Special Study: The German Great General Staff
The German invasion of Belgium was one of the great strategic mistakes of the war.
A mistake that German civilians would rue in 1919 as they starved under the British blockade.
You mention that the general staff did not coordinate with the foreign office.
True.
But I don't think that it would have made a difference if they had coordinated.
Germans are naturally arrogant when they think that they are winning ("The Hun is either at your feet or at your throat." - Churchill).
That arrogance leads them to do things that thinking people would never consider. The Zimmermann telegram is a case in point.
(For a modern example, see German foreign minister Heiko Maas and his toadies sneering at Trump at the UN.)
German diplomacy is often what Thucydides described. The problem is that the Germans often misjudge their strength.
The German invasion of Belgium was one of the great strategic mistakes of the war.
A mistake that German civilians would rue in 1919 as they starved under the British blockade.
You mention that the general staff did not coordinate with the foreign office.
True.
But I don't think that it would have made a difference if they had coordinated.
Germans are naturally arrogant when they think that they are winning ("The Hun is either at your feet or at your throat." - Churchill).
That arrogance leads them to do things that thinking people would never consider. The Zimmermann telegram is a case in point.
(For a modern example, see German foreign minister Heiko Maas and his toadies sneering at Trump at the UN.)
German diplomacy is often what Thucydides described. The problem is that the Germans often misjudge their strength.