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Mobilization was part of it, a big part was losing the initiative and being forced on the defensive thanks in part to the timidity of their commanders except when it was too late and they tried some Hail Mary moves. That was the basis of Foch's offensive doctrine that officially took over by...

They did and lost as a result, which is why they shifted to an offensive doctrine. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franco-Prussian_War#Prussian_Army_advance German offensives repeatedly defeated the French offensively, which forced them further back on the defensive and ultimately forced the...

They fought defensively in 1870 as well, how did that turn out? Attacking isn't inherently costly, it is a matter of how you do it. The French did it in style with their bright red pants and with elan and bayonets without waiting for artillery support against machine guns. Not the best way to...

Don't forget the time it takes to set up and range in. During a mobile battle that adds a pretty substantial delay.

When they were advancing horse drawn artillery generally couldn't keep up. There is a reason that air support and to some extent self propelled artillery became so important late in WW1 and of course in WW2.

So? Artillery played less of a role than commonly thought in 1914 for a variety of reasons. Ironically, since German war planning anticipated moving through Belgium as early as 1905, though not to the extent Schlieffen considered AFAIK, they could very well penetrate through the Ardennes to...

Remind me how well that rapid fire artillery helped France in 1914? Until 1916 artillery caused only as many casualties as small arms: https://encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net/article/war_losses_germany That's for the whole war, small arms casualties were much higher in 1914-15 than from 1916...

Correct, but that is unlikely given the lower levels of tension and appearance that Germany was strong enough not to worry even without Italy at the time. I don't think they realized that Russia would recover so quickly. France too, realizing the weakness of Russia, was willing to back down...

Given the historic evolution of Italian foreign policy after the Triple Alliance was signed Italy would fall into France's orbit because they really coveted Austrian territory; colonial territory was of course desirable, but the desired Austrian territory was much more valuable and arguably...