the plan
failure of the plan
THE PURPOSE :
to defeat the allies on the western front
Germany expected two wars : western with France & Eastern front with Russia
1) the plan was advocated by Von Schlieffen in 1905 as he wanted to not face his enemies simultaneously
click to edit
click to edit
click to edit
2) as Russia was a huge country & had bad roads & terrains, they would take weeks to 6 months to mobilise their army, mean time they would easily defeat France
3) France was expecting an attack , which is why they had made their border extremely strong on the western Front. they had stationed many of their strong troops and a fortress there. the only loop hole was to go through Belgium which was a neutral county as gauarnteed by the allied powers. so he was going to use Belgium to attack France as they had a small army & did not pose a threat
:
click to edit
4) he believed the French would be taken by surprise, they will not be prepared and it would crush their morale, troops and they would be victorious
5) even if Britain intervened on behalf of Belgium, they would defeat France well in advance
conditions for success
Russia to take long to mobilise their army
Belgium show no resistance
French to attack through Alsace & Lorraine
to defeat French before the British could help
click to edit
2) the French caused many casualties in the German troops
3) Belgian proved to be very strong
1) the British arrived in France on 18th August, well before Germany's expectations and furthered slowed them down
4) the commander Von Moltke changed the plan & sent less troops to France vs Russia & this delayed their plans to encircle Paris
click to edit