If they were only fighting France they might try it.
But now they've got to fight France and Russia too. And the only
chance they have is to beat France even more quickly than they did in
1870. I happen to know that their plans require them to capture Paris
within six weeks."
"Six weeks! Do you think they can do it?"
"No! Not if we do our part! And if they don't, they're likely to fail
altogether. Because then Russia will have had time to mobilize, and
more than half of the German army will have to help the Austrians to
hold back the Russians from Vienna and Berlin. What they're counting
on, you see, is smashing France, so that they can hold only a few corps
back on this side, and throw all the rest of their army against Russia.
Then they'd have a chance--more than a chance."
"But still I don't understand about Liege yet, and why it's so
important," said Arthur.
"I'm coming to that. Now, to get at the French, they've got to go
through Belgium. Well, they've got to supply their armies. They've
got to send guns, and ammunition, and food from Germany. To do that
they have to keep their line of communication open. Liege is right on
one of their important lines of communication--the one that really
starts at Aix-la-Chapelle, just across the border. Liege, if it wasn't
reduced, or at least 'masked'--that means surrounded--would threaten
these communications all the time.
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