DEPTH STUDY A: THE FIRST WORLD WAR 1914-18

The Schlieffen Plan in Operation

 The blueprint for Germany’s army to avoid a two front war with Russia and
France.
 Formed by Alfred von Schlieffen in 1905 and inherited by Helmut von Moltke
who made certain changes to the original plan.
 was to find a new general war plan that would take into account the many new
factors that had arisen since the Franco Prussian War of 1870 and 1871.
 factors such as Germany’s diplomatic isolation
 Russia and France were staunch allies, a fear of a two-front war
 had to deal with military and technological issues
 was designed to compensate for the belief that German forces would be
outnumbered by 5 to 3, and thus, a war of attrition would not be winnable, it was
an offensive plan to avoid that future.
 defensive posture could not be taken against an archenemy like France.

The Original Plan

 7/8 of the troops deployed to the West were going to circumvent the strong
French defenses on the Franco-German border by marching through Belgium and
Netherlands
 the remaining troops would be at the border and would draw the French into
battles with them and then would get outflanked from the North, encircle Paris
and drive the remaining French forces to the South
 after this swift success, they could then send most of the troops over to fight
against Russia.

The Plan in Action

 only invaded Belgium and NOT the Netherlands

 wanted to leave Netherlands as a supply corridor since German itself might
be blockaded

Reasons for Failure of the Plan

 seems doubtful that there were ever enough troops southward

 casualties could not be replaced properly.
 plan relied on speed that relied on transportation
 need trains to move the troops
 could only go where the tracks go
 had to lay the rail tracks again as they were destroyed by Belgians and France
 plan was inflexible
 once set in motion, there was no turning back
 no alternative plan
 the movement was so tight that any mistakes or delays would cause the plan
to crumble
 misinterpretations
 train schedule did not even account for delayed trains or broken tracks
 the siege of Liege took nearly 2 weeks instead of the 2 days that the Germans
had expected
 tied up a lot of troops and prevented the Germans from using most of the
Belgian railways until Liege fell, delaying the plan.
 communication
 on same technical level as the other nations when it came to communication
 telegraphs and radios became scarce the closer it get to the front, hence,
pigeons an flags were still used
 the high command would get an outdated picture of events
 giving orders based on outdated situations
 misinterpreting things in the East
 dismissed Russia as a strong enemy because Russia had just lost to Japan in
the Russo-Japanese war
 ignored how much Russia had modernized in the past decade
 Russia mobilized before France, adding additional time pressure in the West,
and forcing Moltke to send troops from the Western front to the Eastern front
before he wanted to
 some of the troops refused to move
 had problems with making his generals obey his exact orders
 plan was leaked out when a German officer was caught