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Acknowledgments Writing a book is a peculiar sort of endeavor. Putting words to paper is usu- ally done in solitude collecting the research that underpins the work involves a great many people, as does the creation of the book itself. First, many thanks to Padraic (Pat) Carlin and the staff at ABC-CLIO. They have always been most supportive of the project and are excellent to work with. This is my third book with them on the subject of World War I, and you work with a publisher repeatedly only when the process is as easy as they can make it. Many thanks to my old friend Jack Tunstall, for generously providing doc- uments from his extensive work in the Austrian archives in Vienna. Bruce Gudmundsson also provided material from his impressive collection of material on the army of the Kaiserreich. The staff at the Library of the Marine Corps at Quantico, Virginia, was most helpful in tracking down and obtain- ing works via interlibrary loan. The Marine Corps University Foundation provided generous financial support to facilitate several research trips to Germany. Finally, thanks go to the director of the Marine Corps Command and Staff College, Colonel William McCollough, USMC, as well as the dean of academ- ics, Dr. Doug McKenna, and his successor, Dr. Jonathan Phillips, for their support. Completing a manuscript and publishing it is a time-consuming activity, and the gentlemen mentioned above were always willing to allow me the flexibility in managing my time to bring the project to a successful con- clusion, while also fulfilling my own obligations to the Command and Staff College. There are also a great many people to thank on the other side of the pond. The staff at the Zentrum für Militärgeschichte und Sozialwissenschaften der Bundeswehr (ZMSB) library at Potsdam were most helpful, especially in regard to their collection of German regimental histories, always a critical source for anyone writing on World War I. Dr. Martina Haggenmüller of the Bavarian Military Archives was very helpful in regard to obtaining material