THE SCHLIEFFEN PLAN
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The Schlieffen plan was a plan created by Count Alfred Von Schlieffen in 1905 to deal with France and Russia at the same time. Because France and Russia were allies, Germany knew that if they attacked France, they would also have to deal with Russia too. The only way was to defeat France quickly as they could in order to avoid a war on two fronts. The Schlieffen plan planned that Germany should attack France through Belgium, because they thought the German army would be able to surround the French army quickly and reach Paris easily. Because once France was defeated, Germany could turn their whole army around to fight Russia.
WHY DID THE SCHLIEFFEN PLAN FAIL?
On August the 3rd of 1914, the Schlieffen plan failed because of several reasons:
- Germany thought that Russia would finish mobilizing her army in at least 12 weeks but Russia actually finished mobilizing in 6 weeks so Russia could help France even before Germany defeated France.
- After Count Alfred Von Schlieffen's death (January the 4th of 1913), Von Moltke took over the Schlieffen plan and changed the ratio of the Northern army and the Southern army.
- The Germans didn't expect the Britain to get involved in, but the Britain heard about what was going on and sent her army to help defend France.