Two Front War Failure
A Two-front war is classified as a war fought in separate locations at the same general time, and World War I was classified as just that. The startup of the Two-front war was instigated when Gavrilo Princip, a member of a terrorist group aimed at Serbian liberation called the Black Hand, shot and killed Austria’s Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophia. The Austrian-Hungarian government did not know if the Bosnian government had been directly linked in the assassination and had used the death of Franz and Sophia to blame Serbia and finally defeat them.
With the backing of their ally Germany, Austria-Hungary sent an ultimatum with extreme demands to Serbia. In order to keep their respect intact, Serbia had little choice but to reject the ultimatum. Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia on July 28. Russia …show more content…
being Serbia’s ally considered mobilization, but when learning partial mobilization against Austria-Hungary would be chaotic, Czar Nicholas II ordered the full mobilization of Russia’s army. Germany told Russia to stop mobilization, and when Russia refused, Germany declared war on Russia.
With the odds of winning the war slim, Germany created a military draft called the Schlieffen plan. It was created to eliminate the risk of a Two-front war and stop a war of attrition. It was drawn up by German Chief of Staff Alfred Von Schlieffen. Schlieffen's original plan entailed that troops would invade France through Belgium and the Netherlands, defeat France, and then focus on defeating the much larger Russia. Helmuth von Moltke took over Schlieffen's position as German Chief of Staff and modified the plan. He decided to only go through Belgium and not the Netherlands so that he could keep the Netherlands as a supply corridor. He also decided the defense of Prussia was a bigger priority since he now had more men at his disposal than Schlieffen.
Though Serbia,Germany,Austria-Hungary,France, and Russia were now in the war one of the main global powers was still uninvolved:Great Britain. Great Britain had been pressured by their allies Russia and France to join the war, but Britain did not want to join in the war. This later changed when Britain found out that Germany was to go through Belgium. Being Belgium’s ally, Britain asked France and Germany to respect Belgium's neutrality. France said yes and Germany did not respond. Britain finally declared war on Germany when their troops entered Belgium.
Out of all the countries in the war, Germany had the most odds stacked against them, and it did not help that the Schlieffen plan was starting to fail.
There were not enough men to execute the Plan and not enough casualties to replace the men. There was no room in the plan for failure and no alternate plans to go to. One of the most damaging things to happen to the Plan was the lack of transportation and communication. The Plan did not take delays into account.It took two weeks instead of two days to take Belgium’s main railway hub,Liege, and the Plan had already started to crumble. Communication was below the time’s technology on the front lines. Carrier pigeons were still being used, and plans were being made on dated information.
One of the most devastating mistakes the Schlieffen plan did was to underestimate Russia. After the Russo-Japanese war, Russia had been seen a weak army that they would come back to later. However, Russia had made many advances between the war and World War I. They had also mobilized first giving them a stark advantage. They also had near 1.3 million men at their disposal, meaning Russia having the largest army out of all the
countries.
There were many setbacks in the war for all parties. France and Belgium, for example, had built expensive fortresses that had been knocked down in a short amount of time by German howitzers, rendering them useless and a waste of resources. Germany also had a fair amount of setbacks. Moltke had trouble controlling his army and getting his generals to take orders. Wanting to protect Prussia’s borders, he tried to get Bavarian troops to protect them. But Rupprecht Von Bayern, the last Bavarian prince, had his own interests. He refused and Moltke had to get troops from Belgium, which was more expensive and time-consuming.
We now know that World War I was a long and bloody war, but everybody during this time had much optimism and expected a short war. Military plans called for huge immediate attacks because there seemed no point to save resources for a short war.Many people looked at shorter wars as an example instead of the most recent Civil War that had shown how long modern warfare was going to be. It was a war of attrition which everyone seemed to be unable to avoid.
With the backing of their ally Germany, Austria-Hungary sent an ultimatum with extreme demands to Serbia. In order to keep their respect intact, Serbia had little choice but to reject the ultimatum. Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia on July 28. Russia …show more content…
being Serbia’s ally considered mobilization, but when learning partial mobilization against Austria-Hungary would be chaotic, Czar Nicholas II ordered the full mobilization of Russia’s army. Germany told Russia to stop mobilization, and when Russia refused, Germany declared war on Russia.
With the odds of winning the war slim, Germany created a military draft called the Schlieffen plan. It was created to eliminate the risk of a Two-front war and stop a war of attrition. It was drawn up by German Chief of Staff Alfred Von Schlieffen. Schlieffen's original plan entailed that troops would invade France through Belgium and the Netherlands, defeat France, and then focus on defeating the much larger Russia. Helmuth von Moltke took over Schlieffen's position as German Chief of Staff and modified the plan. He decided to only go through Belgium and not the Netherlands so that he could keep the Netherlands as a supply corridor. He also decided the defense of Prussia was a bigger priority since he now had more men at his disposal than Schlieffen.
Though Serbia,Germany,Austria-Hungary,France, and Russia were now in the war one of the main global powers was still uninvolved:Great Britain. Great Britain had been pressured by their allies Russia and France to join the war, but Britain did not want to join in the war. This later changed when Britain found out that Germany was to go through Belgium. Being Belgium’s ally, Britain asked France and Germany to respect Belgium's neutrality. France said yes and Germany did not respond. Britain finally declared war on Germany when their troops entered Belgium.
Out of all the countries in the war, Germany had the most odds stacked against them, and it did not help that the Schlieffen plan was starting to fail.
There were not enough men to execute the Plan and not enough casualties to replace the men. There was no room in the plan for failure and no alternate plans to go to. One of the most damaging things to happen to the Plan was the lack of transportation and communication. The Plan did not take delays into account.It took two weeks instead of two days to take Belgium’s main railway hub,Liege, and the Plan had already started to crumble. Communication was below the time’s technology on the front lines. Carrier pigeons were still being used, and plans were being made on dated information.
One of the most devastating mistakes the Schlieffen plan did was to underestimate Russia. After the Russo-Japanese war, Russia had been seen a weak army that they would come back to later. However, Russia had made many advances between the war and World War I. They had also mobilized first giving them a stark advantage. They also had near 1.3 million men at their disposal, meaning Russia having the largest army out of all the
countries.
There were many setbacks in the war for all parties. France and Belgium, for example, had built expensive fortresses that had been knocked down in a short amount of time by German howitzers, rendering them useless and a waste of resources. Germany also had a fair amount of setbacks. Moltke had trouble controlling his army and getting his generals to take orders. Wanting to protect Prussia’s borders, he tried to get Bavarian troops to protect them. But Rupprecht Von Bayern, the last Bavarian prince, had his own interests. He refused and Moltke had to get troops from Belgium, which was more expensive and time-consuming.
We now know that World War I was a long and bloody war, but everybody during this time had much optimism and expected a short war. Military plans called for huge immediate attacks because there seemed no point to save resources for a short war.Many people looked at shorter wars as an example instead of the most recent Civil War that had shown how long modern warfare was going to be. It was a war of attrition which everyone seemed to be unable to avoid.