How was the schlieffen plan meant to work

Section A-How was the schlieffen plan meant to work?

Alfred von Schlieffen was the chief of the German general staff. He designed the schlieffen plan that would be implemented by the German army at the outbreak of a war. The plan was designed because Germany expected a vast European war, which would involve the main powers in Europe therefore they wanted to be prepared in advance, which is why the plan was designed beforehand in 1902. The war was expected to be between the two main alliance systems and was thought to be inevitable. The General designed the plan because he feared that Germany would be encircled by Russia and France and would then be defeated. Both the alliance systems were established a long time in advance to the First World War.

In 1879 an alliance between Austria and Germany was established, it was known as the dual alliance but that soon changed. The alliance was basically a defensive arrangement where the two countries promised to assist each other if any of them were attacked by Russia. This agreement was soon transformed to the Triple Alliance when Italy joined Austria and Germany in 1882. In 1902 an alliance between Britain, France and Russia was established, it was known as the Triple Entente. This was mainly formed to counter balance the triple alliance. Although the First World War appeared to be caused by the assassination of the archduke Francis Ferdinand and his wife many thought it was actually an excuse for the two main alliance systems to go to war.

The schlieffen plan meant the war was going to be a war on two fronts, the western front against France and the eastern front against Russia. The German army would have a knock out blow on France then they would attack the slow mobilizing Russians. The General based this plan on the assumption that Germany could easily defeat France as they had did so previously in the Franco-Prussian War, 1870 where they took Alsace Lorraine. In this war the German states, under the leader ship of Prussia defeated France. Furthermore France wanted revenge from Germany and so Germany was awaiting an attack from them. Tension was building in Germany as the arms race with Britain continued. Because the plan was created so long before the war the Germans made a huge mistake, which they would later pay the un-expected price for, by not reviewing it thoroughly and carefully.

(This map shows:

90% of German Forces lined up
German forces sweeping through neutral Belgium
Then through France
And encircling Paris)

The objectives of the schlieffen plan were risky and General Schlieffen admitted this “an enterprise for which we are too weak” but the Germans were determined to carry it out and they were willing to take the gamble.

The first stage of the plan was to attack and defeat France; they needed to do this to prevent Germany fighting a war on two fronts. Therefore the army was under pressure to do so in a short period of time, as they had a 6-week deadline, however they were confident that it would be possible. Therefore timing was everything and there had to be immediate victory in France, the Kaiser summed up the strategy concisely “Paris for lunch, dinner in St Petersburg!” Furthermore the Germans had no time for mistakes or surprises and they had to try to avoid any difficulties. Therefore because the French expected the attack at Alsace Lorraine they were prepared and awaiting the Germans there. The Germans decided to take another route that would leave France surprised and lacking defense so they could capture Paris. This made them weak oppositions to the Germans. Germany also thought that by seizing the capital France would surrender as Paris controlled the country communications. The new route that the Germans decided to take was through Belgium. This was an advantage to them as the land in Belgium is flat. However in hindsight this proved to be a costly mistake. This is because attacking a neutral country, Belgium, provoked Britain to get involved in the war. While Germany was attacking France Austria were to send their army to Russia to stop Russia from invading Germany’s Eastern border while they were away at France.

(This map shows:

90% of the German troops on the front where the Germans expected to meet and defeat the French.(while the other 10% went to the Eastern Front to stall Russia)
Although they did meet the French they were given more opposition than expected by the British Expeditionary Forces
They now delayed the German plans to have a knock out blow on France)

There were several factors that the Germans relied on for the success of the schlieffen plan. One of these factors was that they would easily defeat France. They relied on this because they thought that France wouldn’t be able to cope with the attack, as the German army was very strong. Furthermore they depended on the idea that Britain would not get involved. They didn’t want Britain’s involvement because it would cause a lot of difficulties for Germany, as they would have too much opposition making it almost impossible to meet the 6-week deadline that was given.

