There were immediate signs of war as early as 1905 when Europe was divided into two fronts. One group that occupied the eastern side had Germany, Italy, and Austria and called themselves the Triple Alliance (Strachan, 2005). The Western sector had France, Britain, and Russia. Much of the plans made and implemented by Germany came from the Schlieffen plan. This was a plan developed by General Alfred Von Schlieffen in 1905. The execution of the plan made Britain to declare war on Germany on 4 August 1914.
According to the plan designed by Schlieffen, the most decisive area for any war that was to come up in future was to be in the western sector where Schlieffen identified the most dangerous opponent as France. The argument was that Russia was not as advanced as France was and it would take around six weeks for Russia to mobilize her troops. The plan made by Germany argued that a massive and successful surprise attack against France would have not only defeated France but also put off Britain (Clark, 2012: Strachan, 2005). Therefore, Germany would then take around six weeks to transport her forces to the Russian border to take on the Russians by the time they had mobilized themselves.
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The Schlieffen plan also sought to implement the attack on France to go through Belgium and Luxemburg. The strategy was to have Britain not supporting Belgium as Britain had guaranteed her neutrality in earlier years. As the tension across Europe increased, the Schlieffen plan underwent some revisions, but some of the main tenets remained intact (Strachan, 2005 ) . For example, a devastating attack on France was planned to take place through Belgium as soon as Russia announced its intentions to mobilize her troops. It was also agreed that a holding operation would be put in place on the Russia/Germany border if necessary. This was after it was determined that Russia had the capability of mobilizing its troops within eight days (Clark, 2012). The other retained tenet was that Germany had about six weeks to defeat France after which her troops would be transported to the Russian border with Germany. The movement of the forces was to be facilitated by the modernized rail system that Germany had established.
By 1905, Germany was not secure and that it would be a bit hard for her to attack France through Belgium. The solution was to react to what the French troops did to counter the Germans. For example, the Germans articulated that they would probably encounter some battles close behind the French fortress and barriers. This led to the Germans upgrading their fortifications at Metz as a countermeasure to the French actions. The plan that Germany had of attacking Europe called for an increase in the number of troops that it had (Clark, 2012). This was informed by the measures taken by France of increasing the number of eligible males serving in the army to 83%. Germany had only 57% of the eligible makes although this was increased as tension increased towards 1914. Moltke sought to increase the number of Germany’s forces by a number comparable with its enemies. When it was established that some individuals were avoiding military service, Germany had to win its citizens if it had to win the war. As a result, Moltke was at the forefront in informing recruits that they would have to deal with all those who avoided military service at the start (Strachan, 2005 ) .
Why the Plan Failed
Although the plan looked good on paper, it failed for some reasons. One of the reasons as to why the Schlieffen plan failed was that it underestimated the distances that the German army had to cover within a short period. For instance, the Germany troops on the right were exhausted within a few weeks from fighting and marching for long distances. Paris was not surrounded, and hence France was not defeated . The other reason for failure was that the plan was changed even before the war began. Moltke who replaced Schlieffen withdrew forces from the right wing in order to strengthen the left one. This was culminated by the sending of some battalions to the eastern front to the border with Russia. The implication was that when Germany declared war on France, her troops were slowed down and the right wing was unable to push forward and eventually have a proper attack on Paris (Clark, 2012).
Schlieffen plan also failed because of the Belgian resistance. The Belgian forts that were found at Liege were able to hold out for twelve days, which meant that Brussels was not occupied until mid-August (Strachan, 2005). The success of the plan was dependent on the lack of British support for Belgium. However, there were around 80, 000 soldiers sent to Belgium. Although the British forces were forced to retreat at Mons, the Germans recorded heavy casualties (Clark, 2012). The Belgian and British forces also hampered the German’s plan by slowing down its offensive. This forced the right flank to change direction. Therefore, the French had enough time to transport its troops to Paris and defend it. For instance, “ the invasion of Holland formed part of a memorandum which Schliefflen finalized at the end of his tenure as chief of the general staff… this recognized that the strength of France’ defenses on its eastern frontier… prevented a frontal attack and demanded that the Germans swing to France from the north past the Belgian fortresses” (Strachan, 2005, 60). In the case of Holland attacks, the German high command was not taking the agreement between the British and Belgians.
The whole aim of the plan was to transport German troops to the Russian border after defeating France. The German high command made this mistake as they underestimated the speed at which Russia would mobilize its troops. However, it became apparent that Russia only used six weeks to assemble its troops, which meant that Germany had to send around 100, 000 troops to its border with Russia. The implication is that fewer men were fighting in the western sector where the British and the French were united against a spirited Germany (Strachan, 2005). Therefore, the Schlieffen plan had some weaknesses, as the actions taken by Russia were the determining factor in regards to when Germany would start her attack on France. This was not considerate of whether Germany was ready or not.
Reevaluation of the Schlieffen Plan
When it became apparent that the western front was failing and it as hard to defeat France, the plan was re-evaluated. One of the changes was the development of trench warfare. This strategy is one of the reasons why some of the battles took much time before they were completed (Strachan, 2005). Consequently, it was also agreed that the troops would push rather south hence allowing the French time to protect the city. The fast mobilization adopted by Russia meant that the commanders had divided the troops and send a considerable number to the Russian border.
References
Clark, C. M. (2012). The Sleepwalkers: How Europe went to war in 1914 . London: HarperCollins.
Strachan, H. (2005). The First World War . Penguin Books.
