History Research Essay The Schlieffen Plan

-Timothy Wu 10G
20 October 2011

What was the Schlieffen Plan and why did it fail? In times of tension and war, battle plans are often extremely important. Without a proper plan or strategy, even the mightiest army would not stand a chance against a well-executed plan. Right before the start of World War 1, tensions between the European powers were absolutely tense, and the alliance system that was introduced in around 1882 did not help alleviate the worsening relations between the European countries.1 As a result, many countries felt so sure that war was bound to come sooner or later that they began to make very detailed battle plans for what to do when war breaks out.2 One of the most famous plans at that time was the Schlieffen Plan. In this essay, the contents of the Schlieffen Plan and the reasons it failed will be discussed. The Schlieffen Plan was devised by General Count Alfred von Schlieffen in December 1905.3 Schlieffen realized that a war of Germany against the Russian and French forces was inevitable. If war broke out, Germany would have to face a two-front war, with the French troops in the West and the Russians in the East.4 Every possible aspect of this future war was taken into account, in the process of formulating this plan. Schlieffen, as an expert strategist, studied the military doctrines of the respective countries at that time in great detail, which helped him greatly in understanding how the enemy would react to the German invasion.5 He knew that Germany could not afford to fight a war of attrition, and that Germany could not fight a two-front war, therefore, he sought a battle plan that could lead the Germans to a swift victory.6 The main aim of the Schlieffen Plan was to avoid a two-front war and take on France and Russia one after the

1 Walsh, Ben. GCSE modern world history. UK: Hodder Education, 2001. P.4 2 Walsh, Ben. GCSE modern world history. UK: Hodder Education, 2001. P.9 3 Trueman, Chris. Schlieffen Plan. 2000.http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/schlieffen_plan.htm(accessed Oct. 21, 2011). 4 Walsh, Ben. GCSE modern world history. UK: Hodder Education, 2001. P.9 5 James, Justin. The Schlieffen Plan. n.d.http://www.thesophist.com/64.html (accessed Oct. 21, 2011). 6 James, Justin. The Schlieffen Plan. n.d.http://www.thesophist.com/64.html (accessed Oct. 21, 2011).

other. This plan utilized the expected slow mobilization time of Russia, which was thought to be at least six weeks.7 The Schlieffen Plan was simple. Germany knew that France would try to take Alsace-Lorraine (a piece of land that was conquered by Germany in a brief war in 1870), thus, Germany would launch a feint attack through Belgium, to lure the French to attack. Then, Germany would retreat to the heavily fortified AlsaceLorraine, where they would defend, and then retort with a strong counterattack.8 At the same time, the German army would launch a scythe-like attack through Belgium and Luxembourg9, and then finally launch an all-out attack on the French capital of Paris. All the above would be carried out by 90% of the army within six weeks (the time they expected the Russians would need to mobilize) while the rest of the army would be sent to defend the Eastern Front. Schlieffen thought that a small amount of the army would be ample to defend the Eastern front as Germany had more advanced artillery such as the machine gun in comparison to the backward Russian technology. After defeating Paris, they would then transport every man not needed for the operations on the Western Front to the Eastern Front through the Germans advanced railways to fight the Russians.10 A simple but risky plan, that if executed successfully, would immediately make Germany the strongest power of all the European countries. After Schlieffens retirement, Helmuth Johann Ludwig von Moltke was chosen to carry on Schlieffens work. Moltke did not know much about the plan, and immediately decided that the plan was too risky. Moltke decided the Eastern Front would not be safe enough with just 10% of the army there, and thus Moltke modified the plan a little by shifting more men to the Eastern Front. Nonetheless, most of the elements of the original plan were retained.

7 Trueman, Chris. Schlieffen Plan. 2000.http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/schlieffen_plan.htm(accessed Oct. 21, 2011). 8 Dupuy, Ernest R. and Trevor N. Dupuy. The Harper Encyclopedia of Military History. World War I. Harper Resource, 1993. 9 Simkin, John. Schlieffen Plan. n.d.http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/FWWschlieffenP.htm(accessed Oct. 21, 2011). 10 James, Justin. The Schlieffen Plan. n.d.http://www.thesophist.com/64.html (accessed Oct. 21, 2011).

