The Schlieffen Plan
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The Schlieffen Plan
The aim of the plan
The aim of the plan was to avoid fighting two wars at once (France and Russia)
The Plan
The plan was to attack France, not on the main border, which was fortified, but to attack through Belgium and circle the capital Paris. This is all supposed to happen before the predicted 6 weeks it would take for the Russians to get their army ready for action. This would mean Paris would be taken by Germany, therefore capturing France, then the troops could go across the country and attack Russia.
What actually happened:
Germans went into Belgium
Belgians blew up railways which stopped Germans
Belgians stopped supplies and reinforcements getting to the Germans
Britain wanted to join war because Germany was attacking France and Belgium
Sir Edward Grey made parliament fight, he said if we dont fight Germany will dominate Europe and trade will suffer
British government sent a telegram to tell Germans to leave Belgium
No reply to the telegram
Britain was at war with Germany
Everyone in all the countries were rushing to join the army, they thought their country was right and they would win
100,000 soldiers from the BEFC (British Expeditionary Force) landed in France
over 1,000,000 French soldier were ready to use plan seventeen to attack Alasce and Lorraine
after 3 weeks it all went wrong
German troops pushed into France
Russians mobilised more quickly than expected, and invaded
troops were taken from France to defend on the eastern front
French and German soldier met at the river Marne
All the French and English troops went to defend on the river Marne, the battle of the Marne