The Schlieffen Plan

        The German army attacking France would be divided, one eight times larger than the other would advance through Belgium, and Schlieffen believed that the Dutch and Belgium army would not be able to put up enough resistance and that they would be able to pass through Holland Belgium. The army would then move swiftly on through the north of France and capture Paris and then continue on to unexpectedly attack the French army from behind, while the other kept up the defence at the front line so the French would not suspect their plan. After defeating France the Germans would then go on to fight the Russian army. The Schlieffen plan if it had gone to plan would have played a big part in the final outcome of the war.

        The Schlieffen plan failed as, Von Moltke replaced Von Schlieffen soon after the plan had been completed and he made some alterations and planned for the army to only invade Holland and not through Holland as the Belgium army would not put up as much resistance than the two armies put together so that the Germans could pass through a lot quicker. Also General Von Moltke changed the amount of soldiers that would make up the two armies so that there would be fewer attacking from behind and more fighting on the front line. And finally Germany attacked Paris from the east where they were met by the French army at the battle of the Marne, which slowed the German army down.

G.C.S.E History Coursework Kate Kings 10T

Why did a Stalemate develop on the Western Front?

A stalemate developed on the western front mainly because both sides used trenches. The trench system gave both armies high protection from gunfire and because of this neither side was able to advance. By 1914 both sides were dug into trenches which ran from Switzerland and reached up to the channel coast. It reached this far as the Germans were trying to get behind the allied forces, as this would make it easier for them to win. The only way possible to stop the Germans doing this was to extend the trenches. The trenches kept growing larger and larger until I couldn’t get any further as it had reached the sea and the army was unable to get behind the allies any more as they could not be transported through the sea. This was called the race to the sea and it caused the stalemate to continue as once both sides had reached the sea there was nowhere else for either army to go from their. Another reason was the introduction of barbed wire as whenever soldiers got out of the trenches to try and advance they couldn’t get very far as they could not get through the barbed wire easily and the holes cut were not big enough so the soldiers had to queue up to get through and while they were waiting they  were shot down by the opposition. This kept happening and still the generals continued to send troops ‘over the top’ for the chance that it would stop the deadlock. This caused the death toll to rise even more with neither side gaining any more land. The conditions of both the trenches and of no mans land were appalling and the quick attacks that were planned were normally very difficult. Heavy artillery bombardments were used to weaken enemy lines, but this made the opposition be prepared for when this happened an attack was often on the way

G.C.S.E History Coursework Kate Kings 10T

The Schlieffen Plan

Why Was the Stalemate on the Western Front Finally Broken?

The four-year stalemate on the western front was finally broken for a few main reasons. Firstly new technology such as tanks helped largely to break the deadlock. The first tank was introduced in 1916 towards the end of the war by the British army; and it only travelled at an average of 3mph. Although it was very slow its heavily armoured body defended it from oncoming gunfire and with its tracks that ran around the wheels. This enabled it to go over the barbed wire, which had caused a lot of deaths earlier in the war and trenches, which before were hard to reach with only infantry. The tanks would move across no mans land slowly with the infantry following behind. The tanks being able to go over most obstacles helped the British army gain lots of land