England's preparations for a naval war against Germany—Germany's first measures against England—England and the neutrality of the small neighbouring States—The importance of Denmark—Commercial mobilization—The two kinds of blockade: The close blockade and the extended blockade—England's attack on our coasts—Co-operation of the air-fleet in their defence—The decisive battle and its importance—Participation of France and Russia in a German-English war
CHAPTER IX THE CRUCIAL QUESTION
Reciprocal relations of land and sea power—The governing points of view in respect of war preparations—Carrying out of universal military service—The value of intellectual superiority—Masses, weapons, and transport in modern war—Tactical efficiency and the quality of the troops—The advantage of the offensive—Points to be kept in view in war preparations—Refutation of the prevailing restricted notions on this head—The Ersatzreserve—New formations—Employment of the troops of the line and the new formations—Strengthening of the standing army—The importance of personality
CHAPTER X ARMY ORGANIZATION
Not criticism wanted of what is now in existence, but its further development—Fighting power and tactical efficiency—Strength of the peace establishment—Number of officers and N.C.O.'s, especially in the infantry—Relations of the different arms to each other—Distribution of machine guns—Proportion between infantry and artillery—Lessons to be learned from recent wars with regard to this—Superiority at the decisive point—The strength of the artillery and tactical efficiency—Tactical efficiency of modern armies—Tactical efficiency and the marching depth of an army corps—Importance of the internal organization of tactical units—Organization and distribution of field artillery; of heavy field howitzers—Field pioneers and fortress pioneers—Tasks of the cavalry and the air-fleet—Increase of the cavalry and formation of cyclist troops—Tactical organization of the cavalry—Development of the air-fleet—Summary of the necessary requirements—Different ways of carrying them out—Importance of governing points of view for war preparations
CHAPTER XI TRAINING AND EDUCATION
The spirit of training—Self-dependence and the employment of masses— Education in self-dependence—Defects in our training for war on the grand scale—Need of giving a new character to our manoeuvres and to the training of our commanders—Practical training of the artillery— Training in tactical efficiency—Practice in marching under war conditions—Training of the train officers and column leaders— Control of the General Staff by the higher commanders—Value of manoeuvres: how to arrange them—Preliminary theoretical training of the higher commanders—Training of the cavalry and the airmen; of the pioneers and commissariat troops—Promotion of intellectual development in the army—Training in the military academy
CHAPTER XII PREPARATION FOR THE NAVAL WAR
The position of a World Power implies naval strength—Development
of German naval ideals—The task of the German fleet; its strength
—Importance of coast defences—Necessity of accelerating our
naval armaments—The building of the fleet—The institution of
the air-fleet—Preliminary measures for a war on commerce—
Mobilization—General points of view with regard to preparations
for the naval war—Lost opportunities in the past