World War I: The Failure of The Schlieffen Plan Essay example

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).

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

When Germany declared war on Russia in 1914, they also had their own military plan, which called for a two front war with France and Russia. It was called The Schlieffen Plan and was developed by General Alfred von Schlieffen in 1903 but was revised in December of 1905. At this time, he was chief of the German General Staff, and Europe was separated into the Triple Alliance, which consisted of Germany, Austria, and Italy, on one side and the Triple Entente, which consisted of Great Britain, France, and Russia, on the other. Schlieffen was sought out by the Kaiser in order to construct an arrangement that would allow Germany to

The Schlieffen Plan was created by Alfred von Schlieffen, and he created it to avoid fighting both France and Russia at the same time. The problem was that France and Russia were on opposite sides of Europe. Which meant they would have to split their army in half. The Schlieffen Plan stated that Germany would defeat France while Russia would be mobilizing itś army. They assumed that Russia would take six weeks to mobilize,and that France was weak and Russia was strong. They didn´t think that GB would be fighting for France because of the treaty signed seventy - five years ago. The Schlieffen Plan had many flaws and assumptions.But instead of taking six weeks Russia took ten days, and started fighting when they weren't ready. Which made

Back in Germany, the Chief of General Staff had crafted a plan of attack in the event that there would emerge a two-front war in the country emerged the Scliphen plan.

The plan took nine years to finalize based on the theory that if Germany went to war, they would be faced with a two-front war with France and Russia because of the Franco-Russian alliance that was in place at that time. Wilhelm II was anxious that Britain would intervene in the case of any conflict because she was in an entente with France and that could likely put Germany at war with three powerful countries. Schlieffen concluded that Russia would take six weeks to mobilize because of their large army and that Germany and France could prepare for battle within 15 days. Schlieffen believed that if Germany conquered France, then the German troops could move to a new front against Russia.

The Schlieffen Plan was devised to prevent fighting war on two fronts, against France and Russia, aiming to defeat France before Russia could Mobilize. Both J.M Winter (1993, pg. 60) and M. McAndrew et al.(1997, pg. 56) agreed The plan was devised by Count Alfred von Schlieffen, Chief of

The Schlieffen Plan was designed to give Germany dominance. The plan was for German armies to travel through Belgium to France, and defeat France. Then further moving on to Russia to defeat them before they had fully mobilised. Unfortunately, Germany could not reach Russia in time, as RUssia started to mobilise too quickly.

In 1905 Germany developed the Schlieffen Plan which meant that they would be prepared to fight two fronts in a war, the plan established the fact that France was weak and likewise Belgium and could fall easily, giving Germany secure control over the west. Upon AustriaHungary's declaration of war on Russia committed Germany to two fronts potentially too early. With a war looming and a large military presence, nationalist views and a war-ravenous leader, Wilhelm led Germany to a world of

In addition, Germany, through the use of the Schlieffen Plan, attempted to overthrow France and Russia to win what would otherwise be a two-front war. Success in the execution of the plan would result into the growth of the German empire; thus, increasing the Germans chances of defeating Britain in a war. Essentially, the nation’s never-ending pursuit for power translated into the war of 1914–World War

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

When the guns of August 1914 shattered the peace of Europe, pitting Germany and Austria-Hungary (the Central Powers) against Britain, France, and Russia, President Woodrow Wilson on August 4 issued a proclamation of neutrality. Two weeks later he urged Americans to be "impartial in thought as well as in action." But in the realms of both official policy and public opinion, neutrality proved difficult to sustain. Wilson insisted, for reasons of both principle and economic advantage, on full neutral trading rights with all the belligerent powers. Britain and Germany had different ideas. Each tried to throttle American trade with the other. Britain, whose battle fleet controlled the surface of the Atlantic, succeeded

In the 19th century when WW1 ended with the signing of the Treaty of Versailles. It left many long term causes some of them being the Ottoman Empire, Germany, and the Austro-Hungarian Empire all fell. But due to their falling it lead to new colonies being made in their place by the people. The leading cause to all the demolition after ww1 and ww1 are Militarism and military plans, Alliance system, Imperialism, Mass Politics, Intellectual Context, and Nationalism. These were the MAJOR leading causes of WW1 and its destruction. All sides used militarism and used there militaries to attack there enemies causing war to happen. The Alliance system was when the leaders wanted to make treaties

assassinated along with his wife while touring the Bosnian capital of Sarajevo. The assassin was a student

What was the Two Front War and The Schlieffen Plan, and how did they affect the war? The Schlieffen Plan was created by General Count Alfred von Schlieffen in December 1905. This plan was created to prove Germany victorious over France and Russia. General Schlieffen wanted to make a plan where Germany could fight both France and Russia and still be victorious.