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how the schlieffen plan was supposed to work
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how the schlieffen plan was supposed to work
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World War 1: A Tragedy of Miscalculation To some extent, the outbreak of the First World War was a tragedy of miscalculation. Austria declared war on Serbia, in the hope that it would only be a short and local war. Germany had miscalculated the risk of a two-front war. Germany’s war plan – the Schlieffen Plan, inevitably involved France, Russia, Belgium and Britain. In “The war to end all wars”, Germany also did not take into calculation the ‘Domino Effect’ of the alliances between France, Russia and Britain. Because Germany had made such a bitter enemy of France, it decided to protect itself by making alliances with other countries in Europe. Germany formed an alliance with Austria-Hungary and Italy known as the Triple Alliance. To the keep the ‘Balance of Power’ in Europe, France allied itself with Great Britain and Russia; known as the Triple Entente. Both allies swore to help their allies if their countries were attacked. When a Serbian Nationalist assassinated the Archduke of Austria-Hungary, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia. Germany remembered their treaty with Austria-Hungary, declared war on Russia. They also declared war on France and invaded Belgium using the Schlieffen Plan. Afterwards Britain declared war on Germany and Austria-Hungary because of their alliance with Belgium, France and Russia. Germany’s military reliance on the Schlieffen Plan working was a serious miscalculation. The Schlieffen Plan was a German war plan drawn up before 1914. Its essence was to avoid a two-front war for Germany, by first swiftly conquering France, the western front, through Belgium and then concentrating on the eastern front against Russia. ‘The invasion of Belgium was considered an essential element of the German war ... ... middle of paper ... ...to expand into the Balkans itself and was supported by Germany. It was the creation of conflicts and miscalculations by the movements in the Balkans that led to World War1. ‘Veni, vidi, vici’ (I come, I saw, I conquered) – Julius Caesar, Roman Emperor (100BC-44BC) No power had been able to perceive the extent of damages brought by a general war, which lasted fifty-one months. They had believed the Third Balkan War would be a short war like the First and Second Balkan Wars. This serious misconception brought harm to all European powers. On the other hand, World War 1 was made inevitable by the long-term antagonism between the powers, as a result of rival nationalist movements, secret alliances, militarism and empirical dashes. ‘I think, that in our eyes, it’s obvious that the First World War changed the world’ – Stephane Audoin-Rouzeau, University of Picardie.
The Entente Cordial was a group of agreements signed by France and the United Kingdom which began the alliance against Germany. The signing of the Entente Cordiale turned the economy of Germany into one designed for war.
In conclusion, Militarism, Imperialism, Nationalism, Alliances, and Assassinations all contributed to cause the World War 1 in 1914. World War 1 was four long and terrible years, which took millions of people lives. In addition, many soldiers died while fighting along the Western and Eastern Fronts. One month after Archduke Franz was assassinated by Gavrilo Princip, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia in 1914. The World War 1 wouldn’t had happened with the three main and most important cause which are, militarism, imperialism, and
So when asking the question what the causes of World War One are its important to remember that the rivalries between European states were intensified by the imperialism of the 19th century. Which lead to tension which became fear of invasion that in turn resulted in an intricate system of alliances “ensured what might have been an isolated crisis in the Balkans became a general war”. Whilst the effects of imperialism may not be the single cause of the war, it was undoubtedly a contributing
Fischer believes that the First World War was not a preventative war, but that it was planed and launched by Germany aggressively in order to dominate whole Europe. Furthermore Fischer sees Bethmann Hollweg in the role of the main constructor of the German policy during the July Crisis in 1914, and also as a central figure in the development of Germany’s expansionist goals once the war started.
But what would ultimately lead to the outbreak of the first world war was Germany’s ever-increasing belief in militarism. The German military power had continued to grow as their industrial sector did the same; such power was seen as a symbol of national pride by the government. Other nations had built up their arms stockpiles as well, though they did not glorify it nearly as much as the Germans did. Nevertheless, the availability of arms, when combined with other political and economic factors, meant that a full-scale conflict was all but unavoidable.
