over, every tactical success could easily develop into enormous strategic results.
It appears that our military command intended to commence the attack in the Russian theatre of war, but they failed to enforce this plan with the Germans. It appears, moreover, that our military command at the beginning of the war was of the opinion that the Germans would direct greater forces towards the Eastern theatre of war than was actually the case. It was a serious disadvantage for us that this calculation turned out to be erroneous, and that the Austro-Hungarian Army, which was relatively weak compared with the army of Russia, had from the beginning to develop an attack of such a size as she should only have done if her army had been equivalent to that of Russia. This attack, moreover, was made in accordance with old principles of tactics and our soldiers did not dig trenches. Human life was not spared then as it was later. Consequently, we lost material and were pressed back at the same time. The Germans were forced to take more troops from the Western front and transport them to the Eastern front, the consequence of which was the failure of the Battle of the Marne and the German troops did not arrive in time in Galicia.
While the battle was still raging in Galicia which had been inaugurated in unfavourable circumstances, and while our army was suffering heavy losses which could never be replaced, we used excessive powers against the Serbs in opposition to the advice of the military command. In the Serbian theatre of war we
