The+Schlieffen+Plan



__Introduction__

The Schlieffen plan was a plan made by a man named Alfred Von Schlieffen, who was a German officer in world war one. It was formed because in 1914 Germany believed that the war was inevitable, and therefore they should try to get a head start because then at least they had that advantage. The whole point of the Schlieffen plan was to avoid war on two fronts, because Germany was sandwiched between Russia and France. They believed that if war broke out with Russia, then France would start top fight on the side of Russia, as they were allied. Germany's plan was to go quickly through Belgium, who were neutral and very old allies with England, who wasn’t yet involved in the war, and attack France going through to Paris and take hold of the city, which would then men that Germany had captured France. They would then move back up to the Russian border and attack, avoiding a war on two fronts. They gave themselves six weeks to finish of France, before attacking Russia, believing that Russia would take a long time to mobilise its troops, and that Belgium wouldn't put up any fight when they tried to march through it to get to France. They also assumed that Britain would remain neutral during this, despite it being allied with Belgium. They had to go through Belgium to get to France because France had highly fortified its border with Germany, especially alance-Loraine, where the Germans had attacked before, in preparation for the war. The schiefflen plan was basically the idea that they snuck around the back of the defence through weak, powerless Belgium and attacked Paris before France's troops could become aware and be mobilised to protect Paris. [|__other information__]

__BEF__ However things didn’t go as planned for Germany, as Belgium may have been small, and weak in Germany's eyes, however they put up a fight, giving the British enough time to deploy its small (about 100, 000 men) but well trained and well equipped professional army to help the Belgium men fight against the invading Germans. this not only weakened the Germans. who had been counting on the Belgium's not putting up a fight, and therefore not losing any of their men. This also slowed them down, meaning that the french had time to prepare for the oncoming attack. finally, the Germans had counted on the British not getting involved, because they were a huge power in 1914, with a massive empire, and therefore they didn't want to make them an enemy. the main place that the BEF and the Germans fought was the battle of Marne.

__The flaws in the Schlieffen plan__
 * The Germans underestimated the Belgians - if Belgium resisted, then Germany would have to defeat Belgium before moving on to Northern France and attacking Paris
 * The French could intervene and attack from Alsace-Lorraine - would disrupt the whole flow of the plan
 * If Germany was slowed down, then Russia would have the opportunity to mobilise their troops before Germany reached them
 * The Germans planned to complete this scheme successfully within a short period of six weeks - would have a very tight schedule
 * The plan was changed from the original plan that Von Schlieffen made - in 1913, his last words were “Keep the right wing strong”

__How The Flaws Contributed to the Failure of the Schlieffen Plan.__

The flaws of the Schlieffen Plan contributed to the failure because of several reasons: The BEF was supposed to arrive in France on the 18th of August contributed to the failure of the Schlieffen Plan because of several reasons for example: the BEF arrived in France on the 18th of August-which was much more faster that what the Germans had expected. The Germans also underestimated the BEFs force since the BEF was a small army but they were a excellently trained force. Even though the BEF were heavily outnumbered an had to retreat -they had on the other hand delayed the Germans from advancing into France. The BEF again delayed them even further three days later in a battle at the Le Cateau. but the British again retreated.  The second reason why the Schlieffen Plan failed was because of the Belgian resistance. on the 3rd of August the German army was again delayed for a few more days by the Belgian resistance. The Belgians used their deep concrete forts that were protecting Antwerp, Liège and Numar. Weighty guns had to be used to bring the forts and defences to rubble. The Belgian resistance gave time for the BEF or the British Expeditionary Force to arrive, and Antwerp did not surrender until October.

 The third reason to why the Schlieffen Plan failed was because they changed major things to the plan that Von Schlieffen made. Unfortunately Von Schlieffen died before the plan was put into action. When the new German commander came-Von Moltke he ignored Von Schlieffen dying words in 1913- ‘keep the right wing strong.’ Von Schlieffen said that the right wing of the German army should be at least six times stronger than any other side of the army. The army wasn’t as strong as it should’ve been. The German army that were attacking through Belgium were 100,000 soldiers short because the German commander, Von Moltke sent reinforcements to the Russian front. Other significant things were also changed to the original plan for example: the original plan was to sweep ‘widely,’ through the Netherlands, Luxemburg and Belgium. The plan was changed into having a ‘narrow,’ sweep invade through Belgium and Luxemburg. The German army were also supposed to encircle Paris, this part of the plan had been ‘dropped’ in early September and they moved to the East. Not to also mention that they German soldiers were exhausted by the fighting through Belgium and northern France. Leading to the Battle of the Marne.

