WW1-planning for war, major battles. War at sea and in the air.

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WORLD WAR ONE

Preparations for War 1914

France – Improving trains so that soldiers could be taken wherever they were needed.

Germany – General Schlieffen had drawn up a plan in 1905; most of the troops would be sent to knock out the French before the Russians had time to attack. Then once the knockout blow to France the troops would concentrate on Russia

        The main fear was attack on two fronts, Schlieffen worked out that it would take Russia at least six weeks for Russia to mobilize her armies and prepare for war. In these six weeks he thought that Germany could beat France by a surprise attack through Belgium and another through Alsace-Lorraine.

They based their calculations on a few factors:

  • They thought small neutral Belgium wouldn’t put up much of a fight.
  • They thought Britain at worst would send a small army.
  • They thought Russia would be slow and take six weeks.
  • They thought the French army would concentrate on Alsace-Lorraine instead of trying to head off the German troops coming through Belgium.

The main problem with the plan was that Britain gyaranteed Belgiums neutrality with the Treaty of London.  Britain might enter the war if Belgium was attacked.

The Outbreak of War

France was happy to be going to war, there was a sense of settling old scores after a humiliating defeat by Germany in 1871.  Russia saw the war as an exciting affair and saw the soldiers “dancing” off to war.  Even the Germans thought of the war as a good thing.

1914 – The war begins…

What went wrong with the German plans?

  1. The Schlieffen Plan

  • It started off well, Moltke who had taken over from Schlieffen had led his army off to war and taken: Liege, Luxembourg, Brussels, Lille and Riems.
  • By September they were within 20 miles of Paris.

But then Schlieffen Plan went wrong:

  • The Belgians defied Germany and put up more of a force than expected.  Although they were defeated, they took many more men than the Schlieffen plan had expected and therefore weakened the German army.
  • The BEF arrived with two weeks and further weakened the German forces.  Again this was not expected.
  • The Russians mobilized in ten days and not the six weeks Schlieffen had predicted.  The forces in France were again weakened as more men were sent to face Russia who had already started to attack German soil.

Germany had to dig trenches by the river Aisne in France to prevent any further retreation.  Both sides dug in and the stalemate begun.  At the time technological advances favored the defensive teams with weapons such as the machine gun.  The Schlieffen plan had completely failed and Germany now faced their worst nightmare;

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War on two fronts.

The First Battle of Ypres (October-November 1914)

More British troops were lost in this 2 month battle than in the whole three years of the Boer War, (over 10,000 died in the First Battle of Ypres).

The Germans attacked Ypres coming down over the ridges, pushing towards Ypres in three directions.  After a short time crude trenches were built that were no more that ditches.  The Germans were smashing through the allied defences until the Belgians had the idea to release the flood gates of the river Yser, the rising salt waters ...

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