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Alfred von Schlieffen Quotes

1833–1913 Germany

Graf Alfred von Schlieffen (28 February 1833 – 4 January 1913) was a German and Prussian officer and strategist, eventually reaching the rank of field marshal. He served as chief of the Imperial German General Staff from 1891 to 1906.

Germany
Military leaders

Random Alfred von Schlieffen quote

7 quotes

Flank attack is the essence of the whole history of warfare.

A man is born, and not made, a strategist.

When you march into France, let the last man on the right brush the Channel with his sleeve.

It must come to a fight. Only make the right wing strong.

The principles of strategy remain unchanged. The enemy's front is not the objective. The essential thing is to crush the enemy’s flanks...and complete the extermination by attack upon his rear.

To win, we must endeavour to be the stronger of the two at the point of impact. Our only hope of this lies in making our own choice of operations, not in waiting passively for whatever the enemy chooses for us.

A victory on the battlefield is of little account if it has not resulted either in breakthrough or encirclement. Though pushed back the enemy will appear again on different ground to renew the resistance he momentarily gave up. The campaign will go on.

Attribution

Quotes and notes from Wikiquote: Alfred von Schlieffen (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.