This paper has no intention to discuss complex military theories or analyze the composition of military thoughts. I just hope to find the spirit of German football through the discussion of German military tradition, so as to better understand and appreciate German football. The shortcomings are welcome to be supplemented and corrected.
Some theoretical and historical discussions in this article may have nothing to do with football for the time being, but they are all foreshadowing statements. I hope you will be patient. thank you
In order to facilitate reading and teaching, a long work is divided into several parts according to the times, each part is independent, and some parts run through the whole idea, so as to be read and summarized separately.
The first part: clausewitz's defense view.
Clausewitz believes that attack and defense are two basic forms of war. They are interrelated and transformed. The whole is defensive, and some may be offensive. Offense includes defensive factors, and defense also includes offensive factors. Attack can be transformed into defense, and defense can also be transformed into attack. "Defense is by no means a simple shield, but a shield composed of clever strikes!" This is clausewitz's famous saying about the relationship between attack and defense, and it is also the essence of active defense. Generally speaking, the defensive side is at a relative disadvantage in strength. In order to fight effectively and achieve the ultimate goal-defeating the enemy (exactly the same as the goal of football match), the combat mode adopted is the above-mentioned active defense. And this embodies the simplest truth on the battlefield, that is, to survive first, we must first make ourselves invincible.
Clausewitz's On War is regarded as a classic of modern western military theory, which has played an important role in the formation and development of modern western military thought. Undoubtedly, it is of decisive significance to the formation of German military concept in the future.
Looking at German football from clausewitz's defensive point of view, German football has always been called ugly football by the media, lacking artistry and appreciation. However, the brilliant historical record of German football in Europe and even the world is really staggering, so "practical football" is used to describe Germany. This just shows the rational side of German football. I don't pursue gorgeous scenes or show off fancy skills. I only strive for success and victory! In the football circle of "the winner is king and the loser is kou", we must first make ourselves unbeaten. The purpose of war is to destroy the enemy, and the purpose of playing football is to win the championship.
Clausewitz particularly emphasized spiritual elements, namely spiritual strength and its role in military operations. He believes that spiritual factors occupy the first place, affecting all aspects of the war and running through the war. "The cause and effect of matter is only the handle, and the cause and effect of spirit is the precious metal and the really sharp blade." From this, it is not difficult to understand why German players have super will and tough endurance. Beckenbauer is not proud of it. "The will and spirit of the German team are our greatest wealth ..."
The second part: Tirpitz's shipbuilding theory and German shipbuilding theory.
From June 65438 to June 0897, Earl Alfred von Tilpitz, Minister of Naval Development of the German Empire, was a heroic figure in the German navy. He led the German navy to challenge the myth that the sun never sets in the empire. In order to compete with the powerful Royal British Navy in the future war, he made a brand-new warship slide off the slipway in a short time with tireless work spirit and courage, thus making the German Navy the second largest in the world. Compared with the British super battleship, the German ship has a certain gap in speed and main gun caliber, but the remarkable feature of the German ship is that it pays attention to defense and prefers to sacrifice speed and gun caliber. In addition, according to Tirpitz's suggestion, all German-built ships have narrow cabins and a large number of watertight doors, and all partitions below the waterline do not open the contact doors to prevent the fragile contact doors from being crushed after the water enters the area. As far as possible, the coal storage cabin of the German ship is designed on both sides of the hull for protection. It can be seen that the design goal of the German ship is to pursue the floating viability of the ship in battle.
Refer to the stormy waves in the North Sea-Battle of jutland and century archives.
Jutland naval battle tested the naval construction theories of Germany and Tirpitz. Germans are proud that this naval battle has proved the correctness of German Earl Tirpitz's shipbuilding theory. In terms of fire protection design, German ships adopted the vertical design of internal passages. Even if the shell explodes directly in the turret, the fire will not go down to the ammunition depot under the engine room and will not cause further damage.
Also, the watertight structure design of German ships is quite perfect. When the German "Cedritz" dragged 24 big crevasses and entered the dock with a hull filled with 5,308 tons of seawater, people strongly felt that only warships that pay attention to survivability can survive in the sea battle.
Similarly, in football, only the team that fights to the end (especially the elimination system such as champion) can win the championship (this truth is obvious, but not every team can realize it). The World Cup entered the finals seven times, winning three championships and four Asia; The European Cup reached the finals five times, won three times and won two Asian Games. Germany has done the best in this respect. The most important thing is existence. Only existence is reasonable.
(As for Brazil's seven finals in the same World Cup, the author thinks that it is largely related to the low level of early football and the deliberate arrangement of FIFA in the last three World Cups-of course, we must also admit the outstanding achievements made by 1994 Pereira and Scolari in paying attention to defense in 2002. )
The third part: ludendorff's total war and "effective force theory"
Ludendorff's masterpiece is the victory of Mazu Lake Battle (also known as Tannengbao Battle) through effective defense and active attack. Later, under the careful arrangement of ludendorff, the German army launched an all-round attack from the Baltic Sea to Carpathian Mountain in A.D. 19 15. The Germans chose the weak point of the Russian army. Through the surprise attack, the Russian army lost cities and land, and the number of casualties and prisoners was as high as1700,000, which greatly improved the situation on the eastern front of Germany.
