Alfred Von Shlieffen

Germany's plan was to avoid fighting a catastrophic defensive war on two fronts, because they felt threatened by not only Russia, but France and Britain as well, who were both "rivals" of Germany and allies of Russia at the time. Therefore, they planned, in the event of a massive threat or attack, to quickly defeat France to stop a destructive attack from the Western Front, and then focus on the main problem on the Eastern Front, which involved the Balkans, Serbia, and

Alfred von Schlieffen built this plan around the inevitable outcome of a two front war. It was inevitablele that Germany was going to have to face

On August 2nd, 1914, Germany’s military began moving troops through neutral Belgium in an indirect attempt to weaken the French Army. Ultimately the plan, first penned in 1905 by German Field Marshall, Alfred Von Schlieffen, involved a swift invasion of France, complete debilitation of its military, followed by a defensive operation on the Empire’s lengthy shared border with Russia. Although the assassination of Austro-Hungarian archduke Franz Ferdinand did not occur for nearly 9 years after the formation of the plan, tensions had been rising within continental Europe for the past two decades. Tensions were especially heavy along the western coast of the continent, where land disputes over the Alsace-Lorraine territories had strained

     Before World War 1 Europe was in the mind set for war, as I have described above, countries were expanding their armies and making plans for war. One of the most famous plans of war was the Schlieffen plan. This plan devised by General Von Schlieffen was based on mass mobilisation. It was believed that in the event of a war it would take Germany thirty-six hours to mobilise, France forty-eight hours and Russia three weeks (Europe Since 1870 105). The Germans would thus attack France first and then after defeating France go on to attack Russia. From these plans we can see that the Chiefs of Staff in Europe were expecting and planning for a war. The military leaders

One of the main factors causing the outbreak of The Great War was the aggressive sentiment of a recently unified Germany. With a pervasive feeling of nationalism, and a sense of entitlement as a world power, Germany had the need to satisfy its growing development, and therefore the need to secure its importation of natural resources. Industrialized and militarized, and feeling confident after the relatively easy victory of the Franco-Prussian War, Germany was prepared for a multi-front offensive with the secretive Schlieffen Plan. Several factors strained Germany’s relations with its neighbors. Confrontational rhetoric from Kaiser Wilhelm II, who represented the sentiment of a modern generation in Germany, acrimonious feelings from missed opportunities

In 1914, Germany believed war with Russia was exceptionally likely.  If war was to commence, Germany assumed France would also attack as they were both an ally of Russia and keen for revenge for her defeat in the Franco-Prussian war. If this were to have taken place, Germany would have to face war on two fronts. Germany desired to steer clear of this at all costs. Germany schemed to conquer France and then turn to the eastern front for a major attack on Russia.

Alfred von Schlieffen, Chief of the Imperial German General Staff, created The Schlieffen Plan for war against France and Russia. It was designed to avoid a two front war. Seven eighths of german troops were sent to surround the strong french defenses by going through Belgium and the Netherlands while a third were ready at Germany and France’s border to attack. After the success of the attack on France, they planned to send the rest of the troops to Russia. Germany had no plan for dealing with Russia once the troops got there.

German military strategist were ready when the declarations of war began flying all over Europe. They intended to lock off the Russians in the east, smoothly kick France out of the war through a plan known as the Schliefffen Plan, then throw their full force, collaborating with Austria-Hungary, against the Russians. The Schliefffen Plan, named after General Alfred von Schlieffen who created it during 1905, called for invading the small countries like Luxembourg and Belgium in order to bypass to the north the strong fortifications along the French border. After a rapid conquest of the small countries, the German advance would continue into northern France, spin around Paris to the west and take the French capital. It almost worked, but German commander in chief General Helmuth von Moltke decided to send his troops east of Paris to engage and defeat the weakened French army straightly. In doing so he displayed his rightwing to counterattack by the French and a British Expeditionary Force, resulting in the First Battle of the Marne, September 6–10, 1914. Despite casualties in the hundreds of thousands, the battle was a stalemate, but it stopped the German drive on Paris. Both sides began digging a network of trenches.

The Schlieffen Plan was the German’s plan for war against France and Russia. It was created by Alfred von Schlieffen who was the German Chief of Staff in 1903 on the request of Kaiser Wilhelm II and it was later revised in 1905. The reason it was made was because Germany’s unification came later than other European states. So the Kaiser sought out Schlieffen and directed him to devise a plan that would allow Germany to gain power and assert itself as a dominant state. Since France and Russia were in an alliance Germany was not able to just attack one country. They would be forced to fight both countries in a two front war. Schlieffen concluded that it would take Russia six weeks to mobilize while France and Germany could both be prepared for battle within fifteen days.

von Moltke, believed that the July crisis was a good time for Germany to go to war in order to prevent being crushed by the entente powers and to preempt Russian mobilization in order to be able to fulfill the Schlieffen plan. Also, war was a good means of distraction from domestic problems in Germany, like the rise of socialist movements. For the Entente Powers Russia, France and Great Britain war was favorable because it gave them the possibility of weakening Germany, which had grown to a big threat for these powers. According to Pearce and Lowe, Great Britain had shown its will for war through the naval talks with Russia in 1914. Nonetheless, there is some ambiguity about Great Britain longing for a war of this scale. For Russia, war was favorable because it had to show strength after some weak responses to the Balkan Crises. Through the general mobilization, Russia reinforced this will. Only France did not really want to get involved in a large scale after the defeat in the Franco-Prussian war of 1871. Nonetheless, France had to mobilize after the German side took up the Schlieffen Plan.

During World War I, Germany was involved in a two front war with France, Britain and Belgium on the Western front and Russia on the Eastern front. In hopes of preventing a loss in the war, Germany devised the Schlieffen plan to ensure victory; However, not only did their plan for war fail to recognize potential threats and factors, but their lack of communication and cooperation also contributed to an overall defeat. Germany’s loss in the two front war and World War I was ultimately the fault of their poor strategizing.

Before World War 1 began, countries started to make alliances between themselves in case they were actually going to war. They thought that the entire world was at peace, but it all changed with a simple battle that tied all of the alliances together and formed the Great War. Facing a war at two fronts, Germany had developed a battle strategy known as the Schlieffen Plan, named after the German Chief of Staff, Alfred von Schlieffen. By 1905, Europe had effectively divided into two camps or groups: Germany, Austria and Italy (Triple Alliance) on one side and Britain, France and Russia (Triple Entente) on the other. Schlieffen believed that the most important area for any future war in Europe would be in the western area (France). Their original

The Schlieffen Plan was under the guidance of General Alfred Von Schlieffen. This plan called for a “two front war” between France and Russia. A Two Front War is when a war takes place on two geographically separate fronts. France and Russia had formed an alliance in 1894.

This is a vast oversimplification but the Schlieffen Plan was Germany’s plan to invade France and Russia during WW1. It was conceived in 1903 by Germany’s Chief of staff Alfred Von Schlieffen and was revised in 1905 almost 9 years before the war.

Germany went into WWI with the upside of an expansive, extremely all around prepared, and exceptionally very much prepared armed force. One-on-one, they could in all likelihood have crushed some other nation on the planet, yet they weren't simply battling one adversary. They were dwarfed, and their rivals had admittance to much more noteworthy assets. In the event that the Schlieffen Plan had been executed legitimately in august 1914, Paris would have been caught, and the French would probably have requested a peace negotiation. in this way finishing the war rapidly and to support Germany. They likewise could have won if in 1918,Germany had exploited Russia's withdrawal from the war so that they would move every one of their troops and assets