: “ France, an empire, became a republic. The Prussian king became the emperor of a new national German empire. The destruction of French power allowed the Italians to complete the unification of their country.” World War I: “When peace finally came, the Versailles treaty restricted the Weimar Republic, which had replaced the kaiser’s Second Reich, to an army of 100,000 men, a force easily outnumbered by the Poles. They even had to dismantle their infamous general staff.

” World War II: “Tactically, the Germans retained their superiority until the end of the war. But here, too, the German advantage declined as the war progressed, and Allied tactics improved as their armies learned from experience much of what the Germans had learned from study during the 1920s.”.