The Prussian German General Staff System and Its Impact on the General and Admiral Staff Officers of the Federal Armed Forces of Today
The Prussian German General Staff System and Its Impact on the General and Admiral Staff Officers of the Federal Armed Forces of Today

Author: Christian O. E. Millotat

Publisher:

Published: 1991

Total Pages: 86

ISBN-13:

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Only 3.8 percent of the officers of the Federal Armed Forces are General and Admiral Staff officers. After a demanding selection process, most attend the Federal Armed Forces Command and General Staff Academy (Fuehrungsakademieder Bundeswehr) in Hamburg a two-year General and Admiral Staff course. They are entitled to add in the General Staff Service (im Generalstabsdienst) to their military rank and hold the key staff and most of the command positions in the Bundeswehr. It is possible that officers without General Staff officer training obtain temporary assignments to such positions. The distinctive characteristic of the Bundeswehr General and Admiral Staff officer, which distinguishes him from his colleagues of all other armed forces, is his dual responsibility. As in other armies, the German General and Admiral Staff officer relieves his commander from the technical details of Staff work; but in the German system, in addition, his main task is to advise his commander in all matters and the commander is obliged to hear his opinion. The General and Admiral Staff officer then bears the shared responsibility for the relevance of his advice.

Command and General Staff Officer Education for the 21st Century Examining the German Model
Command and General Staff Officer Education for the 21st Century Examining the German Model

Author: Major Luke G. Grossman USAF

Publisher: Pickle Partners Publishing

Published: 2015-11-06

Total Pages: 156

ISBN-13: 1786250470

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Education has been the foundational cornerstone to every profession and continues to be so in the 21st Century. As a profession, the military is obligated to conduct not only training but also education of the keepers of the profession, the officer corps. Since the rise of large military bodies enabled by the levee en masse and industrialization, armies have required educated officers skilled in both command and staff functions. The Prussian-German model of staff officer education embodied in the Kriegsakademie of the Nineteenth and first half of the Twentieth Century’s, was highly regarded and much copied. The education officer received at the Kriegsakademie directly contributed to an efficiently organized and employed Prussian-German Army at the tactical and operational levels. The investment in Kriegsakademie officer education paid huge dividends at Gravelotte-St Privat and Sedan 1870, Tannenberg 1914, Battle of Poland 1939, and the Battle of France 1940, critical first battles. With the rearming of Germany in 1955 came the need for the fledgling Bundeswehr to educate general staff officers. This need was met by establishing the Führungsakademie (German Armed Forces Command and Staff College). The Führungsakademie was created with the same time honored principles that had served general staff officer training previously: careful selection of the most highly qualified and promising officers and a broad based education rigorously applied. However, little information on the current Führungsakademie Education System is available in the English language. This monograph attempts to address this void. The author conducted research and interviews with the faculty, staff, and students at the Führungsakademie in Hamburg, Germany in order to understand and assess the education given to German general staff officer aspirants. The central general staff officer’s education course is the National General/Admiral Staff Officers Course.

The Brain of an Army
The Brain of an Army

Author: Spenser Wilkinson

Publisher: Westmister : A. Constable

Published: 1895

Total Pages: 236

ISBN-13:

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Discusses aspects of the German general staff.

History Of The German General Staff 1657-1945
History Of The German General Staff 1657-1945

Author: Walter Goerlitz

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2019-03-05

Total Pages: 457

ISBN-13: 042971792X

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This book is about the social and economic setting of the Hitler era. It unveils an amazing story about the bitter end of the German Great General Staff, the once most precise and powerful director of military policy known to the Western world, and its command in a democratic-capitalistic society.

History Of The German General Staff 1657-1945
History Of The German General Staff 1657-1945

Author: Walter Görlitz

Publisher: Westview Press

Published: 1985-07-11

Total Pages: 552

ISBN-13:

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The German General Staff traces its origins to the armies of Frederick the Great. The Germany Staff lead a formidable and ruthless army with great expertise and military professionalism. The German Army served as a model to other nations wanting to strengthen their arms in a changing world of politics and technology.

The Brain of an Army; a Popular Account of the German General Staff
The Brain of an Army; a Popular Account of the German General Staff

Author: Spenser Wilkinson

Publisher: Theclassics.Us

Published: 2013-09

Total Pages: 36

ISBN-13: 9781230214979

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This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1895 edition. Excerpt: ... preface to the second edition Six years ago a Royal Commission, under the presidency of Lord Hartington, was known to be inquiring into the administration of the national defence. There was much talk in the newspapers about the Prussian staff, and many were the advocates of its imitation in this country. Very few of those who took part in the discussions seemed to know what the Prussian staff was, and I thought it might be useful to the Royal Commission and to the public to have a true account of that institution, written in plain English, so that any one could understand it. The essay was published on the nth of February, 1890, the day on which the Report of Lord Hartington's Commission was signed. The essential feature of the Prussian staff system consists in the classification of duties out of which it has arisen. Every general in the field requires a number of assistants, collectively forming his staff, to relieve him of matters of detail, to act as his confidential secretaries, and to represent him at places where he cannot be himself. The duties of command are so multifarious that some consistent distribution of functions among the officers of a large staff is indispensable. In Prussia this distribution is based on a thoroughly rational and practical principle. The general's work is subdivided into classes, according as it is concerned with administration and discipline or with the direction of the operations against the enemy. All that belongs to administration and discipline is put upon one side of a dividing line, and upon the other side all that directly affects the preparation for or the management of the fighting--in technical language, all that falls within the domain of strategy and tactics. The officers entrusted with the...

The Brain of an Army : a Popular Account of the German General Staff
The Brain of an Army : a Popular Account of the German General Staff

Author: Spenser Wilkinson

Publisher:

Published: 2017-07-02

Total Pages: 72

ISBN-13: 9781521740026

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The Brain of an Army : A Popular Account of the German General Staff By Spenser WilkinsonIn May, 1887, a Select Committee was appointed to examine into the Army and Navy Estimates. On the 8th of July Major-General (now Lieut-General) Brackenbury, in the course of examination by the Committee, made a series of comparisons between the English and the German systems of army management. He referred particularly to the great general staff of the German army, which he described as "the keystone of the whole system of German military organization ... the cause of the great efficiency of the German army ... acting as the powerful brain of the military body, to the designs of which brain the whole body is made to work." "I cannot but feel," he said, "that to the want of any such great central thinking department is due that want of economy and efficiency which to a certain extent exists in our army."If at any time a statesman should be found to undertake the work of an English Minister of War, his first wish would be to grasp the nature of this keystone of the German system, to distinguish in it between essentials and accessories, to perceive which of its peculiarities are local, temporary, and personal; and what are the unchangeable principles in virtue of which it has prospered. Equipped with this knowledge, he would be able to reform without destroying, to rise above that servile imitation which copies defects as well as excellences, and, without sacrificing its national features, to infuse into the English system the merits of the German.For such a statesman, and for the public upon whose support he must depend, this book has been written. It is an endeavour to describe the German general staff and its relation to the military institutions from which it is inseparable.To illustrate the general staff at work in war, the campaign of 1866, rather than that of 1870, has been chosen, because it better exemplifies some of the relations between strategy and policy.December, 1889.