Schlieffen Plan

The Schlieffen Plan was a strategic plan of the staff of the General of Germany in the early 20th century, which was planned to get victory in a possible future war. This plan might find itself fighting on two fronts; these are France to the west and Russia to the east. Later World War I emerged as a war with both a Western Front and an Eastern Front. Hence this was the plan of Germany in order to avoid a war between these two fronts by concentrating their troops in the west. The plan included strategies of a quick defeat of France and according to the need to rush those troops by rail to the east to face Russia before they had time to mobilize fully.

The First World War battle was the Battle of the Marne, which took place between 5 and 12 September 1914. This battle resulted in an Allied victory against the army of Germany under the leadership of Chief of Staff Helmuth von Moltke the Younger. This battle was effective in ending the offensive of Germany, which was continuing for months and had reached the outskirts of Paris. The Imperial army of Germany was forced to abandon its push on Paris due to a counter-attack of six French field armies and one British army along the Marne Rivers.

The Strategy of the Schlieffen Plan

The Government of Russia and France formed a military alliance in 1895. After this alliance, Germany was faced with the possibility of a war on two fronts. Count Alfred von Schlieffen, the chief-of-staff of Germany, started to develop an operational strategy that would help his forces win a rapid victory over France. The operations of the Schlieffen plan were based on the fact that France represented the most immediate threat to Germany. The extensive network of railways in France allowed the French to mobilize far more quickly than Russia, and the French border was close to the main industrial areas of Germany. 

This plan of Schlieffen called for 70% of the army of Germany to launch a  German offensive sweep through Belgium and into France. The ultimate aim of the plan was the encirclement of the French army along with the frontliners of Germany and France. The basic strategy of the military plan was sound, but it underestimated the probability of diplomatic repercussions of an advance through Belgium. Germany and the other great powers of that time were signatories to a treaty that guaranteed Belgian neutrality. If neutrality would be violated then it was almost certain that it would result in a British declaration of war.

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Plan XVII in 1911involved a major offensive by the French armies across Alsace-Lorraine into the main German industrial areas. The approval of this plan was done by General Joseph Joffre, the French chief-of-staff, and it was actually enhancing the effectiveness of the Schlieffen Plan. But this plan was not completely successful. 

The Failure of the Schlieffen Plan

The Schlieffen Plan had several shortcomings. The plan was designed to impose difficult restrictions on the probability of getting a solution to the July Crisis in a diplomatic way because of its small time frame for the initial deployment of troops. Due to the war plans of Germany, the escalation of the crisis to full-scale war was in no small measure. It unleashed the war with the invasion of Germany of neutral countries to the West. It was proved that the enemies of Germany were ruthless and aggressive because of the violation of Belgian neutrality, in particular. Hence the reason behind the failure of the plan was that it was not realistic and required a flawless unfolding of events that never happened during wartime.

Details of the First Battle of the Marne

Paris was getting a continuous push by the Germans. This was included in the Schlieffen Plan. The troops of Britain and France retreated to positions on the Marne river and south of the Seine. The 6th army of France launched a counter-attack. The German was driven back around 60 miles. The efforts of the French saved Paris. On the Western Front, this was the first dispute or clash. One of the most important events of the first battle of the Marne was that the Schlieffen plan was ruined. 

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Over two million soldiers took part in the First Battle of the Marne. Among them, almost more than half of a million were killed or injured. The casualties of the French totaled 250,000, and among them, around  80,000 were dead. On the other side, British casualties were 13,000, where 1,700 of them died. The Germans faced 220,000 casualties. Hence the first Battle of the Marne suffered casualties in a huge number.

Battle of Marne Significance

Germany gave orders to retreat lines that they had initiated the offensive by the 20th of July. The Battle of Marne is considered a changing point in the war.  This is important because all of the Allies were strengthened by the arrival of fresh American troops unburdened by years of warfare and the average soldier was given a feeling that the war might end soon because the frontline soldiers were continuously losing their lives in war. The demise of the aggressive war strategy of Germany was signaled by the events at the Marne known as the Schlieffen Plan. The war has significance in marking the ending of the general belief, which was held on both sides of the line.

Conclusion

The Schlieffen plan was made during the First World War. But the Schlieffen plan, which Germans developed, failed due to the First Battle of Marne. The world witnesses casualties in a great number in the Battle of the Marne. Both the events are considered important incidents of World War I.