The Battle of Tannenberg

Battle of Tannenberg

The Battle of Tannenberg was a war engagement between the Large Russian Empire and the German Empire in the beginning of World War I. The battle was between the first and second armies of Russia and the German eighth army. I led the eighth army through the tough battle with the Russians. We were fighting from August 23 to August 30, 1914. One result of the battle was that the second Russian army was completely destroyed by my troops. A series of other conflicts also destroyed the first Russian army as well. The battle actually took place close to Allenstein. By the time the battle ended on August 30, Samsonov’s second army was completely obliterated by the eighth army. 92,000 Russian troops were prisoners of war and another 78,000 soldiers were either killed or wounded in the battle. German casualties were not nearly severe as the Russians. The Germans only suffered fewer than 20,000 casualties and captured of 500 guns. With these guns, we were able to arm more incoming soldiers from our motherland. Samsonov was embarrassed by his loss in the battle and ended up committing suicide. He was not able to tell Tsar Nicholas II about the loss of the Battle of Tanneberg. Ludendorff and I returned to Germany where the citizens gave us great acclaim for our war victories. The Schlieffen Plan was used to create rapid mobilization of the German army against the Allied nations. World War I had only begun, but I had great assurance that our German nation was going to succeed.