This obviously turned out to be a bad plan as all the countries were led directly into war with larger military forces than ever. With military efforts, as shown in Document C, the number of money spent on military efforts increased at an exponential rate before the war, and was very high when the war started. It is arguable that this increase in spending assisted in causing the war itself, as each country was eager to test its newfound strength. In one speech by Bernhard von Bülow, he stated that, “the German people will be a hammer or an anvil” (Document D) He truly believes that this is a kill or be killed situation, and that if they have to choose to be the oppressors to keep from being the oppressed, they would do that. Germany is a good example of what many countries thought at the time, and the fear they had if their military could not protect them. The fear brought on by war is one that was known to most of the countries at the time, and it manifested itself in the form of
Alliances formed by the countries helped lead to this world war. If Germany didn’t defend Austria-Hungary, Russia defend Serbia, and France and the United Kingdom aid Russia, this war wouldn’t have been so large. However due to the alliances formed by these countries, they were bound to aid one another. This also leads to members of opposing alliances blaming one another. (doc 4) This naturally left German blaming Russia for aiding Serbia, Austria blaming Serbia for the assassination, and England and France to blame Germany. Later Belgium and the United States would join the entente (to be later called allies) also blaming Germany. Furthermo...
The alliance system resulted in Europe splitting into two armed camps. According to the map, the Triple Alliance consisted of Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy. The Triple Entente consisted of Great Britain, France, and Russia (Document 2). Since the major powers of Europe had agreed to cooperate with one other, if a clash were to occur it would most likely turn into a worldwide war. As shown in Document 7, Germany’s rise in power threatened France and England who then formed a defensive alliance. Due to the alliance system, each country had a different view as to who started the war. When Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia, it brought Russia and France into conflict against Germany and Austria-Hungary.
However, in addition to the struggle over Bosnia, there were several underlying causes of World War I sweeping across Europe on the eve of World War I which contributed to the start of the war. These conflicts had plagued Europe for years and made a large-scale European war unavoidable. Although the direct cause of World War I was the assassination of Archduke Francis Ferdinand, long term causes such as the political instability of Europe, rivalries and alliances between countries, and the conflict between large empires and nationalism brought Europe into a situation in which a large-scale war was inevitable. By 1914, these factors made the major European powers on the verge of war and a small spark in the “tinderbox of Europe” was all that was necessary to cause World War I.
Alliances between European nations can also be considered an underlying cause of World War I. As a result of the Triple Alliance consisting of Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy, the Triple Entente (understanding) was formed between France, Britain, and Russia. Although France and Britain were natural enemies, their fear of Germany united them together with Russia. These alliances set the final stage for the beginning of World War I. Each country in each alliance would help each other during warfare. For example, if Germany attacked France, Britain and Russia would help France, and Italy and Austria would help Germany, dragging Europe into a state of chaos and violence.
Although Germany had perhaps not been planning for this conflict to materialize in the exact manner that it had, they did have a “contingency” plan. That plan was known as the Schlieffen Plan. The Schlieffen Plan consisted of war plans for the invasions of all the European nations. The German Military leader Moltke determined that the war had to be fought and won on the western front in order to defeat the Russians (Germany in World War One, Holburn) . Germany then declared war on France on August 3rd , 1914, and invaded Belgium the following day. Belgium tried to resist the oncoming Germans, but fell in three days.
There were several long-term events that led to the outbreak of World War One. The most prominent factors include: nationalism, militarism, imperialism, the Balkan and Morocco crises, and the alliance system. Ironically, these things were either started in response to, or upheld because of, one of the other factors. The alliance system was one of the last factors to emerge before the war. Consequentially, the contributions of this system to the beginning of the Great War have to be considered. Although the alliance system was a main cause of the First World War, it arose because of several other factors, and did not cause the war single handedly.
The first global world war that led to the death of millions of people and the use of excessive chemical weapons, tanks, and machine guns that the world has ever witnessed is accused by Germany’s violent actions and their extreme ideologies, but some others argue Germany was not the sole cause of the war. In an attempt to dominate the world, Germany enforced their extreme ideologies to the rest of Europe. Many scholars believe that Germany fueled World War 1 because Germany believed that they should conquer the weak. Some people believe that Germany was the sole cause of World War because their extreme ideologies led them to declare war on other countries. Although Germany deliberately supported Austria to go to war with Serbia, supported the idea of Nationalism, and signed secret treaties, Russia also supported Serbia and signed secret treaties. Thus, Germany wasn’t the sole motive of World War 1.
details the causes of the first World war and describes the first month of the war. The book clearly illustrates how a local war became an entire European struggle by a call to war against Russia. Soon after the war became a world issue.
After a Serbian was arrested for the assassination Austria-Hungary pulled out of the peace talks and declared war on Serbia. Germany who was allied with Austria-Hungary also declared war on Serbia. Russia who was allied with Serbia had to declare war on Germany and Austria-Hungary. When Germany invaded France and Belgium, Great Britain declared war on Germany. World War 1 had begun. As the German Chancellor, Bethmann-Hollweg said, “Once the dice are cast nothing can stop them.” Indeed once the dice were cast on World War 1 nothing stopped them until 22 million people had died.