WHY DID THE SCHLIEFFEN PLAN FAIL?
WHY DID THE SCHLIEFFEN PLAN FAIL? Why did the Schlieffen plan fail? Was it because too many mistakes were made by the Germans? Or was it just the Belgium resistance and the job of the BEF (British Expeditionary Force)? In this essay I will tell you on the reasons of how it failed therefore coming to a conclusion about what the actual reason it was the Schlieffen plan failed. The Germans did make many noticeable mistakes when Alfred Von Schlieffen died he clearly said keep to the right. The right wing must be kept strong at all times. But von Molkte made some very big changes to the plan. At first in 1905 Schlieffen had said too send 90%of the army to France to attack Paris. In order to invade France, the German first and second armies were in Belgium needing to get to and conquer Fort Liege. They'd expected Belgium not to fight back and allow German control but Belgium did. This delayed Germany 10 days however they still conquered Fort Liege. If Belgium hadn't resisted German forces then the Germans would've had those extra 10 days and could've used it very well to their advantage. But the Belgium resistance held the Germans up. Schlieffen fought that the British would stay neutral but they didn't instead they declared war on Germany hen they invaded Belgium. The BEF had, unbeknownst to the Schlieffen Plan, crossed the channel and fought the German first army, under the
How Important was the Role of the BEF in the Failure of the Schlieffen Plan?
26th September 2003 Ewan Miller Y2 How Important was the Role of the BEF in the Failure of the Schlieffen Plan? Introduction: The Role of the British Expeditionary Force (the B.E.F.) was an in important contributing factor to the failure of the Schlieffen Plan, but not the only one. The French's Plan XIV, the out of date Schlieffen plan itself, and the role of the Belgian army all were contributing factors that together resulted in the failure of Germany's Schlieffen Plan. The Background: Germany had anticipated war for a long time, and in 1905 the German Chief of Staff, Alfred von Schlieffen devised a short, decisive plan to win it. The biggest problem with Germany's location was that it was in between France and Germany. In a European war, the Germans knew they could not, and so would have to avoid, dividing their forces and fighting a war on two fronts. Consequently, von Schlieffen's plan counted on Russia's inability to mobilise - he estimated it would take them 6 weeks to do so. Thus, to avoid a war on two fronts, the Schlieffen Plan meant 90% of the German army would cross rapidly through neutral Belgium, and like a scythe advance through northern France past the French army and fortifications on the French/German border, and take Paris and the French army from behind. After France's defeat, the German army could march back through Germany to fight
Why did the Schlieffen Plan fail?
Why did the Schlieffen Plan fail? This has been a question discussed many times. Well, one problem that was certain was that there were too many assumptions in the actual plan. There were assumptions such as "Russia will take six weeks to mobilise." This was probably true at the time, for Russia had just fought a war against Japan, and had lost. This meant that the armies were weakened, and demoralised. However, this was in 1904. When the plan was carried out, the Russian army had been greatly improved, as had the railway services in Russia, thus ensuring a faster mobilisation (10 days or so instead). Another assumption that Schlieffen made was that Belgium would remain neutral, as would Britain. This, however, also proved incorrect. The Belgians put up some resistance, thus bringing Britain into the war, due to the Belgian - European alliance many years before. This contradicted another theory of Schlieffen's: that the alliance was too old to be upheld. So Britain was brought into the war, a costly mistake by Germany. The Belgian resistance wasn't big enough to completely halt the Germans, but they were definitely slowed down, thus giving Russia even more time to mobilise. This a major problem for the Germans, because they were supposed to go round the west of Paris, surround the city, force the French to surrender, and then prepare for a war with Russia on the other side of
why did the schlieffen plan fail
Page 13 Question D "The Schlieffen plan failed because of the British role at the Battle of Mons,"Do you agree with the view? Use sources and your own knowledge to explain. I agree with this view, The British army at the Battle of Mons did make the Schlieffen plan fail. Schlieffen did not expect the British would get involved in this war. He thought that the British would join the war over "scrap of paper." Great Britain had a treaty with Belgium. The treaty stated that if Belgium did get into a war Britain would back them up. Schlieffen thought that Belgium would not risk attacking the German army. Although the Germans had a much bigger army the British had a trained and a professional army, Source D tells us this. The BEF, British Expeditionary Force came to Belgium rapidly and slowed the Germans down with the Belgium army. "Germans came in Hordes and were shot down," This quote from source B tells us that the British fired so quickly that the Germans were shot down. By slowing the Germans they gave time to the French to mobilize and try to get their army from Alsace Lorraine to Paris. No longer able to push Germany back the British retreated to the Marne this is known as the Great Retreat. This is where the French joined. River Marne is only 60 kilometres away from the capital of France which the Germans were aiming for. When the British, Belgium and the French army were
Why did the Schlieffen Plan fail?
Why did the Schlieffen Plan fail? The aim of the plan was to avoid having to fight two was at the same time (France and Russia). The plan was devised by Alfred Von Schlieffen. His plan was to attack France, not on the main border, which was strongly fortified, but to attack through Belgium and circle the Paris by going to the west of it, not east. He predicted this should take 6 weeks leaving enough time to go to the eastern front at Russia and fight there. The plan was very precise and accurate but when it was put into action there were changes, which led to the Germans failing to capture France. The first change was made by Moltke (Schlieffen's successor). He decided that they would not go through Holland, but just go through Belgium, hoping to keep Britain neutral. One of the main factors of the plan was the speed. However, this slowed down everything as they now only had one railway line to transport five large armies. Also, they did not expect the resistance from Belgium. Although, Belgium was not that strong, they delayed the Germans for 12 days at the fortress at Liège. The Germans had to bring up the railway-mounted artillery. The Belgians also stopped supplies and reinforcements, and destroyed their railways. One of the great ideas about the Schlieffen Plan was that the army invading France was so large and strong. However, when Russia recovered unexpectedly in
Why did The Schlieffen Plan fail?
