Preparing for War: PrussianâGerman Professional Wargames and the Leadership Concept of Mission Tactics, 1870â1880

Paul Schuurman

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Chapter 7 Preparing for War: PrussianâGerman Professional Wargames and the Leadership Concept of Mission Tactics, 1870â1880

In: Concepts of War, 1650-1900

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Paul Schuurman

Paul Schuurman
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Type:: Chapter

Pages:: 153â176

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004536678_009

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Abstract

Prussian professional wargames (Kriegsspiele) came into existence during the Napoleonic Wars. I argue that the success of these wargames after the Wars of German Unification (1864-1870) was firmly connected with their role as integrative training solutions for the disintegrative tendencies of the leadership concept of mission tactics (Auftragstaktik), which evolved during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Both professional wargames and mission tactics were actively sponsored by the Prussian-German Great General Staff, and I argue that both were jointly pushed forward by a technological context that included the dramatic increase in nineteenth-century firepower and the military use of Germanyâs railroad network.

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Concepts of War, 1650-1900

From Free-Rider Strategies to Survival of the Fittest

Series:Â Value Inquiry Book Series, Volume: 383Â andÂ Studies in the History of Western Philosophy, Volume: 383

E-Book ISBN:: 9789004536678

Publisher:: Brill

Print Publication Date:: 11 Feb 2023

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- History
  - History of Warfare
- Philosophy

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Chapter 7 Preparing for War: PrussianâGerman Professional Wargames and the Leadership Concept of Mission Tactics, 1870â1880

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Concepts of War, 1650-1900

From Free-Rider Strategies to Survival of the Fittest

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Chapter 7 Preparing for War: PrussianâGerman Professional Wargames and the Leadership Concept of Mission Tactics, 1870â1880