Schlieffen Plan

The Schlieffen Plan was a battle strategy used by Germany during World War I (1914–1918) in an unsuccessful attempt to wage a two-front war against both France and Russia. The plan was developed in 1905 by Count Alfred von Schlieffen, who was then Germany’s Chief of the Imperial General Staff. The idea was to quickly invade France through the neutral countries of Belgium and the Netherlands. The fast-moving German army would defeat the overmatched French and knock France out of the war in a matter of weeks. Then, Germany would turn its military might on Russia to the east. However, the Schlieffen Plan failed when the German onslaught was halted in northern France and Belgium, leading to four years of brutal trench warfare.

Background

Prior to the 1870s, Germany was not a unified nation, but a collection of kingdoms and princedoms that were once part of the Holy Roman Empire. In 1870, France attacked the Kingdom of Prussia, leading several northern German states to unite with Prussia under King Wilhelm I. The German confederation invaded France and defeated the French forces in a matter of six months. In 1871, the German Confederation united with the southern German states to form the German Empire.

Now the dominant power in Central Europe, Germany began to compete with Great Britain and France on the world stage. Germany’s militarism and colonial ambitions caused great concern across Europe, leading to a series of alliances between several European nations—most notably, a 1907 alliance between Great Britain, France, and Russia. Germany also formed alliances with several of its neighbors, promising to defend them in case of attack.

On June 28, 1914, Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated while visiting Sarajevo in the Balkan nation of Bosnia-Herzegovina. The Austro-Hungarian Empire blamed Serbian nationalists for his death and wanted to declare war on Serbia in retaliation. However, Serbia had an alliance with Russia, and Austria-Hungary wanted Germany’s assurance it would support them before declaring war.

Germany gave them that assurance, and on July 28, 1914, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia. Russia began to mobilize its troops that same day, leading Germany to support its ally by declaring war on Russia on August 1. Germany knew that the alliance between Russia and France would bring France into the war as well, and on August 3, Germany declared war on France.

Overview

Germany’s geography placed it in a difficult strategic position between two of its main enemies—France and Russia. German military leader Count Alfred von Schlieffen had long seen this as a concern, and worried that his nation could not hold off both enemies if it had to fight a war on two fronts. In 1905, von Schlieffen developed a plan to solve the problem. Believing that Russia would take at least six weeks to mobilize its troops, von Schlieffen proposed a lighting quick strike into France that would wipe out the western threat, giving Germany time to move its armies east to fight Russia.

Von Schlieffen knew that France would be expecting Germany to invade along the nations’ shared border—the same route Germany had used during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870. As a result, France had built up its defenses in that region. With von Schlieffen’s plan needing speed and surprise to work, he proposed invading France through the neutral countries of Belgium and the Netherlands to the north. His troops would not attack Paris, but would rather encircle the French army and annihilate it in six weeks. He would be aided by the French desire to reclaim the Alsace-Lorraine region, territory lost to Germany in the Franco-Prussian War. It was believed that should war between France and Germany break out, France would send troops to the region, leaving them vulnerable to the German encircling maneuver.

Von Schlieffen never lived to see his plan used in battle. He died in 1913. When World War I began in the summer of 1914, his successor, Helmuth von Moltke, decided to use the Schlieffen Plan as his blueprint for the start of the war. However, von Moltke changed some of von Schlieffen’s details. To lessen the political fallout from invading the Netherlands and Belgium, he avoided invading the Netherlands and cut the number of troops sent westward.

Germany began its invasion of Belgium on August 4. For a time, it looked like the Schlieffen Plan was working, as German troops did advance quickly during the opening days of the war. French forces also invaded the Alsace-Lorraine as expected, and were soundly defeated by the Germans. However, as the German army approached Paris, a gap in the German lines developed, prompting commanders to alter the plan to close up the gap. As a result, the German army did not encircle Paris and the French army as the plan specified, but instead started to form ranks further to the east than intended. This left the army’s flanks open to attack from French troops based in Paris.

German leaders had hoped the Belgians would allow their armies free passage, but the Belgians fought back and put up more resistance than expected. The Belgians and French also destroyed their own railway lines to slow the German advance. In addition, Great Britain was bound by an alliance to Belgium and entered the war against Germany. In the east, Russia proved more successful at mobilizing its troops than Germany anticipated, getting its armies ready to fight in ten days. Because of this, Germany had to take troops away from its western march to fight on the Eastern Front.

In early September 1914, German troops were within sight of Paris, but were halted by the French at the Marne River. The defeat in the First Battle of the Marne effectively destroyed the Schlieffen Plan, which had required a quick victory in France. The Germans and the Allied French and British forces instead dug trenches in the countryside and began a four-year war of attrition that killed millions of soldiers and civilians.

Historians and military experts maintain the primary reason the Schlieffen Plan failed was that it required the battle to unfold precisely as predicted—a condition that rarely occurs during war. The plan did not allow for changes made by German military leaders or take into account the stronger resistance by the Belgians or the entry of Great Britain into the war.

Bibliography

Ehlert, Hans, Michael Epkenhans, Gerhard P. Gross, and David T. Zabecki, eds. The Schlieffen Plan: International Perspectives on the German Strategy for World War I. University of Kentucky Press, 2014.

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Micallef, Joseph V. “World War I: Schlieffen and His Plan.” Military.com, 2022, www.military.com/history/world-war-i-schlieffen-plan.html. Accessed 17 Jan. 2022.

Naranjo, Roberto. “The Siege of Paris during the Franco-Prussian War.” Ohio State University, ehistory.osu.edu/articles/siege-paris-during-franco-prussian-war. Accessed 17 Jan. 2022.

Onion, Amanda. “Was Germany Doomed in World War I by the Schlieffen Plan?” History.com, 31 Aug. 2018, www.history.com/news/was-germany-doomed-in-world-war-i-by-the-schlieffen-plan. Accessed 17 Jan. 2022.

“Schlieffen Plan and German Invasion of 1914.” New Zealand History, 14 Aug. 2014, nzhistory.govt.nz/media/photo/schlieffen-plan-and-german-invasion-1914. Accessed 17 Jan. 2022.

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Trueman, C.N. “Count Alfred von Schlieffen.” History Learning Site, 31 Mar. 2015, www.historylearningsite.co.uk/world-war-one/causes-of-world-war-one/count-alfred-von-schlieffen/. Accessed 17 Jan. 2022.