The Schlieffen Plan was devised by Count Alfred von Schlieffen, the Chief of the General Staff in the German army in 1905. There were a number of different aspects to the Schlieffen Plan, and all were aimed at defeating France as quickly as possible, preferably in under 6 weeks. The Germans believed this was possible because they had defeated France in Alsace and Lorraine in the 1871. The main aim of the Schlieffen Plan was to knock out and capture France and then attack Russia in order to avoid
The Reasons for the Schlieffen Plan In this piece of coursework I will be investigating the actual reasons for the Schlieffen Plan due to the situation which the German government was in. I will talk of the harsh reality of the war and the situation all the countries involved in the war entered. I will also talk about the reasons why the Schlieffen Plan failed and the Germans were made to face a grim reality which was never expected. In the early nineteen hundreds
Failure of the Schlieffen Plan This has been a question discussed many times. Well, one problem that was certain was that there were too many assumptions in the actual plan. There were assumptions such as "Russia will take six weeks to mobilise." This was probably true
The Schlieffen Plan is one of the first military plans people learn about when studying World War I. Despite, the plan being common knowledge to individuals who have studied Western military, there is much controversy over why the plan failed for the Germans. In recent decades the main question over Schlieffen’s war plan, whether the plan was meant to be used as a military strategy or not. Since, the reunification of Germany in 1989, document that were once lost are now resurfacing, and with more
The Role of the BEF in the Failure of the Schlieffen Plan Introduction: The Role of the British Expeditionary Force (the B.E.F.) was an in important contributing factor to the failure of the Schlieffen Plan, but not the only one. The French's Plan XIV, the out of date Schlieffen plan itself, and the role of the Belgian army all were contributing factors that together resulted in the failure of Germany's Schlieffen Plan. The Background: Germany had anticipated war for a long time
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
The Schlieffen Plan Use Site 1 to answer the following questions. 1. What was the Entente Cordial and what effect did it have on Germany? 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. 2. Who was Field Marshal Alfred von Schlieffen? Field Marshal Alfred von Schlieffen was a German field marshal who served as the Chief of the
individual war plans which stated how they would rise above their enemies and claim victory. Unfortunately for some, not all of these plans were created equally. Unlike the other powers of Europe, Germany had created only one plan known as the Schlieffen Plan. The Schlieffen Plan had been created to be used as the perfect tool to winning a war, unfortunately the plan had been born from the arrogance of Alfred von Schlieffen and later altered by Helmuth von Moltke. Due to how the Schlieffen Plan was both
The Schlieffen Plan and How It Was Meant to Work France had made an alliance with Russia that said that nether country could attack the other. This was done to defend against a German attack because both countries border Germany and this made them very vulnerable. Germanys army was not strong enough to attack both France and Russia at the same time. Because of this, the Fuhrer wanted another way that Germany could attack both countries without the army being too weak at one front and
The Unsuccessful Schlieffen Plan The Schlieffen plan was created by Alfred von Schlieffen after many months of planning it, and he officially named it after himself. During the war times, Russia had promised The Schlieffen plan to Serbia. The Schlieffen plan was known as a ‘Blank Cheque’ and eventually the plan had encountered many problems. After Germany found out about the promise, it declared war on Russia alongside with France because they supported Russia. The plan had started to suffer because
The Schlieffen Plan was the German army's plan for war against France and Russia. It was made by the German Chief of Staff Alfred von Schlieffen in 1903 with the demand of Kaiser Wilhelm II. Although the Schlieffen plan had failed anyways, was there a way for the Schlieffen plan to be successful? The Schlieffen plan took nine years to conclude, but it was based on the theory that Germany would be at war with France and Russia at the same time. They believed that if the country went to war, Germany
First World War A stalemate developed on the Western Front for four main reasons, one being that the Schlieffen plan failed, another reason was that the French were unable to defeat the Germans completely at the Battle of the Marne, another reasons was the "race to the Channel" and the last reason was that defending positions was far easier than attacking. The Schlieffen Plan failed for a number of reasons, one being that Moltke, the German commander, had altered the balance of the
Gerhard P. "There Was a Schlieffen Plan: New Sources on the History of German Military Planning." War In History (EBSCOhost ) 15, no. 4 (2008): 389-431. Mombauer, Annika. Helmuth von Moltke and the Origins of the First World War. London: Cambridge University Press, 2001. Mombauer, Annika, and Richard Spall. "Battle of the Marne: Myths and Realityof Germany's “Fateful Battle." Historian (EBSCOhost) 68, no. 4 (2006): 747-769. Zuber, Terrence. "Everybody Knows There Was a 'Schlieffen Plan': A Reply to Annika
Lorraine, territories taken by Germany with Plan 17. While Germany used the Schlieffen plan to avoid a two-front war against France and Russia, and they schemed to decrease the supplies Britain was getting by launching unrestricted submarines in secret attacks. Lastly all the countries that fought in the war used trench warfare; tunnels dug into the ground where most battles took place. Tactics used during World War One including Plan 17, the Schlieffen plan, blockades, and Trench Warfare limited the
number of reasons why stalemate developed on the Western Front in October 1914, and none of these reasons could stand alone as the main cause of the stalemate. There were many contributing factors, overall playing a part in the failure of the Schlieffen Plan, which had intended a quick victory for Germany, and definitely no stalemate. Firstly, Germany had planned to invade France through neutral Belgium, with the idea that Belgium would offer no resistance. However, Belgium wasn't prepared to
expansion of the war in 1914. Leading up to the war it built tension among countries, as well as providing security. It impacted greatly on the expansion as diplomatic efforts failed, and this could be partially attributed to the German war plan (Schlieffen Plan), which inevitably had them refused a conference which may have
western front. This was not what Count Von Schlieffen had planned to happen. So why did Stalemate develop on the western front. There are many reasons why Stalemate developed on the western front, one of the reasons was because the German troops were exhausted as the German army had to cover from 20 - 25 miles a day. So they were getting emotionally and physically drained. J.M Winter who wrote 'The Experience of World War 1' said 'Why did the plan fail? First the men of the German army had
The twentieth century was a time period characterized by conflicting ideologies and great dissension among countries; it also marked the onset of World War One in 1914. The origins of the "Great War," as the First World War has been called are open to a myriad of insightful and distinct interpretations. However, one interpretation which many historians alike have affirmed is that decisions were made by human beings; "They made them in fear and in trembling, but they made them nonetheless" (Stoessinger
the Stalemate on the Western Front There are five main factors that are crucial in explaining the development of a stalemate on the Western Front. All the armies and navies of Europe faced each other across fortified front lines. The pre-war plans had succumbed to the technological surprise of 1914-15: that the withering firepower of machine-guns, cartridge rifles, and rapid-fire artillery favoured the defence. Infantry in deep trenches, fronted with mines and barbed wire and backed by artillery
World War I was a conflict that claimed over 10 million peoples’ lives, ravaged all of Europe and engineered modern warfare, as it is know today. The Great War has been scrutinized and examined through many complex theories in order to understand how such a conflict escalated to one of the most epic wars in history. This essay, like many works before it, looks to examine WWI and determine its causes through two distinct levels of analysis, individual and systemic. The individual level of analysis