Teaching World War I in the 21st Century 1 | Page 17

communications between German Kaiser Wilhelm II and

in strategies, from Robert Nivelle’s costly attacks to

people who assumed positions of power during the war:

Douglas Haig, who argued in 1915 that soldiers could

Russian Tsar Nicholas II that started out as very cordial
and pleading messages between cousins and ended in

short, curt tones of warning. Just as intriguing were the

Prince Max of Baden, Emperor Karl of Austria, Alexander
Kerensky, and Vladimir Lenin were all politicians who
had a large impact on the conflict and its conclusion.

The political maneuvering toward the war’s end was

as consequential in its own way as the initial flurry of
political activity at the start of the war.

Some generals also offer a fascinating study. The

German High Command’s dynamics—from Erich von
Falkenhayn’s brutal plan to “bleed the French white”
to Paul von Hindenburg and Erich Ludendorff’s

final offensive—can make for an interesting study in

leadership and planning. Further, French generals varied

Henri Petain’s measured fighti