Another factor that the Germans relied on was that they expected the period for Russia to mobilize their army to be quite long. This was because Russia was huge and quite unorganized, giving Germany time to defeat France. The Russians would also have to travel great distances using poor rail before they were a threat on the eastern front. Furthermore Russia taking a long time meant that Germany could take their entire army to attack France before taking the entire army back to Russia. However due to Russia mobilizing surprisingly quickly they caused more division to go to Eastern Europe instead of the west to battle both the French and the British. This was a decision mage by General von moltke, who replace general von schlieffen in 1906, who pulled 100,000 troops out of the army to go to the Eastern front.

Additionally because Germany had decided to take another route to France they had to take into consideration what the Belgium response would be. They expected Belgium to show little opposition, which would be weak, therefore they relied on this to be a quick route to reach France allowing them to succeed in meeting their deadline, however Belgium showed more resistance putting Germany off track as they were trying to reach France in three weeks.

Finally, logistics was a huge factor that was depended on for success. This was because the army troops needed a regular supply of food and weapons that would be provided to them by logistics, who would therefore need to keep up with the troops.

This is a preview of the whole essay

In conclusion the plan to attack France via Belgium, then later defeat Russia failed, mainly because Germany didn’t carefully take all actions and their consequences into consideration. The factors depended on also faced many difficulties preventing success. Firstly defeating France was harder than expected due to the help that they had from Britain, giving Germany much more opposition. Secondly Belgium also showed more opposition to the invasion by Germany than expected, and this slowed the German troops down. Another reason for the failure is that Russia actually had fast efficient mobility. Additionally, logistics became a problem. Because of the German advance had been so fast their supplies of food and ammunition couldn’t keep up with them hence the German troops were exhausted and underfed. Finally the German commander von Kluck realsied that the German troops wouldn’t be able to swing behind Paris, as planned, so he decided to go straight for it. This slowed the Germans down especially as they were traveling on foot whereas the French were traveling by rail. Furthermore this benefited the French as it gave the British Expeditionary Forces time to join forces with them and stop the German troops at the River Marne.

Section B- why did the stalemate develop on the Western Front?

(The red line on this map [left] shows the western front)

The Western Front was the line where the German army met with the French and British armies on the opposing side. It was located along part of Belgium, through the east of France and part of Germany; it ran all the way to Switzerland (approximately 800km). After the Schlieffen plan failed the Germans were made to slightly draw back from this front, however whilst doing this they didn’t submit any of the land they had already dominated. This created a front where both armies were defending themselves rather than attempting to attack their opposition creating a stalemate. Stalemate is a term taken from chess, and it means that neither side can move or make progress.

There were many causes for the development of the stalemate on the western Front. One of these causes was the mass number of trenches that were built by both sides. The front line trenches were located behind “No mans Land”. “No Mans Land” was a region of land where the soldiers were easily seen, targeted and killed by their opposition, which is why no soldiers entered that land. In the front line trenches all the major attacks commenced. These attacks involved the use of machine gunfire and poisonous gas attacks. Following the front line trenches were the support trenches and behind those were the reserve trenches. Within all the trenches were basic similar things. There were sandbags around the top of the trenches to protect the soldiers from the enemy’s gunfire and to absorb the rain. There was barbed wire along the trench lines protecting both sides.

(This picture shows:

A cross-section of a world war one trench.
It displays the poor and basic facilities the soldiers had to live in
The sandbags at the top of the trenches
The barbed wire along the trench lines before “no mans land”)

