Was the Schlieffen plan the cause of Germany's defeat?

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Was the Schlieffen plan the cause of Germany’s defeat?

                                                 One cause of Germany’s defeat was the failure of the Schlieffen plan. There were a number of causes of the failure of the Schlieffen plan. One cause of failure was that the German army was held because of the Belgian resistance. Although the Belgian army was only a tenth of the size of the German army it still held the Germans up for nearly a whole month as the fortresses and cities were defended by the Belgians. The Germans used their artillery to destroy Belgian forts in Liège, Namur and Antwerp, but the Belgians still fought back, putting pressure on the Germans. The German attack on neutral Belgium turned public opinion in many neutral countries against Germany. The city was under siege between the 5 August and the 16 August, when finally the fort surrendered.

                                                 Another cause of the failure of the Schlieffen plan was the inability of the Germans to outflank the French army. The French railway system helped with this because it was much quicker than having to mobilize the French army through marching. The Germans greatly underestimated how well they would do this and by time they got into France the French were waiting for them.

                                                 A third cause of the failure of the Schlieffen plan was the speed of the Russian mobilization, the Russians moved faster than expected and surprised the Germans as they gained ground in Eastern Prussia. Although the advance of the Russians was not that much of a threat at the time, they were going to get very close to Berlin, which caused the Germans to pull even more men from their main force in an attempt to reinforce the Eastern front. This was quite unnecessary because while the forces were moving from the Western front to the Eastern front Germany had won in Tannenburg in early September 1914, while the battles on the Western front was being lost for Germany.

                                                 An additional cause of the failure of the Schlieffen plan was the Battle of the Marne. The Germans were extremely close to reaching Paris that they could even see the Eiffel tower. Then a change in plan by Moltke and the German generals was a certain fatal mistake. The army was meant to surround Paris from the west but instead the army went east of Paris towards the Marne. This was a decisive moment in the Schlieffen plan because it gave the French time to save themselves. Because of the change in plan the French armies needed to send men to the Marne and some 250 taxis were used to transport soldiers. This started on the eve of 4th September. The Battle itself lasted from the 5-11th September with 2 million men involved in the fighting along a stretch of 240km on the Marne. The French and BEF gradually pushed the Germans back and therefore the Germans in the end retreated 60km to the River Aisne. This is where trenches were dug and machine posts set-down to defend themselves.

                                                 Another cause of the failure of the Schlieffen plan was that the British were able to land in the channel ports. The BEF (British Expeditionary Force) crossed the English Channel in troop ships from Britain and made their way into France, because the Channel Ports were free due to the Belgian resistance. The BEF were made up of 125,000 men and marched east and slowed down the First German Army in a battle at Mons. The British rifle fire was so fast and accurate that the Germans thought they were being machine gunned. They managed to delay the Germans long enough for French and British reinforcements to arrive.

                                                There were a number of consequences of the failure of the Schlieffen Plan. One consequence was that the war was going to be longer than hoped; the plan was for it to be a short war, however due to the Americans entering the war meant that it would go on for longer as well as the building of trenches after the battle of the Marne.

                                                 Another consequence of the failure of the Schlieffen plan was that Germany

had to face a war on two fronts, the Germans wanted a quick victory. The idea of the plan was to win a two

front war quickly by first triumphing in the West before the Russians would be able to mobilize and descend

upon East Prussia - the plan scheduled 39 days for the fall of Paris. The plan depended on Germany's ability

to invade France before France could mobilize its troops to defend itself, and then to turn on Russia, seen as

the slowest of the three to mobilize, before the Russians were ready. However this plan ended in massive

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failure so there was no hope of a quick Germany victory.

                                                 A third consequence of the Schlieffen plan was trench warfare. After ‘The Race to the Sea’, both armies went on the defensive to stop either advancing. Trenches were built and they stretched from Flanders in Belgium to Switzerland in the south. Neither army could move any longer. It was a stalemate.

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