Was the "starve them out" strategy ever really feasible?

The plan was sound in that Moltke hoped for a decisive battle in the Ardennes. The pursuit phase is where the logistics got shakey. We've discussed it before - Moltke's mistake was gambling on the Marne, that's when he went from in control of the situation to not in control of the situation. He should have been content to take Amiens and dig in.



Elements of the British cabinet were a bit like kids just after being told the family was moving to another state. The family is moving, but the process of acceptance takes a while.


I must admit that after watching "The Darkest Hour", I realized how the 'War Cabinet' seemed more of a threat to Churchill than Hitler was. Even Roosevelt abandoned him and the British.
 

BooNZ

Banned
You're forgetting Edward VII. He may not openly have wanted war, but he did his best to put Britain in the position to.
Maybe because he died in 1910?
The plan was sound in that Moltke hoped for a decisive battle in the Ardennes. The pursuit phase is where the logistics got shakey. We've discussed it before - Moltke's mistake was gambling on the Marne, that's when he went from in control of the situation to not in control of the situation. He should have been content to take Amiens and dig in.
The plan was not sound. Moltke's biggest mistake was in 1905 going against his natural instincts and accepting the position as head of the German Army - he was out of his depth.
Elements of the British cabinet were a bit like kids just after being told the family was moving to another state. The family is moving, but the process of acceptance takes a while.
"Elements" included 90% of your metaphorical family and the metaphor only works if it features a German Bulldozer driving through the neighbour's outhouse...
I must admit that after watching "The Darkest Hour", I realized how the 'War Cabinet' seemed more of a threat to Churchill than Hitler was. Even Roosevelt abandoned him and the British.
Wrong war?
 
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BooNZ

Banned
That 90% are the children of the family whose feelings must be soothed but who don't dictate to the parents.
Your metaphorical parents were limited to Churchil (younger member of the British Cabinet and a party hopping hawk who was secretly liasing with the Conservatives in case he did not get his way) and Grey (politically isolated and threatening to quit if his clandestine liasions with France were dismissed/ignored by Cabinet). Prima facie it was the hawks who were seeking to dictate without the requisite authority.

Comparing the British Cabinet to a family is a poor metaphor, but the leading figures (or parents) of the Liberal Party were Asquith (firmly neutral party leader, but a friend of Grey and had declared his assumption the Germans would be invading Belgium in late July 1914) and Lloyd George (senior politician and de facto leader of two groups of several Cabinet ministers who remained firmly opposed to British intervention).
 
Maybe because he died in 1910?

PSL said:
I must admit that after watching "The Darkest Hour", I realized how the 'War Cabinet' seemed more of a threat to Churchill than Hitler was. Even Roosevelt abandoned him and the British.
Click to expand...

Wrong war?

Sorry!
.....this thread seems to bounce between wars regularly
 
That 90% are the children of the family whose feelings must be soothed but who don't dictate to the parents.

Right, because the PM is the dad and the king is the m...well, you get the idea. The parents say the family is moving, so either the kids move or the parents will move anyways and the kids can stay in the wilderness.
 
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