Jamesian Philosophy Refreshed

HUNDRED DAYS (2014) by Nick Lloyd. The book is a discussion of the final campaign of the first world war, the months that brought a surprisingly quick end to the mud-drenched trench warfare standstill that had defined the western front for years. There are a lot of reasons why the war ended when it did. One reason: German troops were famished. The blockade was effective -- civilians of course were suffering most but Germany had lost the ability even to keep its troops decently fed. Another reason -- the leadership at the top demanded rigidity in military tactics and strategy even when it was getting sound advice that flexibility was the urgent necessity of the day. And that is the gist of the quote I want to share. Here it is. In the summer of 1918, "Crown Prince Wilhelm reported to [high command] that the front should be immediately withdrawn to the so-called Antwerp-Meuse position, which lay far behind the Hindenburg Line. This would give ... troops a breathing space, ...

Erich Ludendorff was an important German military figure throughout the first world war. He was a major general when it began, and was immediately made Deputy Chief of Staff to the German Second Army under General Karl von Bulow. In August 1916 he was promoted to Quartermaster General.      I'm boring you with this because I've found a nice brief description of Ludendorff's pre-war life in Max Hastings' new book, CATASTROPHE 1914.  "A man of chilly rationality though highly nervous temperament, in 1904 he indulged the sole romantic gesture of his life by falling in love with a married mother of four children, Frau Margarethe Pernet. They met in the street in a rainstorm, when he gallantly offered her the shelter of his umbrella. She divorced her husband, married Ludendorff, and the two achieved a notably successful partnership."