As soon as war was declared, Germanys Schlieffen Plan went into operation. The Germans successfully invaded Belgium on 4 August, opening a route for the German troops to launch the planned feint. The Belgians had resisted against the German troops, which greatly slowed Germany down, however, they were no match for the Germans massive and powerful army, and soon they were defeated.11 Due to a treaty between Belgium and Britain in 1893, Britain had promised to defend Belgium, and thus Britain declared war on Germany on 4 August 1914, creating yet another obstacle for the German army.12 The British Expeditionary Force (BEP) landed in France soon after, and came into actual conflict with the German troops on 23 August. The BEP was a group of small but well-trained soldiers who greatly slowed the German troops down, but the vast German army soon hugely outnumbered them. The French army did exactly the same as the Germans thought they would. They launched a direct attack on Germany through Alsace-Lorraine. However, Alsace-Lorraine was heavily fortified with machine-guns and strong artillery, and thus the French suffered a major defeat.13 Up until this stage of the war, it almost seemed like Germany was going to win. Though they were slowed down by the Belgians and British forces, but that did not stop the Germans from their advances on France. The turning point of the war was the Battle of the Marne, which started on 5 September 1914. By that time, Germany had already been invaded by Russian troops; the Russian troops mobilized far quicker than was expected, hence, 100,000 troops had to be transferred from the Western Front to the Eastern Front to defend Germany.14 In the Battle of the Marne, the German troops changed their tactic of encircling France. Instead, they advanced straight to Paris along the line of the River Marne. However, that advancement was a failure. The combined British and French troops stopped the German advance, then they counter-attacked, forcing Germany to retreat to the River Aisne. However, they could not drive
11 Walsh, Ben. GCSE modern world history. UK: Hodder Education, 2001. P.16 12 The Schlieffen Plan. n.d.http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/history/mwh/...(accessed Oct. 22, 2011). 13 Walsh, Ben. GCSE modern world history. UK: Hodder Education, 2001. P.17 14 Walsh, Ben. GCSE modern world history. UK: Hodder Education, 2001. P.18

Germany out of France completely. By 8 September, neither side could make any progress, so they were digging trenches to protect themselves from shellfire. This eventually became the trench warfare, which turned this war of movement into a stalemate.15 After the Battle of the Marne, the Schlieffen Plan was proved to be an utter failure. The two main objectives were to achieve a swift victory and not to be caught in a two-front war. The Battle of the Marne turned the war of movement into a stalemate. Also, the Germans were then enveloped in a twofront war, thus both objectives of the Schlieffen Plan were not reached. When Schlieffen made the plan, it sounded near perfect, as if it was an ensured victory, but what caused the failure of the plan? What the Germans did not realize was that the whole plan was based solely on assumptions. The plan would only work if Russia took six weeks to mobilize, if Belgium offered little or no resistance, if France could be defeated in six weeks, and if Britain remained neutral.16 It turned out that most of these assumptions were far from being correct, and these mistaken assumptions were what caused the ultimate defeat of Germany in World War I. Firstly, the Belgian resistance greatly slowed the Germans down. Schlieffen had previously assumed that Belgium would show little or no resistance at all. However, when the Germans invaded Belgium, they were greeted by the Belgium army, who put up a heroic fight, that bought the Allied powers time to mobilize. The Belgian resistance was one of the reasons the Germans were not able to invade Paris in the expected 6 weeks. Secondly, Schlieffen was absolutely wrong in estimating the time it would take for Russia to mobilize. Russia took just 10 days instead of the assumed 6 weeks to mobilize.17 The Russians immediately started to invade Germany as soon as they mobilized, and hence the Germans became involved in a two-front
15 Walsh, Ben. GCSE modern world history. UK: Hodder Education, 2001. P.18 16 Virneth Studios Ltd., Schlieffen Plan - World War One German attack on France. 2003.http://www.3dhistory.co.uk/factsheets/29schlieffenPlan...(accessed Oct. 22, 2011). 17 Virneth Studios Ltd., Schlieffen Plan - World War One German attack on France. 2003.http://www.3dhistory.co.uk/factsheets/29schlieffenPlan...(accessed Oct. 22, 2011).