The trench system greatly aided the development of a stalemate; it did this in several ways. Because both sides had several trench lines they could easily defend their region so if either side attempted to blow up their opposition’s frontline often this would make no change in their positions as their enemy could just go back to the support trenches behind and they could shoot down their rivals as they came across “no mans land” in an attempt to take over their trenches, hence neither side would be moving forward, but there was mass numbers of casualties. Usually to take over the trench of an enemy was hard and an opportunity for this to happen could only be given after the long process of an artillery bombardment, however after doing this the soldiers couldn’t be sure that they’d killed all of their enemies and so they risked their lives, which is why when they ran into “no mans land” towards their opposing front lines they became seen and targeted by the soldiers who had survived the bombardment. Therefore many soldiers from both sides died because of the assumption made that their enemies had been killed. Furthermore the construction of the trenches in a zigzag way also prolonged the stalemate process because it made it even more difficult to target and defeat the enemy. Additionally the barbed wire used for protection on the trench lines aided the stalemate because of the idea that if a soldier left their trench, entered “no mans land” and couldn’t get passed their enemy’s barbed wire the would be trapped in the open wasteland of “no mans land” making them clear targets for their opposition. Because of this neither side could advance into their oppositions region and take a trench hence the development of a stalemate.

(This picture is of a German Maxim Machine Gun used in world war one)

Another cause for the development of the stalemate was the weapons used in the war. During the war there was an advance in new weapons such as machine guns, gas canisters, cannons and rifles. Surprisingly, these powerful weapons were unproductive and almost useless in helping either troops advance in position, this is because of the way that they should be used. For example when using the machine gun or rifles the sniper needs to have a view of the enemy so that he can accurately target and take them out. Furthermore the use of gas canisters also required accuracy to ensure that they reached the oppositions trenches and didn’t land in “no mans land.” Additionally the use of cannons was constrained because they were difficult to handle and maneuver to accurately reach the enemy’s trench.

Therefore the weaponry used in the war contributed to the development of the stalemate quite greatly because, firstly, when using the machine guns and rifles the shooters found t very difficult and almost impossible to target the enemy because the enemy was aware that if they entered “no mans land” or if they left their trenches they would become easy targets for the machine gun and rifle snipers. Furthermore neither side risked an attempt to advance by attacking because they were aware of the opposition’s weaponry. Secondly use of the gas canisters and cannons didn’t require to be able to actually seen the enemy they should have been used more to try and defeat the opposition and further advance, however they weren’t. This is because the canons required training, which wasn’t available to the soldiers for them to be able to accurately target their enemies. In summary the weapons used on the western front aided the stalemate because they were not suited to that particular type of warfare hence a deadlock.

A third cause aiding the development of the stalemate was the battle tactics that were thought up and put into action during the war. Because these strategies were based around the same devices and approaches they became expected and no longer surprised the enemy. An example where these predictable and common tactics were used is during the Battle of Somme at Passchendale.

General Haig, leader of the British forces, alongside France agreed to a major battle. Haig’s plan demonstrated very common tactics. Firstly there would be a huge artillery bombardment and mines that were expected to ravage the German positions, they would last for weeks. The German barbed wire and trenches were also to be smashed. The British and French were then sent “over the top” to the Germans while carrying heavy packs to repair the German trenches and keep them from falling back in to German hands. However this was a bad idea because the soldiers couldn’t fight with the heavy packs. There would also be British cavalry forces wept ready on standby to charge into gaps on the German line. The main reason for this battle was to help France because the German General Falkenhayn aimed to “bleed France white”. This meant he wanted to defeat the French by making them run out of soldiers. This is known as an attrition war, which is why the French wanted British involvement. Haig’s plan was to draw German soldiers away from Verdun, to get the pressure off it, and also kill as many Germans as possible. His first to attempts were unsuccessful but he didn’t renounce, instead he kept trying until they captured Passchendale.

This caused the stalemate because tactics like this became too common and in summary they should have surprised the enemy, leaving them weak and almost defenseless. Some blamed General Haig for the mass casualties and little advance shown. This is because his plans didn’t show much achievement especially as no plan that could penetrate the enemy was actually thought up, which aided then prolonged the stalemate. Furthermore they had little limited choice in what to do to break the stalemate, which needed and strong plan to demolish either side and end the war.

