The Schlieffen Plan in The First World War
In 1894, France had made a treaty with Russia, meaning that if France
or Russia ever declared war or became under attack they would fight
for each other. When Germany declared war on France in 1914, they soon
realised they would have to fight a war on two fronts; Russia and
France.
The German Chief Of Staff, Count Alfred Von Schlieffen, designed the
Schlieffen Plan, thought up in 1905, to defeat France and their allies
Russia. The plan intended that1.5million of Germany’s men would win
the war in just six weeks. They aimed to invade France through Belgium,
en-circle Paris and therefore becoming behind the French army to the
lack of their knowledge, and attack France form the rear, making them
surrender. By doing this they would have captured Paris, thus being
the capital, making Germany in control of France. Unfortunately for
them they were not able to do this.
As this would be an extremely rapid victory, Germany would then be
able to concentrate on attacking Russia as by this time they would
have only just mobilised. This was to be if Russia mobilised in six
weeks.
Regrettably, this plan failed as Belgium refused to let the German
army through to attack France. This caused the Germans to lose time,
as they had to attack Belgium. When Germany refused to withdraw
through Belgium, Britain declared war on Germany on 4 august 1914 due
to the treaty signed in 1839, which was to protect Belgium as a
neutral country. To make the problems even more challenging Russia
mobilised sooner than expected, making valuable German troops being
moved to face Russia, consequently making Germany ...
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... no supplies could get through and the German females and children
began to starve. The soldiers became concerned for their families, and
lost moral to continue with the war, resulting in them becoming
weaker. Germany’s final attempt to win the war, ‘Operation Michael’
was destroyed when America entered the war in April 1917. The fresh
new soldiers and supplies made British stronger and Germany was
becoming considerably weak. Eventually, the British along with the
Americans pushed Germany back into her own country, but before this
could happen they asked for an armistice and it was signed on 11
November 1918. This peace treaty was signed at Versailles in January
1919: it told the Germans they had to return land, African colonies
were to be shared, they had to accept blame and to pay war reparations
of £6600 million.
Field Marshal Alfred von Schlieffen was a German field marshal who served as the Chief of the Imperial German General Staff from 1891 to 1906. He is known for the Schlieffen Plan, a strategic plan designed to defeat Russia and France, which involved fighting both fronts at the same time.
The Versailles Peace Treaty of 1918 was the end result of the brutal First World War. Europe was devastated, and the Allied forces were faced with the task of coming to terms with their former German enemy. It is well known that the French were determined to punish Germany; they sought revenge and made little attempt to hide their objective. At the Versailles Peace Conference the struggle between the French and Germans began a new path. The French demanded large reparations payments and several other drastic measures that would keep Germany from ever being capable of attacking them again. The agreement that was reached enacted several harsh measures against Germany. Aside from the huge reparations that they would be forced to pay, the Allied nations forced the Germans to completely demilitarize their military. Germany was also str...
The Treaty of Versailles is a cause of World War II because of the restrictions it placed on Germany as the alleged sole aggressor of the war. The war reparation totaled $98 billion, and under Clause 231 Germany was forced to take the entire load onto her ruined economy and attempt to repay the debt starting with an initial $5 billion payment. In terms of military, Germany was limited to a 100,000 man army, with her navy stripped to the level of a coast guard, she was allowed no heavy artillery, no weapons of mass destruction and the border with France became a demilitarized zone for 15 years following the signing of the treaty on June 28 1919. Germany also lost all her territories in Africa and became a mandate of the Allied Forces, those living in mandated zones could participate in “self-determination” after the Allies taught them how to be a democracy (...
In addition, having lost the war, the humiliated Germans were forced by the Allies to sign the Treaty of Versailles in 1919 that officially ended World War I. According to the harsh terms of the treaty, Germany had to hand over many of its richest industrial territories to the victors, and was made to pay reparations to the Allied countries it devastated during the war. Germany lost its pride, prestige, wealth, power, and the status of being one of Europe's greatest nations. (Resnick p. 15)
The Treaty of Versailles only partly helped Hitler become chancellor. On 28 June 1919, Germany signed the Treaty with the allies, losing 10% of her land. The German army was reduced to 100,000 men and Germany had to pay reparations of £6,600 million. Hitler blamed the Treaty for Germany's problems. When Germany failed to pay a reparation instalment in 1922, French and Belgian troops entered German soil and seized goods.
By December 1914 the First World War had reached a dilemma on the western front that neither the triple entente nor the triple alliance had expected. The war had reached a stalemate, a state where both sides are so evenly balanced that neither can breakthrough against the enemy. The advances in Technology played a big role in creating the stalemate through strong defensive weaponry such as Machine Guns and Artillery, this caused ‘trench warfare’ (BOOK 48). Trench war is when troops from both sides are protected from the enemy’s firepower through trenches. Many advances in technology also attempted to break the stalemate throughout the war with tanks, gas and aircraft, these however failed. Eventually the stalemate was broken through a combination of improved technology, new strategies and the blockading of the German ports.
