Why was the First World War not "over by Christmas"?

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Why Was WW1 Not “Over By Christmas”?

There are many reasons why the First World War was not over by Christmas, as most people at the time predicted, and instead dragged on for another four years.

Arguably the biggest factor in the length of the War was the failure of the German army to carry out the Schlieffen plan successfully. Every other European war up until this point had been a quick war of movement, with victory within 3 – 4 months at the latest.  There was no reason for this to be any different, so the Germans stuck with the plan that they had prepared in 1905. The plan was to avoid a war on two fronts by knocking France out of the war with nearly their whole force, before Russia had mobilised (which they estimated would take 6 weeks). The aim was to travel through Belgium to France, therefore bypassing the French army, which was poised to attack Alsace and Lorraine. The armies would split up, with some going to engage the French, whilst two armies looped round Paris and cut off the capital, and the government, to force France into submission.

There were a number of flaws with this plan, which meant that the Germans were left floundering in northern France months after they were supposed to have been in Russia.

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 Firstly, the Germans had not considered that the Belgians would resist. The Belgian army was nearly wiped out by December 1914, however they had slowed they Germans down significantly, particularly in their fortified bases in Antwerp and Liege, so that they were still in Belgium well after their 6-week deadline to be in Paris. The Belgians had also managed to hold out in the bases whilst the German army attacked France, which meant that the Germans could not afford to bring their whole army across to France, as they would be attacked from behind and their supplies would be ...

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