(This picture is of an aerial reconnaissance plane used during the war)

One more factor, which also caused the development of a stalemate, was the use of aerial reconnaissance. Aerial reconnaissance was the use of planes to observe the positioning of the opposition then report back. They were known as “the eyes of the army”. They carried two people- one pilot and one aerial observer who had to draw a picture of the situation below. However over time, during the war, these were updated and they begun taking photographs rather than drawings because these were clearer an avoided reporting wrong information.

Aerial reconnaissance contributed to the development of the stalemate quite greatly. This is because both sides knew that if they were receiving valuable information from their pilots, the other side must have been doing the same. Therefore neither side had the advantage of aerial reconnaissance alone, again it was another factor like weaponry or trenches that both sides had. Hence if both sides had this type of resource then both sides could be prepared for enemy plans, similarly to the battle tactics used, where the opposition could no longer be surprised and there would be minimum advance in position, hence the stalemate. Not only was aerial reconnaissance an additional factor to the development of the stalemate, it also aided another factor prolonging the stalemate situation. This was that it aided the unproductive weapons used during the war. As during the ware the use of machine guns and rifles was difficult because the artillery units couldn’t see their opposition, the aerial reconnaissance planes used to send signals to the units to help them correct their shots.

A final factor contributing to the development of the stalemate is a more personal, one that not only affected the soldiers it also affected everyone who knew of the situation, it is morale. Many hundreds of thousands of soldiers lost their lives in the Great War, this left the remaining soldiers with very low morale. An example of this is during the Battle of Somme where there were 58,000 casualties on the first day of that battle and a third of them were killed. Furthermore during the 100-day battle at the Passchendale ridge 575, 000 soldiers died. This saddened the soldiers and made their morale low on both sides.

This aided the stalemate because the soldiers were no longer optimistic or enthusiastic, and the Generals began taking more care planning their strategies to minimize the loss of lives however this meant their plans were limited. Therefore the morale of the armies related to the limited and predicted tactics that were continuously being put into action. It also meant that less people were volunteering to join the army.

Concluding, I think that although many factors did aid to the development of the stalemate the trench system was the most important factor aiding and prolonging the process. Because of the trench system it became clear that the war was going to be a defensive one. It did this because both sides were in strong defensive positions holding down the land they’d gained. Therefore neither side could advance and as this condition prolonged the situation was getting worse. Furthermore if these mass numbers of trenches weren’t built then the war would have been fought in the open preventing the stalemate hence ending the war much sooner with much less deaths, casualties and distraught.

Section C - The following were equally important reasons why the stalemate on the Western front was finally broken:

New Technology; e.g.- the tank
The American entry into the war
The blockading of German ports
The German offensive in 1918

Explain how far you agree with this statement

Soon after finally breaking the stalemate the Great War ended. The official end of the war was on November 11th in 1918 when the new German government agreed to a ceasefire after the abdication of Kaiser Wilhelm II. It was also known as Armistice Day and was the day that the treaty of Versailles was signed on. This treaty was invented by France, Britain and America who designed it to deal with Germany as they had won the war by defeating Germany. Germany had no say in it and they had no choice but to sign it. The German people called this dulschluss, which means stab in the back. They called it this because they believed that the German leaders surrendered too easily and they also believe that they should have carried on at war. This is why they felt betrayed by the government and by the signing of the treaty of Versailles.

During The Great war many different battles occurred in an attempt to end the stalemate, created by trench warfare. One of these was the battle of Mons, which took place on August 1914. During this battle the British expeditionary force managed to slow down the German advance. However they couldn’t stop the German movement and the German Kaiser called them a “contemptible little army”. Another battle that took place during the war was the battle of Marne, which lasted five days. During this battle the allied forces managed to save Paris from the German attack. They forced the Germans to pull back to the river Aisne.