In the spring of 1940 Europe was enveloped in war. The German military machine had already conquered Poland, Denmark, and Norway. However, not content with northern and eastern expansion, Adolf Hitler wanted to control the western countries in Europe. Hitler had long been obsessed with attacking and controlling France. After their defeat in World War I, the German people, government, and military were humiliated by the enormous post war sanctions leveraged against them from the Treaty of Versailles. Hitler wanted to defeat and humiliate the French people in the same way that his country had to experience. For him, revenge was necessary. The German plan was to swing into France using a new tactic know as Blitzkrieg or “Lightning War”. Blitzkrieg used speed and surprise along with highly concentrated tank corps, supported by mechanized infantry and airplanes.
In June 1914, Archduke Ferinard of Austria-Hungary and his wife Sophie were assassinated in the small state of Serbia. Throughout June and July of 1914 tensions in Europe rose. When Austria-Hungary threatened Serbia, Russia promised to help the small country. A chain of events then involved each of the major European powers in the worsening situation. On August 1st, the French army was mobilized, and on August 3rd, the German army invaded Belgium. This attack brought in the British, who had promised to defend Belgium. World War One had begun.
An armistice was finally signed on November 11, 1918 and Allied nations didn’t hesitate to swing the arm of justice into motion for Germany. By January 1919, hundreds of Allied leaders and their staff assembled in Paris, forming committees to which every aspect of the war would be overlooked. The mass gathering of worldwide leadership entered the history books as the Paris Peace Conference, from which, the Treaty of Versailles was created. These meeting were unusual in nature; being the first for such vast and numerous collections of world leaders gathered to discuss and with hopes, produce a treaty that would prevent forthcoming war, along with addressing the pressing and long standing future economic ...
During the early stages of the war, most of Germany’s victories were because of the success of blitzkrieg, or lightening war. Blitzkrieg tactics emphasised mobility and the concentrated use of armour and air power to overwhelm an enemy. Blitzkrieg was especially successful in flat, open countryside and was supremely suited for the Polish campaign in 1939. It was with blitzkrieg, as well as Germany’s superior tactics, effective use of armour, airpower and modern equipment, plus with the support of the USSR that the Germans used to overwhelm Poland in only 5 weeks. Two days after the German troops entered Poland, Britain and France declared war on Germany. Hitler did not want this because it was a distraction from his main aim, to attack the USSR.
The 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918, marks the day that WWI descended into armistice. However, the involved countries reached an agreement as to the events following the war on the 28th of June, 1919. The famous Treaty of Versailles was known for its role in ending war. But it was not known for being a double-edged sword, as the ending of war came with the consequence of causing future war. The Treaty consisted of uncontested biases due to Germany's unconditional surrender. The Allies held a gun to Germany's head, with their trigger finger tense. Each article of the Versailles Treaty only made Germany more restless, until 1933 when Hitler produced his own gun and pointed it at the Allies. The Treaty had a series of unproportional effects upon Germany and its people. It caused a rift between the two sides because of the alliances that it formed, brewing tension. The punishments enforced upon Germany were unrealistically huge and it increased the wish among the Germans for the nullification of the Treaty. Finally, the accumulated hatred amongst the people gave birth to potential for a revolution. The Treaty of Versailles is, therefore, an indirect cause to World War II, because of the alliances it caused, the punishments it enforced, and the hatred it developed.
It was military plan for outlined to tackle with a threats of Russia and France if Russia declared war on Germany. Germany had fear because France was militarily stronger at that time. First, Germany would set up a defensive line of military on the Russia and German border to secure their eastern side. This plan involved German troops entering France through its more lightly defended northern borders—but most would instead invade via the small nations of Belgium, Luxemburg, and Netherlands. The plan was strategically important to play a defensive role in the
The objective of the plan was to attack France with all of the power the Imperial Germany Army had, which would make a quick victory for Germany on one side. After the victory in France, Germany would than attack Russia because Schlieffen believed the Russian military was frail and not a real threat. Thus, the war would be over by Christmas with a German victory. When World War I broke out in July of 1914, the Germans implemented the Schlieffen Plan with slight changes made by Colonel-General Helmuth von Moltke, and lost the Battle of the Marne on the western front and the Russian army nearly decimated the German army on the east. There are recently discovered documents from Schlieffen that suggest that he did not plan for his strategy to be used in war, but was a rough draft. There is evidence that suggest that Schlieffen was outlining a way Imperial Germany could defend themselves because the requirements to fulfill the Schlieffen Plan were not
out in the first six weeks of the war before Russia had time to react
On 28 June 1919 the German government signed the Treaty of Versailles imposed on it by the victorious powers. Clause 231 blamed Germany for causing the war and vast majority of Germans rejected this. They blamed the Weimar government for losing the war and signing the outrageous Treaty. Linked to this was the demand for financial compensation for the cost of the war paid to France and Britain. This shocked the Germans severely as it would be hard to pay reparations since the war had weakened the country. Germany's army personnel was to be reduced to 100 000 and was forbidden to produce "offensive" weapons. There was to be no air force or submarines and the navy was to be reduced to six small battleships and six cruisers.