First of all, the German Schlieffen plan was made so Germany would defeat France and Russia. The left wing of the German army would attack France from Metz to Switzerland and keep the French along that line. So the right wing would go through Belgium into France. This would lead to the capture of Paris and the entrapment of the French army and would take six weeks. Next the German would turn around and concentrate on Russia. A quote for this plan was ‘Paris for lunch and dinner in St. Petersburg’. The German Schlieffen plan entailed that the German army would never fight on two fronts.
However the Schlieffen plan failed because it involved a few risks such as hoping the Belgians would not put any resistance and hoping that the Russians would not mobilise quickly. The Belgians put up more resistance than first entailed by the Germans as well the British helped the Belgians slow down the Germans because of The Treaty Of London (signed in the 1880’s). The British/ Belgians attacked the flank of the German right wing forcing its line off course. Also Britain/ Belgium/ France stopped the German at Marne and the Russian mobilise more rapidly than first fought. This meant the Germans ended up fighting on two fronts.
The consequences of this meant that both sides dug trenches to stop the other side from outflanking them and cutting them off from behind. These trenches stretched from the French coast to Switzerland. The war became of attrition and defence because weather conditions made it harder to attack and attacking forces were very exposed. As well new weapons were better for defence than attack such as barbed wire and machine guns.
Furthermore both the Triple Entente and Triple Alliance built up large armies of civilians through conscription. Conscription is the law where men between certain ages are forced to join the armed forces if needed. This meant that neither side was worried about making sure this was a quick war as there were plenty of troops. Both sides were industrialised which meant weapons could be produced in large quantities.
Breaking the stalemate is what both sides tried to do. There were big battles at Ypres, Verdun, Somme in which they were long and millions of men died for little land. Plus a war had big advantages to a war of attack.
The end of stalemate occurred as in 1918 Russia pulled out of the war because problems within the country. Germany won a battle, which nearly lead them to win the war. The USA joined the Triple Alliance, which led to more troops, money and weapons. The Germans surrendered before they were invaded.