war very early in the war. As men from the Western Front had to be transferred to the Eastern Front to defend Germany, the number of troops and power on the Western Front diminished by quite a lot. Thirdly, the Germans did not expect the British to join in the war. They did not know that if they invaded Belgium, the British would declare war on them. The British Expeditionary Force greatly slowed the German troops down, and also caused massive damage to the Germans when they first met with these British professional soldiers. The BEP was yet another reason Germany could not invade Paris in the expected 6 weeks. Fourthly, Schlieffen had greatly underestimated the power of the French army. He thought that France could be conquered in six weeks time, however in reality, the Germans could only invade part of France and could not even reach Paris. Also, the delay of the German advances caused by the Belgians and the BEP bought a lot of time for the French to mobilize. When the Germans finally reached France, the French troops were well-prepared and ready to fight. Lastly, in the Battle of the Marne, neither side could make any progress. Therefore, the German army decided to dig trenches for protection, and the opposing side did the same.18 This soon resulted in the trench warfare, turning this war into a war of attrition that remained a stalemate for four years, which the Germans were definitely not prepared for. This means that the Germans would not be able to achieve a swift victory, deeming the Schlieffen Plan an absolute failure. Due to the aforementioned reasons, the Schlieffen Plan failed. The seemingly perfect plan, that took an expert strategist years to plan, turned out to be a disaster after all. The greatest mistake that Schlieffen had made in the

18 The Trench System. n.d.http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/FWWtrenchsystem.htm(accessed Oct. 22, 2011).

making of his plan was that he relied too much on what he assumed and not on solid facts. He made a total 4 assumptions in his plan, which were all proven to be wrong when war broke out. Due to these wrong estimates, the Schlieffen Plan eventually crumbled to dust. However, if all of Schlieffens assumptions were correct, World War I would have ended very quickly, with France and Russia conquered completely by Germany. Instead, Germany lost the war, and was forced to sign the treaty of Versailles, which helped spark World War II.19 In conclusion, the Schlieffen Plan was an amazing plan concept-wise, and its objectives would have surely been reached if the assumptions Schlieffen made were correct. However, in reality, the plan was a complete failure, as all the essential assumptions made by Schlieffen were proved to be wrong afterall. The Schlieffen Plan also caused the stalemate of World War I, prolonging the war much longer than it could have been. In short, the failure of the Schlieffen Plan caused the bloody stalemate, which caused a lot more casualties than it could have if the plan had succeeded.

19 James, Justin. The Schlieffen Plan. n.d.http://www.thesophist.com/64.html (accessed Oct. 21, 2011).

Bibliography:
1. Walsh, Ben. GCSE modern world history. UK: Hodder Education, 2001. 2. The Schlieffen Plan. n.d.http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/history/mwh/ir1/schlieffenplanrev3. shtml 3. Trueman, Chris. Schlieffen Plan. 2000.http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/schlieffen_plan.htm 4. Dupuy, Ernest R. and Trevor N. Dupuy. The Harper Encyclopedia of Military History. World War I. Harper Resource, 1993. 5. Simkin, John. Schlieffen Plan. n.d.http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/FWWschlieffenP.htmJames, 6. Justin. The Schlieffen Plan. n.d.http://www.thesophist.com/64.html 7. Virneth Studios Ltd., Schlieffen Plan - World War One German attack on France. 2003. http://www.3dhistory.co.uk/factsheets/29schlieffenPlan.html, 8. The Trench System. n.d. http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/FWWtrenchsystem.htm