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==The Battle and its impact on the war==

The Battle of Tannenberg allowed the Germans to sweep the Russians out of East Prussia. However, Ludendorff and Von Hindenburg did not have enough men to go on the offensive. However, the Russian army was never again to threaten German territory. Tannenberg allowed the Germans to concentrate their forces in the west <ref> Hastings, p. 113</ref>. Once East Prussian was secure the German High Command was able to concentrate all its efforts on the western front<ref> Strachan, p. 114</ref>. Ludendorff and Von Hindenburg used the victory to establish their reputation in Germany, they are widely seen as the saviors of the nation. Their victory and later successes allowed them to eventually to become the commanders of the German Army and the de-facto military dictators of Germany by 1918. On the face of it, the Battle of Tannenberg was a great victory. However, this German victory may have come at a cost. Not long after the great victory at Tannenberg and as the Germans were sweeping the Russians from all over East Prussia, they suffered a defeat in the west. At the Battle of the Marne, the French and British defeated the Germans and halted their advance on Paris<ref> Harrison, p. 29</ref>. The troops that are diverted by Von Moltke to the east could have titled the balance in the west and allowed the Germans to capture Paris and end the war. As a result, many historians have questioned if the Battle was such a great victory for the Germans <ref> Strachan, p. 118</ref>.

The battle was a strategic victory for the Germans in the east. This was despite the fact that they were outnumbered. One of the main reasons for the victory was the undoubted superiority of the German guns and especially their heavy artillery. Ludendorff and Von Hindenburg had access to cannons made by Krupp’s and Skoda and they were able to fire shells at a faster rate than the Russians</ref> Harrison, p. 29</ref>. These guns could also fire heavier shells. The Germans were able to obliterate entire units and caused near panic in the ranks of the Russians. Another factor for the success of the German was the leadership of Von Hindenburg and Ludendorff. They retrieved a near disastrous situation and they developed an effective strategy that exploited their strengths and the weaknesses of the Russians, especially their relative lack of mobility. They German generals adopted a classic military tactic first used by Hannibal, that of weakening the centre and strengthen the flanks to encircle the enemy <ref> Strachan, p. 120</ref>. By contrast, the Russians are poorly lead and there was a great deal of confusion in the command structure. The Russian at the battle were poorly supplied as their supply lines came under strain and could not supply the army with the supplies that it needed. This hampered their ability to fight the Germans at the battle of Tannenberg <Hastings, p. 118</ref>. Another factor in the German victory was the Russian decision to split their forces. It is usually deemed inadvisable to split an army at any time, but especially in enemy territory. The Russians split their forces when they should have concentrated their forces either north or south of the Masurian Lake. Then there was the role of intelligence in the battle. The Russians had little or no intelligence on the German army and its movements. Ludendorff and Von Hindenburg knew exactly what the Russians were doing and their aims <ref> Von Hindenburg, p. 3</ref>. This made it easy for the German command to devise a plan to trap the Russian 2nd army.