The Great German General Staff and all similar organizations shall be dissolved and may not be reconstituted in any form. Treaty of Versailles, Article 160.
When Napoleon Bonaparte planned a move in the midst of a campaign, he conferred with overworked generals who were simultaneously commanding troops in the field. First to realize that the complexity of modern warfare rendered a good commander at the front a poor adviser at headquarters was Napoleon's old adversary, Prussian General Gerhard Johann David von Scharnhorst. To him goes historic credit for establishing the first general staff and setting up a War Academy to train...
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