__Race for the Sea__

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">During the race for the sea, Germany tried to outflank the British and french armies by heading to the north in order to take over the ports. They decided that taking over the ports would block off any extra supplies and reinforcements that were originally meant for the French and the British. In blocking off the ports, this would mean that the French and British would gradually weaken, therefore making it easier for the Germans to attack and succeed in bringing them down. But, the French were moving in the exact same direction though, in order to make sure that the ports were open for British reinforcements to enter, so that they’d have a better chance of defeating the Germans. The Belgian assisted the British in arriving on time to compete in the race for the sea by flooding the Belgian countryside. When the British arrived, they started to dig trenches in the Belgian town of Ypres, where the battle continued for a month. This led to the beginning of trench warfare, thus resulting in a deadlock.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; margin: 0pt 13.5pt 0pt -22.5pt; text-indent: 22.5pt; vertical-align: baseline;">__**The Trenches**__ <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-right: 13.5pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Most days in the trenches were very boring, during the day the soldiers would either play chess or cards, read or have a smoke other soldiers who knew how to write wrote back home, these letters were checked by a censor or by a commander who would cross out anything that would lower the morale so that Americans back at home would be less interested to join the army. The commanders would also cross out the things that would reveal plans to the people home or if the letters were i ntersepted by the enemies then they would not know anything. Food wasn’t in a variety-the mojority of what they ate were mostly corned beef (bully) with 10 men sharing one tiny loaf of bread. They had very basic facilities for cooking and most of their food were cooked in only one pot which in other words means that all of their food probably tasted the same, some troops would have no hot food for a few weeks continuously. Usually the water that was needed for drinking and other needs were brought in petrol cans, and chloride of lime were used to kill germs or bacteria in the water, most soldiers often melted snow and ice to make tea in the winter.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-right: 13.5pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The hygienic conditions were very bad, there were lice everywhere, on the ground, all over the clothes of the soldiers, rats were feeding off the rotting bodies and horse carcasses on the floor. Some soldiers caught very dangerous diseases like cholera, dysentry and typhoid. The weather was terrible, the trenches usually had ½ meter of water. Soldiers often had to stand in the water for a long period of time during the day and so some of the soldiers got ‘Trench Foot,’ it’s a disease that makes your feet swell-making your feet 2 or 3 times the normal size.After the swelling goes, your feet starts to hurt a lot and some people who couldn’t take the pain had to amputate their leg. Snipers on the other side often killed the new soldiers that were untrained, inexperienced, new to the environment, or wasn’t careful and stood up usually got a ‘pop,’ by the snipers. Constant bombardment killed or wounded many troops with splinters and debris. Poisonous gas could cause many deaths and injuries-some soldiers who were unfortunate got shell shock and were often mistaken for being cowards, leading them to either get shot by the other side or by their own side.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-right: 13.5pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">As well as all the other disease like cholera and typhoid, there were diseases spread by flies. Which were surrounded with horse manure. The soldiers on the front-line were given run daily-a dose in the morning and a dose just before battle. The soldiers who tried to run away, because of their fear, shell shock or family affairs they wanted to sort out, those who were caught were shot. Stretcher parties were usually sent out into No Man’s Land after the battles, to pick up the wounded soldiers. Regimental Medical Officers gave aid in special shelters, the officers tried to sort out the soldiers which needed special attention and/or treatment, and the ones who didn’t. The soldiers that needed special attention and/or treatment were taken to the Casualty Cleaning Stations-these were mobile hospitals, and were just several kilometers behind the lines. These mobile hospitals were relatively safe, as only the heaviest weapon shells could reach them. Some soldiers which were treated and could hang on just a little longer but needed rest were normally taken back to the base hospitals-often by train.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">__Battle of the Marne__
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The Battle of the Marne took place between Sept. 6th and 12th, 1914 - hoped to bring an end to WWI - Germany’s advance prevented this and trench warfare began
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Germans already invaded Belgium and NE France - were within 30 mile radius of Paris - progress had been extremely fast - already defeated Belgian, British and French forces in going deep into NE France
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">German advance mainly in determination to achieve aims of Schlieffen plan - main aim was to swiftly defeat France and avoid war on two fronts
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">As Germans advanced into Paris, French prepared for battle - both defending French & British armies were at point of exhaustion - had retreated continuously for 10 ~ 12 days under Germany’s attack - reached south of Marne
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Von Kluck's army - instructed to encircle and close into Paris from east - French gvmnt. expected fall of Paris - left for Bordeaux
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Joffre authorized General Maunoury’s 6th army - had 150,000 men - attacked right border of Germany’s 1st army on morning of Sept. 6th
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Allies were quick in breaking German defense lines - dispatched troops from BEF to join French 5th army in entering gap formed by two German armies
 * German forces still quite close to accomplishing improvement against Manoury's persecuted forces between 6th & 8th September
 * Night of Sept. 8th, French commander Franchet d'Esperey's 5th army began surprise attack on German 2nd army - aimed to widen gap even more
 * Sept. 9th - German armies began retreat under orders of German Chief of Staff Helmuth von Moltke - feared Allied breakthrough - worsened by terrible communication between his lines and those at the Marne
 * Retreating Germans were chased by French and British - Germans soon stopped retreat after 40miles north of River Aisne - 1st and 2nd German armies prepared trenches - made to last several years
 * First Battle of Marne ended Sept. 10th - French had accomplished task of making German forces back down with help of British armies and reclaimed some lost land during battle
 * Battle of Marne put an end on any German hopes of bringing the war on the Western Front to a safe close