There were many factors that caused the eventual ending of the deadlock. One of these factors was the development and use of new technology in the war. An example of the New Technology used to try creating a breakthrough was the use of Poisonous gas. Germany was first to release a poisonous gas attack of chlorine in 1915. It reached the British Trenches and the soldiers struggled to breathe. After this Gas attacks became regular from both sides and although some soldiers could cope with long artillery bombardment some lived in fear of gas attacks. During the war the gases were enhanced to be more lethal. One type of these lethal gases commonly used was the terrifying mustard gas. It slowly and painfully killed the enemy while burning or blinding them.

(This picture shows British soldiers being blinded by gas in, April1918)

Poisonous gases did, but only to some extent, contribute to a breakthrough. This is because the opposition were able to counter attack with the soon after development of effective gas masks. Soldiers were alerted by alarms for when to wear their gas masks to protect them inhaling and dying from poisonous gas. Although it’s main significance was it’s psychological impact as it made the soldiers afraid.

(This picture, left, is of a British Tank used during world war one in 1917)

Tanks were also a method of New Technology used in an attempt to create a breakthrough. They were a British invention and were first used in the Battle of Somme. The tanks had many advantages causing the assumption that they would break the stalemate. They used to advance ahead of the infantry to crush the enemy’s defence of barbed wire, and then they shot and killed the enemy with machine guns. This greatly alarmed the Germans and in contrast it raised the British morale. On the other hand when they were put into action it became quite clear that they had many disadvantages too. They were very slow and not very mobile. Also because they were so bug they were very hard to manoeuvre. They were also very unreliable as half of them broke down before even reaching the German trenches. They did achieve success like in Cambrai when they rapidly broke through enemy lines, however this was also another disadvantage because after they were enhanced for this attack they became too fast for infantry and when they broke through enemy lines the troops were too far behind. Furthermore, another reason why the tanks contribute to a breakthrough was only to some extent was because the Germans also managed to counter attack by creating weapons that had a deadly effect on tanks, they also enhanced their field guns so that they were adapted to fire at tanks. Therefore the tanks were being destroyed especially as they were such easy targets because of their size and slow mobility.

Another Factor contributing to the eventual breaking of the stalemate was the late entry of America into the war. From the start of World War One America had remained neutral although it was providing equipment and loans for some of the Allies. America’s neutrality ended however when they found out the German plans to ally with Mexico against them, especially as the Germans had been previously Sinking American ships which they thought carried supplies for the Allies. This led to the official declaration of war on Germany by America in 1917.

This helped the breaking of the stalemate in several ways; the American entrance into the war gave the Allies reason for optimism as it meant that their side would become stronger. Because America was such a big country it also had a big army, which would support the allies. Furthermore because it wasn’t in the war from the start it obviously wasn’t suffering from shortages or losses like the other countries. This was very beneficial because the opposition of the Triple Alliance was becoming very exhausted and the entrance of America would be giving them more resistance. Not only would Germany be given more resistance but also the resistance they had previously would be stronger, this is because America bought with them new artillery and food for the soldiers along with American troops. Therefore the American entry to the war was an opportunity for a breakthrough because their side finally had more advantage compared to their exhausted enemy who now didn’t have anything to counter attack with like previously during the stalemate.

The British Blockade was also one major of the factors helping to end the deadlock on the western front. When the war first commenced both sides were always attempting to stop their opposition receiving the essential supplies required for the survival and strengthening of their soldiers, this is called a blockade. They hoped that maybe if they were starved the enemy would submit. The British had been doing this to German ports since 1914 it was supposed to extremely damage the German industry so that they could no longer afford to supply the German army. This did infact damage the German industry as it reduced the German trade from $5.9 billion to just $0.8 billion over a period of three years. This wasn’t the only problem caused by the blockade. Another problem was that the German government had no choice but to slaughter a third of their pigs because there was no food to feed them. Another problem the blockade brought about was that 300,000 German civilians suffered extreme starvation causing their death. The final and perhaps most important problem caused by the British blockading the German ports was their supplies of nitrates was cut off, these are essential for the army explosives.