Ludendorff believes that preserving the living strength to the maximum is the decisive factor to win the war. According to this tactic, the Germans abandoned all positions with no military value and withdrew their troops, thus effectively preserving their effective strength and forming a powerful fist, waiting for the counterattack.
In Total War, ludendorff believed that the basis of total war is the spiritual unity of the nation, and it is necessary to fully arouse the national spirit in the battle, so as to give full and active support for persisting in the battle.
The glory of German football is based on extremely high defensive efficiency and powerful attack, which coincides with ludendorff's ideas and military concepts. The national spirit mentioned by ludendorff can be said to be vividly reflected in German teams. I won't go into details here.
Part IV: Two German defense experts in the late World War II-Marshal Mo Deer and Marshal Kallner.
At the beginning of World War II, the Germans attacked, attacked and attacked again because of the use of "Blitzkrieg" and had a temporary advantage. With the progress of the war, the strength contrast between German and allied forces changed, and the German situation turned to strategic defense. Under harsh conditions, the defensive nature and talent possessed by German soldiers have been fully demonstrated. Although it did not have the effect of reversing Gankun in the whole war, the price paid by the allies was amazing.
Marshal Mo Deer and Marshal Kallner were two German defense experts in the late World War II.
194 1, Mo Deer was ordered at the critical moment, and relieved the threat that the exhausted Ninth Army was surrounded by Soviet troops in Moscow, and was hailed as "the figure who turned the corner".
1943, he even dared to submit a report to Hitler, pointing out the major mistakes in the latter's command, and personally came to the * * high command to express his opinions. Hitler actually adopted his opinion and even called it "the savior of the Eastern Front".
1944 1 month, Soviet troops broke into German positions in the south and southwest of Leningrad, and the Germans faced a crisis in Leningrad, but Mo Deer consolidated the German defense line in a short time, rescued the besieged troops and repelled the Soviet troops who went deep behind the positions.
In June, the Soviet army in the central area broke through the German position, annihilated two German army groups, and broke into the westernmost side of the German position. Mo Deer was ordered to come to this area. In the case of many difficulties and heavy casualties, he prevented the troops from retreating, concentrated the remnants to establish a new line of defense, and annihilated the Soviet 3 rd Armored Army that broke into the depth of the German position.
Kallner, known as "fearless crisis" in World War II, was brave and tenacious, and the troops he commanded were also disciplined. He was Hitler's mainstay. 1In July, 944, he served as Commander-in-Chief of Kurlan Army. In the battle, he was under strong pressure from the superior forces of the Soviet Union: he wanted to fight with the Soviet Union 100 well-equipped Manchu division and 22 exhausted and defeated German divisions; With one German tank against ten Soviet tanks, the disparity between artillery and ammunition is even greater. Kallner did not rashly assess the situation, but resolutely decided to withdraw all its troops, preserving its effective strength and combat strength. At the third Kursk Congress from the end of 1944 to the beginning of the following year, Kallner repelled the Soviet attack with excellent command and was awarded the Oak Leaf Diamond Medal.
1945, all fronts of the German army collapsed. Every time after careful deployment, Kallner did not hesitate to command the retreat. His aim is to preserve the effective strength for Germany as much as possible. His aim is still to save German soldiers and civilians from falling into the hands of the Soviet Union.
(All the above refer to Marshal Hitler. )
Germany's national defense expertise seems to be innate. At the end of World War II, with the collapse of the whole line, Mo Deer, Kallner and many other generals and soldiers gave full play to the German defense expertise and minimized the losses caused by various unfavorable factors. Although the war destroyed almost all the land buildings in Germany, the builders-the people-were protected and survived as much as possible, leaving the most precious wealth for the reconstruction and rise of Germany after the war.
The deeds of the above two marshals have almost nothing to do with football. Indeed, it is impossible for anyone to drag things that are not directly related through the meeting, and the author has no intention of doing so. By enumerating the excellent defensive achievements of the two marshals and the German soldiers under their leadership, I just hope that readers can understand that defense should be relatively good for Germans, and even under very bad conditions, Germans who play defense will perform extremely well.
Part V: A small tidbit in the first Gulf War.
While the United States was actively preparing for the war in Iraq, Bush sent an invitation to Cole, hoping that Germany could send an armored division equipped with Leopard II tanks to participate in the war. The German Parliament rejected this request by the Basic Law and invested tens of billions of dollars instead. Afterwards, the US military revealed that the purpose of inviting Leopard II to participate in the war was to obtain its excellent armored guard ability to defend the flank of the US military.
The U.S. military, which has the strongest armed forces in the world, attaches great importance to the armored defense capability of German tanks, which shows the German tradition of attaching importance to defense.