Part of The Student Room Group

  • Join over 1.2 million students every month
  • Accelerate your learning by 29%
  • Unlimited access from just £6.99 per month

EXPLAIN HOW THE SCHLIEFFEN PLAN WAS MEANT TO WORK

Extracts from this document...

Introduction

EXPLAIN HOW THE SCHLIEFFEN PLAN WAS MENT TO WORK The Schlieffen Plan was created by Alfred Von Schlieffen in 1905 after being given orders by the German army to devise a plan to counter a war on two fronts. Schlieffens plan was originally to invade through the Netherlands and Belgium, but moltke later edited the plan so that the Germans would only invade through Belgium, he thought that it was pointless to get another country involved in the war for no reason and this could result in slowing the army down. The Germans were afraid that France and Russia would attack them because of the dual entente that was signed by France and Russia ,the Germans were not worried too much about the triple entente they viewed England's army as a pitiful one and did not think that they would get involved, but they did need to come up with a solution for the immanent attack from Russia and France on them and it ...read more.

Middle

The German army would spit into two divisions when attacking France, there was the decisive wing and the holding wing. The decisive wing consisted of 37 and a half divisions and its job was to travel along the coast of France taking all of the ports along the way- this gave them control over the docks and meant that it would be much harder for Britain to help out Belgium after getting control of the ports they would come around to Paris and take over the capital, the Germans would stop all communications and transport in the country and would completely destroy the morale of the country and ultimately circum to Germany defeating France. The holding wings job was to literally hold the French army in place at Alsace Lorain - the Germans knew that France would want Alsace Lorain back from the Germans who gained control of it in the last war and that the French would have there minds set on taking back ...read more.

Conclusion

Germany decided to attack France by invading Belgium because Belgium was a very easy country to invade, it was flat and clear- there were hardly any hills or big forests that would tire out the German soldiers, they could just swiftly move in and out of Belgium with little problems at all, the Germans knew that Belgium would put up some resistance but not enough to halt the German advance. The Germans knew that it was almost inevitable that the second they invaded France, the French would almost certainly launch an attack through Alsace Lorain again that was why the holding wing was in place, if the holding wing did there job and held off the attack by the French then the decisive wing would come from behind and take over the best invasion route between France and Germany, this would prevent the French from launching another attack on the Germans in the near future. ...read more.

The above preview is unformatted text

This student written piece of work is one of many that can be found in our AS and A Level International History, 1945-1991 section.

Found what you're looking for?

  • Start learning 29% faster today
  • 150,000+ documents available
  • Just £6.99 a month

or


Not the one? Search for your essay title...
  • Join over 1.2 million students every month
  • Accelerate your learning by 29%
  • Unlimited access from just £6.99 per month

See related essaysSee related essays

Related AS and A Level International History, 1945-1991 essays

  1. Explain how the Schlieffen Plan was meant to work?

    The battle of Marne was equally important because it caused the two forces to be facing each other in a field with exhausted troops, artillery and no military supremacy gained. This also contributed to the outflanking movement's failure, which caused the development of stalemate because the two forces were equally matched.

  2. Explain how the schlieffen plan was meant to work The schlieffen plan was concocted ...

    The aim of gas attacks was to wipe out your enemies troops so your own infantry could invade. The tanks were a British invention, at first the idea was rejected by the army leaders. Winston Churchill however, thought that the idea had potential.

  1. The Schlieffen Plan and the Reality

    Although the BEF consisted of only 125, 000 men, they were well trained, equipped, organised and ready for action within less than one week. They were said to be the hardcore of the British army after previous wars. Surprisingly though for the Germans the British Expeditionary Force (BEF)

  2. The First World War - Explain how the Schlieffen Plan was meant to work.

    In April 1917, the USA joined the war against Germany. Bad feeling had been growing between Germany and the USA since 1914 because of Germany's irrational behaviour. The USA was officially neutral but was clearly supplying loans and equipment to the Allies.

  1. The schlieffen plan "What was meant to happen"

    Schlieffen realised this, but he was not particularly worried. He was unimpressed by Britain's tiny army, and did not think that it could arrive in France in time to upset the plan. Accordingly, in 1905, just before his retirement, he made important changes to the plan. First, he decided that the German army must advance through Holland, as well as Belgium.

  2. Explain how the Schlieffen plan was meant to work.

    particularly in fortresses such as liege, despite this though Belgium's capital city fell on 20th August. Russia also mobilised quicker then Germany had expected and it invaded Germany on the 17th August, this forced the German commander to transfer troops from Belgium to the east to fight Russia.

  1. Explain how the Schlieffen Plan was meant to work.

    Von Kluck, who was a German commander, had decided that he could not sweep around Paris as the original plan dictated, but rather he advanced straight towards it. The German army was weary and overstretched, whereas the French were fighting to save their country.

  2. Explain how the Schlieffen Plan was meant to work.

    The French were expected to concentrate their troops on the eastern frontier along the Alsace-Lorraine border and therefore have insufficient troops defending Paris. The French responded rapidly to the German threat. An additional postulation made in the Schlieffen Plan was that the Russian army would take a long time to mobilise.

  • Over 160,000 pieces
    of student written work
  • Annotated by
    experienced teachers
  • Ideas and feedback to
    improve your own work