Stalemate - The Schlieffen plan

Question 1

What were the origins of the Schlieffen plan?

Answer 1

1. Following the signing of the Franco-Russian alliance -> Germans began working on plan to deal with a “war on two fronts”
2. It was named after General Count Alfred Von Schlieffen, head of the German army

Question 2

What was the Schlieffen plan?

Answer 2

1. Schlieffen did not want to fight France and Russia at the same time -> this would mean splitting the army in two to fight at both fronts
2. He planned to beat the countries one at a time
3. France were to be attacked first -> Schlieffen knew Russia lacked an effective road and railway system so he assumed that it would take Russia several weeks to mobilize
4. This would give Germany time to beat France, who he felt would mobilise for war a lot quicker
5. After defeating France -> forces would turn around and attack the Russians

Question 3

How was France to be attacked in the Schlieffen plan?

Answer 3

1. The plan involved several smaller groups of German soldiers entering France through its more lightly defended northern regions
2. Most troops would invade France via the smaller nations of Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands
3. These countries lacked large military forces and Belgium and Luxembourg had borders with France that were not well protected
4. The German troops would invade France, sweep the south west, and down torward Paris - Schlieffen assumed that France would not expect an attack through external countries and that the French toops would be concentrated on the German border
5. The plan meant that the French would be outflanked and surrounded - Schlieffen predicted that the French could be defeated in around 40 days -> Germans would have lots of time to turn around and attack Russia

Question 4

What were problems with the Schlieffen plan?

Answer 4

1. Assumptions that Russia would take at least 6 weeks to mobilise and that France would take 40 days to beat
2. In the 1839 treaty of London Britain had promised to protect Beligum -> they assumed Britain wouldnt honour this 75-year old deal
3. It guaranteed large scale conflict because it assumed France would enter to aid Russia

Question 5

How did the Schlieffen plan change?

Answer 5

1. Schlieffen was replaced in 1906 by General von Moltke
2. He reduced the numbers of people used in the attack and he removed the Netherlands from the plan all together

Question 6

What did Germany do in the early stages of the war?

Answer 6

When the war began -> German troops invaded Belgium and Luxembourg in line with Schlieffen plan

Question 7

What did France do in the early stages of the war?

Answer 7

1. French carried out plan 17 -> invaded Alsace and Lorraine, the provinces Germany had taken from France at the end of the Franco-Prussian war
2. Plan relied on capturing lost provinces quickly and advancing at speed toward Berlin

Question 8

What did Britain do in the early stages of the war?

Answer 8

120,000 highly trained British soldiers (BEF) landed in France to help

Question 9

What were early problems with the Schlieffen plan?

Answer 9

1. Relied on speedy defeat of Belgium and quick defeat of France
2. Germans underestimated the Belgians -> much fiercer resistance than expected
3. Liege delayed Germans by 4-5 days
4. Germans slowed down at Mons -> BEF delayed German advance -> rifle fire so fast the Germans thought they were being machine gunned
5. Delay in German advance forced them to abandon their plan of sweeping around Paris
6. Speedy capture of Paris thwarted

Question 10

What was the Russian surprise of the Schlieffen plan?

Answer 10

1. Schlieffen plan relied on Russians taking around 6 weeks to mobilise
2. -> long enough time to beat France and turn around to face Russia
3. Russians took only 10 days to prepare and march toward Germany
4. Germans ordered 100,000 soldiers to leave France
5. This slowed down German advance in France
6. Germany now fighting war on two fronts -> Schlieffen plan tried to avoid

Question 11

What was the battle of the Marne?

Answer 11

1. By late August, Germans reached the river Marne -> 40km from Paris
2. Fewer German troops heading toward Paris than intended in original Schlieffen plan
3. 11 divisions moved from Belgium to fight Russians
4. German 1st army -> General Von Kluck swerved to south-east, away from Paris mistakenly
5. Marched into valley of River Marne -> gave French and British troops opportunity to attack
6. British and French -> General Joffre attacked from west on 6 September -> forced Von Kluck to stop advance
7. In turning to meet F&B, a 50km gap was created between Von Klucks 1st army and German 2nd army
8. B troops advanced into the gap between the Germany armies -> German armies retreted until the river Aisne

Question 12

Result of the battle of the Marne?

Answer 12

1. Once the Germany army started to retreat it was clear that the Schlieffen plan had failed
2. Germans began to dig trenches -> French and British did the same

Question 13

What was the race to the sea?

Answer 13

1. By early September 1914, both sides had dug trunches - as neither side could move forward, they tried to outflank each other
2. As the armies moved north trying to outflank each other they dug drunches as they went - this was called the race to the sea
3. Several major battles took place during this time e.g. battle near Ypres with 120,000 ally casualties
4. Soon both sides had reached the English channel - 400 miles of trenches
5. For the next four years these positions barely changed -> the stalemate

Question 14

What was the war on Germany’s eastern front?

Answer 14

1. Russian army marched toward Germany and A-H within days of war starting
2. Huge Russian army of over 1 million men nicknamed “steam roller” -> advanced several hundred miles into German territory by mid August
3. Russians poorly equipped and badly led -> up against Hindenburg and Ludendorff
4. Russians defeated at battle of Tannenberg (125,000 casualties), battle of Masurian lakes (100,000 casualties)

Question 15

What happened between Russia and Austria-Hungary?

Answer 15

1. Russians had more success against AH -> in late August, AH followed plan R -> advanced into Russian territory
2. When faced with the sight of nearly 500,000 Rusian soldiers, they turned and fled
3. In less than a week -> A-H forces retreated over 120 miles, leaving resources behind
4. Estimated 100,000 killed, 220,000 wounded and 100,000 captured
5. Russians eventually crossed border into AH but were halted by the Carpathian Mountain Range