"The Schlieffen Plan failed because the German high command made too many mistakes in August and September 1914" Germany was surrounded by her enemies on every border. She feared an attack fir many reasons and so the Schlieffen plan was born. It was thought up by a German general by the name of Alfred Von Schlieffen. The plan depended on rapid speed and movement. Germany was to leave 10% of her army at Alsace-Lorraine because she believed this would be the front from which France staged her attack. After all, Germany had won these two valuable provinces from France in a previous war and she was eager to get it back. These 10% were only a distraction though and would definitely be no match against the French army. They were basically being sent to their deaths. While this distraction was taking place the German army would cut through Belgium, go round Paris and seize it forcing the French army to surrender. They did not think Belgium would prove a problem because she was a small country and neutral. The plan after the surrender of the French was to rush back the whole of the German army to face Russia who they did not think would mobilise her army in less than 12 weeks, which in their mind gave them plenty time to execute the first part of their plan. The mistakes of the German high command contributed to the failure of the Schlieffen plan but it was not the sole factor.
Why did the Schlieffen Plan Fail?
Richard Tandy 18.09.02 Why did the Schlieffen Plan Fail? Introduction The Germans hope of a quick victory in the war were based on a plan called the Schlieffen Plan, formulated and composed by Count Alfred Von Schlieffen, chief of the General Staff of the German Army. Firstly, Germany knew they had one of the finest railway systems in the World. They would use this to their advantage to transport troops to the front line. The first stage of attack was to invade through neutral Belgium, sending most of their troops through the central and northern parts instead of the wooded Ardennes region, which would save time. Germany would then have enough troops to attack the west side of Paris. Within six weeks German troops would have captured the city of Paris by encircling it. The next step was to then transport the troops by rail to face "the Russian steamroller" which the Germans anticipated to take six weeks to get prepared. The first sticking point for Germany was when they invaded Belgium in August 1914. Firstly, the French army had made no plans to halt any German advance as they did not think they could stop the Germans there. Instead the French General Joseph Joffre planned a massive offensive on the German Frontier in northern Alsace-Lorraine. His plan was called Plan XVII. However, to
Why did the Schlieffen Plan fail?
WORLD WAR I COURSE WORK Why did the Schlieffen Plan fail? Alfred Von Schlieffen devised his plan in the earlier part of the 20th century, ten years before it was used. This was thought to have been a problem, because of the new developments in military technology, such as the use of tanks and aircrafts, which weren't known in 1904. The task of putting the plan into action had fallen to Helmuth von Moltke, Chief of the Imperial General Staff of Germany since 1906. He followed the plan, even though he had doubt's of whether the plan would work, this made the Germans lose faith in Moltke and was criticised through history for his lack of confident in the plan. He altered the plan very slightly by weakening the right flank of the attacking force in Belgium and France. Moving troops away from the main target of Paris may well have been a mistake and Moltke paid for it with his reputation. The Schlieffen Plan itself was damaged, whether it was modified or not modified. There were several aspects of the plan, which meant that it would probably fail. Originally the Germans were suppose encircle Paris but failed to this. The Belgian army resisted the army invasion and slowed down the advance. Also the right wing of the German army weakened when two corps were taken to follow the Belgian army to Antwerp. The French 5th army advanced northwards with the B.E.F on their left.
What was the Schlieffen Plan?
What was the Schlieffen Plan? Read through these six points for a concise description of the Schlieffen Plan: . Count Alfred von Schlieffen drew up the Schlieffen Plan in 1905 when he was German Chief of Staff. 2. In a general European war, Germany would face France in the west and Russia in the east, and would need to defeat France within six weeks before Russia mobilised her troops. 3. As most of the French army was stationed on the border with Germany, the Schlieffen Plan aimed for the quick defeat of France by invading it through neutral Belgium and moving rapidly on to capture Paris. 4. The Germans did not believe that Britain would go to war over their 1839 treaty with Belgium, which they described as a 'scrap of paper'. 5. Even if Britain did defend Belgium, the Kaiser believed that there was no need to fear the British Expeditionary Force, which he called a 'contemptible little army'. 6. Having defeated France, Germany would then be able to concentrate her efforts on defeating the Russians in the east rather then having to fight on two fronts at once. What actually happened? Belgium, Britain and France responded to the launching of the Schlieffen Plan in different ways. The Germans were not expecting any resistance from Belgium, but the Belgian army fought bravely and managed to delay the German advance. Members of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF)
What was the Schlieffen Plan and why did it Fail?
What was the Schlieffen Plan and why did it Fail? General Von Schlieffen devised the Schlieffen plan in 1905. Its aim was for Germany not to have to fight on two fronts, France and Russia. The Germans planned to take France in 6 weeks, then more on to Russia. Schlieffen gambled that that Russia would take 12 weeks to mobilise their army. General Von Schlieffen , split the army into one army would attack France from the north and one from the south. The northern army was 10 times bigger than the southern. It was planned that the southern army would attack first, making the French move down to stop the attack. This would leave Paris unguarded and the French could no longer help Russia. The French army would push the weaker southern army down and chase after it, and then the southern army would come through Belgium and into Paris. For this plan to work the Russians would have to take 12 weeks to mobilise and the northern army must be quick. Once the French army had gone down enough the southern army would take stand and all in all the Germans would, as General Von Schlieffen said, 'crush it like a nut between a hammer and an anvil, with Paris encircled France would surrender. On paper this was a good plan but in motion the plan had to many holes. There are many reasons the Schlieffen Plan failed. The first reason is that, General Von Schlieffen died in 1913 and Von
