The Schlieffen Plan

The Schlieffen Plan The Schlieffen plan was the key German strategy in WWI. It was named after Germany’s army chief of staff, Alfred Von Schlieffen. There were several strategic moves to his plan. All of his plans were aimed at conquering France as quickly as possible, preferably less than six weeks. Along with France, Germany planned on attacking Russia separately to avoid fighting a war on two fronts at the same time. However, there were multiple errors in this plan and they ultimately lead to the triumph over Germany in 1918. No strategic innovations helped Germany win the war because the assumptions planned didn’t hold out on the battlefield. The Schlieffen Plan was centered around the idea that Germany intended on fighting a two-front war. Seeing that the Schlieffen plan was constructed on a two front war, Germany declared war on Russia and France insisting that Belgium grant them access to travel. While a large amount of the German army would invade France, a small amount of troops were stationed against Russia. Although Because the Russian troops would mobilize faster than expected, he German Supreme Commander Moltke would have to pull thousands of troops out of the army against Paris. The German army thought they would quickly defeat the French then move their troops to East Russia to finish the war with one front. Consequently there were errors in Germany’s plan of attack. The Schlieffen Plan called for a strong right flank to encircle Paris. Afterwards, military leaders moved forces from the flank to protect against Russian invasion in the east. Even though they encountered little resistance after crossing Belgium they came to the doomed realization that the German army had been outsmarted. The British moved with speed and were able to mobilize troops to the battle in France. Furthermore, this allowed an unforeseen counterattack from the British and French forces. Commander General Joseph Joffre held back the Germans east of Paris

Cited: http://apexamreviewp1.wikispaces.com/The+Schlieffen+Plan+and+Trench+Warfare+by+Natasha+Khodykin http://history-world.org/wwistrategy.htm http://history1900s.about.com/cs/worldwari/p/lusitania.htm http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/today/apr06.html http://www.mrbuddhistory.com/4-the-schlieffen-plan-and-deadlock-on-the-western-front.html