Explain Why Stalemate Developed on the Western Front

The Schlieffen Plan was a German battle plan to fight a two front war devised in 1905 by Alfred von Schlieffen as the Chief of the General Staff for Germany. The plan called for the German army to apply overwhelming force in France to capture the capital of Paris within six weeks before changing focus to Russia. The plan intended to achieve a quick and decisive victory by sweeping a line of armies through neutral Belgium and into France. In actuality, Helmuth von Moltke made significant changes to Schlieffen’s original plan before and during World War I. Ultimately, the plan ended in failure when the German advance halted at the First Battle of the Marne (Limbach, 2014).

World War I, also known as the first World War, or the Great War, was a global war originating in Europe the began on the 28th of July 1914 and lasted until the 11th of November 1918. World War I was a war that was fought between two sides with a few of the World’s greatest Nations of that time. The two sides were Triple Entente which included Britain, France, and Russia, and the Triple Alliance which was consisted of the countries Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy. World War I left a mark on history as we know it, what could have possibly led to that war?, What were the underlying causes of World War I?. The major causes of “The Great War” or WWI consist of four long-term causes and one short-term cause. The common acronym that’s used for the four long-term causes to help students remember the causes of WWI is M.A.I.N; the acronym stands for Militarism, Alliances, Imperialism, and Nationalism,and the short-term cause The Assassination of the ArchDuke Franz Ferdinand at Sarajevo on the 28th of June 1914. To put all of this in a simpler way the five major causes of WWI was Militarism, Alliances, Imperialism, Nationalism, and the assassination of the ArchDuke Franz Ferdinand. Each of topics played a significant role in the reasons why WWI would begin.

In February 1891 Count Alfred von Schlieffen was appointed Chief of the Prussian General Staff, a post which he held until the end of 1905. The most important responsibility of the General Staff was to produce the annual deployment plans, which stipulated how the German army was to be drawn up ready for battle in case of war. The initial pattern of deployment was the basis of the operational plan for the conduct of the war itself. The General Staff routinely tested these war plans in studies and exercises. During most of Schlieffen’s time as Chief of Staff, the essential strategic problem for Germany was indeed the likelihood that the next war would have to be fought against two enemies on widely separated fronts, the French in the west and the Russians in the east. Schlieffen never found a convincing solution to this problem. His suggestion was to deploy much greater forces on one of the fronts in order to defeat that enemy quickly and decisively, and then to use rail mobility to reinforce the other front and win a decisive victory there too. That sounded fine in theory, but when it was tested in exercises it proved hard to achieve. An initial victory on one front could not be fully exploited because of the need to switch forces promptly to the other front. Once that happened, the first enemy

To a large extent the failure of the Schlieffen plan was the most significant reason for

In the first stages of the Russian counter attack against the German army, led by General Friedrich Paulus, the German plan for strategic retreat was stopped by Hitler himself who, in a radio message to Paulus, would say that surrender is not an option and to continue fighting until the German’s were unable to continue. This evidently selfish and stubborn behavior from the leader of Nazi Germany forced the German army to brave the Russian winter and later force their surrender in 1943 by restricting the power of his generals on the front lines. The loss of manpower from this defeat would start the downfall of the power of Nazi

In 1917 the Russia collapsed, this effected the allies because now all of Germanies men were up against France, and they were at a major devicite for manpower, the allies were on the losing

On January 8, German troops withdrew from the tip of the "bulge”. The losses caused by this battle were critical. The last of the German reserves were gone, the Luftwaffe was weaker than ever, the German army in the west was being forced to retreat back, and the Eastern Front was open to be taken by the Soviets. With most of its military power gone, Germany had just about nothing left to defend itself, and its final defeat loomed just a couple months away.

A Stalemate on the Western Front A stalemate formed on the Western Front due to four main reasons, one

The United States military contribution was decisive, since Russian decided to quit the war, and the new forces from the US entered the front, which was demoralizing to the Germans, who retrieved back to

During this battle, the Germans lost a lot of troops. The Germans could not stop the Western Allies, German commanders braced themselves. Hitler lost over 500,000 troops in the West. He now had a shortage of troops. Germans stole U.S. Army uniforms, weapons, and jeeps,

The battle of Verdun was one of the major battles during World War 1 on the Western Front. It was fought between the German and French armies, from February, 21 to December, 18 1916, on very rough terrain north of the city of Verdun Sur Meuse in North East France. The Objective of the Germans was to take over Verdun so that it had a major upper hand in regards to the attack on the capital Paris. What the Germans planned to do as well as coming down through Belgium, was to take over Verdun and make railways to support the western front. So eventually they could get through to Paris front and back. During this battle they had 2 major objectives, to capture the city of Verdun and to inflict a high casualty count on the French to weaken their forces

It was clear that in the year of 1917, resources were very low on the western front. Germany was running low on supplies and manpower, while Great Britain and France were running low on supplies, manpower, and the morale of the soldiers were at an all time low. Germany knew that they were

He attended the Berlin War Academy (1858-61) and was a staff officer during the Austro-Prussian War (1866). In 1891 Schlieffen replaced Helmuth von Moltke as Chief of General Staff. Schlieffen feared that France and Russia would join together to attack Germany. His main concern was to devise a plan that could deal with a war against Russia in the east and France in the west. Four years after being given this position he devised what became known as the Schlieffen Plan. This strategy involved a German invasion of Belgium and a right-wheel flanking movement through Holland and then southwards, cutting off Paris from the sea. Schlieffen retired as Chief of General Staff of the German Army in 1906.

The Failure of the Schlieffen Plan and Its Effects on the German Defeat on the Western Front

There were many problems that arise from the war, these were matters, which the German