The Schlieffen Plan Essay -- World War II WWII WW2 Nazi Germany

The Schlieffen Plan was devised by Count Alfred von Schlieffen, the Chief of the General Staff in the German army in 1905. There were a number of different aspects to the Schlieffen Plan, and all were aimed at defeating France as quickly as possible, preferably in under 6 weeks. The Germans believed this was possible because they had defeated France in Alsace and Lorraine in the 1871. The main aim of the Schlieffen Plan was to knock out and capture France and then attack Russia in order to avoid fighting a war on two fronts at the same time. †¨The second aspect to the Schlieffen Plan was to invade neutral Belgium as a means to get to France, because the German-Franco border was heavily fortified and would mean almost certain defeat for Germany. Even though the Germans knew about the Treaty of London signed between Britain and Belgium in 1839, Kaiser Wilhelm II did not believe that Britain would come to Belgium’s aid over â€Å"a scrappy bit of paper†. †¨ The third aspect to the Plan was to use the 1st to 4th armies to go through Belgium and Holland to outflank the French and attack them from behind at Lorraine where the German 5th to 8th armies were holding, attack from the French forces and even give them a little ground to allow the Germans to get behind the French. In the process the Germans would be able to take Paris, the capital as they moved south to join the 5th to 8th armies in Lorraine. The whole of the Schlieffen Plan depended on adhering to a strict timetable, which in theory was a good idea on behalf of the German staff, but in reality it did not take into consideration factors such as soldiers fatigue in marching long distances and unexpected resistance by the British Expeditionary Force at the and the Belgia... ...e Germans arrived in France, the French were ready waiting to repel them. In conclusion, the main aim of the Schlieffen Plan was for Germany to avoid fighting a war on two fronts at the same time. The Plan failed for a number of reasons, but the most important was the unexpected resistance put up by the brave Belgians at Mons and the support given by the BEF at the Battle of the Marne. This meant that von Moltke had to divert his armies from encircling Paris, dig trenches to protect his soldiers from the bombardment form the new artillery, and thereby negate the crux of the Schlieffen Plan, which had depended on speed, knocking out and capturing Paris in six weeks. The Germans found themselves stuck in France while the Russians had mobilized: The Germans then had to fight a war on two fronts - the very situation which the Schlieffen Plan had been devised to avoid. The Schlieffen Plan Essay -- World War II WWII WW2 Nazi Germany The Schlieffen Plan was devised by Count Alfred von Schlieffen, the Chief of the General Staff in the German army in 1905. There were a number of different aspects to the Schlieffen Plan, and all were aimed at defeating France as quickly as possible, preferably in under 6 weeks. The Germans believed this was possible because they had defeated France in Alsace and Lorraine in the 1871. The main aim of the Schlieffen Plan was to knock out and capture France and then attack Russia in order to avoid fighting a war on two fronts at the same time. †¨The second aspect to the Schlieffen Plan was to invade neutral Belgium as a means to get to France, because the German-Franco border was heavily fortified and would mean almost certain defeat for Germany. Even though the Germans knew about the Treaty of London signed between Britain and Belgium in 1839, Kaiser Wilhelm II did not believe that Britain would come to Belgium’s aid over â€Å"a scrappy bit of paper†. †¨ The third aspect to the Plan was to use the 1st to 4th armies to go through Belgium and Holland to outflank the French and attack them from behind at Lorraine where the German 5th to 8th armies were holding, attack from the French forces and even give them a little ground to allow the Germans to get behind the French. In the process the Germans would be able to take Paris, the capital as they moved south to join the 5th to 8th armies in Lorraine. The whole of the Schlieffen Plan depended on adhering to a strict timetable, which in theory was a good idea on behalf of the German staff, but in reality it did not take into consideration factors such as soldiers fatigue in marching long distances and unexpected resistance by the British Expeditionary Force at the and the Belgia... ...e Germans arrived in France, the French were ready waiting to repel them. In conclusion, the main aim of the Schlieffen Plan was for Germany to avoid fighting a war on two fronts at the same time. The Plan failed for a number of reasons, but the most important was the unexpected resistance put up by the brave Belgians at Mons and the support given by the BEF at the Battle of the Marne. This meant that von Moltke had to divert his armies from encircling Paris, dig trenches to protect his soldiers from the bombardment form the new artillery, and thereby negate the crux of the Schlieffen Plan, which had depended on speed, knocking out and capturing Paris in six weeks. The Germans found themselves stuck in France while the Russians had mobilized: The Germans then had to fight a war on two fronts - the very situation which the Schlieffen Plan had been devised to avoid.