Changes

==Background==

==Background==

Following the outbreak of war in early August 1914, the German high command, in accordance with the [[Schlieffen Plan]], shifted the vast majority of its troops to the Western Front for a preemptive attack against [[France]]. The plan reasoned that Russia, though it had a much larger military, would take considerable time to fully mobilize on account of its great size and primitive infrastructure; therefore the Germans could leave a minimal number of troops on their eastern frontier while achieving a quick victory against the Western Allies, after which the entirety of their forces could be thrown against the Russians. At the outset, then, the border with Russia was defended by a single army stationed in [[East Prussia]], the Eighth, commanded by General Maximilian von Prittwitz und Gaffron. Deployed east of the Vistula River, it had a strength of about 173,000 men.

Following the outbreak of war in early August 1914, the German high command, in accordance with the [[Schlieffen Plan]], shifted the vast majority of its troops to the Western Front for a preemptive attack against [[France]]. The plan reasoned that Russia, though it had a much larger military, would take considerable time to fully mobilize on account of its great size and primitive infrastructure; therefore the Germans could leave a minimal number of troops on their eastern frontier while achieving a quick victory against the Western Allies, after which the entirety of their forces could be thrown against the Russians. At the outset, then, the border with Russia was defended by a single army stationed in [[East Prussia]], the Eighth, commanded by General Maximilian von Prittwitz und Gaffron. Deployed east of the [[Vistula|Vistula River]], it had a strength of about 173,000 men.

However, the Russian high command, in order to uphold its alliance with the French, determined to compensate for its weaknesses by mobilizing its available armies at once and sending them forward, while leaving the rest to arm and assemble later. These were the First Army under General Pavel Karlovitch Rennenkampf, stationed in [[Lithuania]] and northeastern [[Poland]], and the Second Army under General Alexander Vasilevich Samsonov, massed further south around [[Warsaw]]. These two armies, with a combined strength of around 450,000 men, were directed to advance west and north respectively upon East Prussia, converging around the city of Allenstein (modern Olsztyn, Poland). While Rennenkampf marched through the Insterburg Gap between Königsberg and the Masurian Lakes to engage Prittwitz's front, Samsonov would bypass the Lakes from the south to turn the Germans' right flank.  

However, the Russian high command, in order to uphold its alliance with the French, determined to compensate for its weaknesses by mobilizing its available armies at once and sending them forward, while leaving the rest to arm and assemble later. These were the First Army under General Pavel Karlovitch Rennenkampf, stationed in [[Lithuania]] and northeastern [[Poland]], and the Second Army under General Alexander Vasilevich Samsonov, massed further south around [[Warsaw]]. These two armies, with a combined strength of around 450,000 men, were directed to advance west and north respectively upon East Prussia, converging around the city of Allenstein (modern Olsztyn, Poland). While Rennenkampf marched through the Insterburg Gap between Königsberg and the Masurian Lakes to engage Prittwitz's front, Samsonov would bypass the Lakes from the south to turn the Germans' right flank.