This helped the breakthrough because by 1917 Germany was suffering severe shortages unlike the opposition who were now also being supported by America and receiving more and more required supplies. Therefore the blockade weakened the Germans and lowered their morale and this made the Allies stronger, especially as they were able to continue developing and improving their weapons whereas the Germans were prevented from this because of the blockade.

A further factor contributing to the breakthrough was the German plan known as the Ludendorff offensive. It was named after the German general who though it up. This plan was aimed to breaking the stalemate and winning the war. Because the USA wasn’t ready to send all its troops Germany made a last effort to break through using this plan, however they had to try to capture Paris by March 1917 before the US entry in April 1917. Although this plan was based around the same predictable tactics, large long lasting artillery bombardment and poisonous gas attacks, there was a small difference in the direction that the troops would charge towards. Rather than all of the troops charging at one place in the enemy line they divided into smaller bands, which then charged at different areas of the frontline. They did this during heavy fog succeeding to breakthrough many different places in the enemy lines. This was a good plan because it meant that all the opposition couldn’t all gather in one place against the Germans because they had attacked in several places, as this would usually cause Germany to retreat back to their trenches. Furthermore the Germans had greatly advanced during this attack, they progressed 64km-leaving Paris under heavy gunfire. All of this made the Ludendorff offensive appear to be great success, however it wasn’t. This because the Germans lost 400,00 men while breaking through the enemy lines, and this left them with no reserves. This great loss appeared to be because of the British Blockade. This is because while the troops advanced into enemy lines they advanced too far too fast and their supplies had not kept up with them.

Consequently although it was Germany who actually made the first step towards a breakthrough, this actually benefited their opposition as the opposition had gained troops from the American entry to the war whereas the Germans had lost men mainly because of the British Blockade. However the Ludendorff offensive was still a great factor contributing to the breakthrough because it took the first step actually breaking the stalemate.

A final factor contributing to ending the deadlock, not mentioned in the above statement, was how weak the Germans were left after the war on the Eastern front facing Russia. Russia’s quick mobilization was on of the factors that lead to the Schlieffen plan failing. This is because an unexpected 100,000 men had to leave the western front to go and fight the Russian. This meant that the Germans were already short of men while fighting on the western front, where they defeated Russia causing them to collapse into a revolution. This shortage of men couldn’t be replaced because of the British blockade. Furthermore at the Eastern front Germany continued losing supplies because Austria couldn’t cope with Russia’s invasion of Galicia. This left Germany even weaker because it added to its loss after breaking the stalemate. Germany were almost defenseless because they couldn’t receive and supplies or troops because of the Blockade whereas their opposition was receiving immediate supplies and troops from America because of their entrance to the war.

In conclusion I do agree that new technology, U.S. entry to the war, the British blockade and the German offensive were all factors which contributed to ending the stalemate however I do not agree that they were equally important because some factors contributed to a much further extent than others. I think that the new technologies contributed the least and to a very small extent to the breakthrough because both sides had the same technologies. Furthermore I think that the late entrance of the Americans was the most important contributor to the stalemate. Even though America still had to prepare their army, they were still overpowering the Germans who had exhausted troops, which had been fighting for many years, whereas the Americans had new fresh soldiers, which were energetic. However a disadvantage here was that America had to prepare their army, this benefited the Germans because after they caused the Russian revolution Russia decided to make peace with Germany and consequently now Germany were able to transfer their troops back to the western front from the eastern front. This is where the British blockade had a great impact. Because of the blockade Germany was still weaker regardless of how many troops they had because all the troops were underfed and knackered, especially compared to the opposition as America was transferring 50,000 monthly to the western front. Therefore because of these mass numbers of troops and supplies being transferred the Germans couldn’t cope with their opposition especially as these transfers were also raising the French and British morale. This is why I think that the American entry to the war was the most important factor to the breakthrough. Furthermore the British Blockade was also an important factor alongside the U.S. entry because while the Ludendorff plan was put into action the German troops were hungry, because of the Blockade, which is why they were advancing so slowly causing so many deaths and going against the Germans and benefiting their opposition.