Fighting in WW1 - topic 1 Flashcards
Who was count Alfred von Schlieffen and what did he believe?
He was the head of the German army from 1891 - 1905. He believed that you should try to avoid a war on two front and quickly defeat France then turn to fight Russia.
What was the reason of the schlieffen plan?
The Schlieffen plan was a plan to avoid fighting Russia and France at the same time as it would mean splitting up germanys army.
What were the steps in the schlieffen plan?
1) smaller groups of Germany soldiers would travel through the more lightly defended mountainous regions in the north.
2)most troops travel through Luxembourg and Belgium to attack france as French troops would be on German border.
3)once in france sweep the south west and travel down to Paris.
4)then quickly turn to fight the Russians in the east as it would take them 6 weeks to prepare their troops.
What were the main problems with the Schlieffen plan?
1)schlieffen assumed it would take Russia 6 week to prepare their troops.
2)the plan relied on them travelling through Belgium and Luxembourg. The British had a treaty with the Belgians but Germany didn’t think they would stick to a 75 year deal
3)it garenteed a war on two fronts as what if they attacked Russia but France didn’t get involved
What were the main reasons that the schlieffen plan failed?
-underestimating Belgium
-Germanys assumption that britains treaty with Belgium wouldn’t be stuck to
-The assumption it would take a long time for russia to prepare its troops
How did Belgian slow down the Germans ?
By using a series of huge stone forts equipped with long range powerful guns to pin the Germans back, especially at liége where they were delayed by 5 days.
How did the BEF slow down the German army in 1914 when it was trying to invade France?
At the city of mons , near the French border Germany were pinned down by the BEF who according to the Germans were firing there rifles so quickly they thought they were under machine gun fire. The Germans didn’t expect much of a resistance by the British and thought very lowly of them. This tired Germany out and by the time they got to France they were exhausted.
Why was Gallipoli destined to fail?
1) as Britain didn’t have the troops to commit to the campaign
2)under estimated opponents
3) the soldiers fighting were inexperienced and untested
4) the commanders was almost as unexperienced as the soldiers they were leading
5) weren’t prepared for the conditions
What were the results of Gallipoli?
-Britain was humiliated
-Churchill resigned and reputation ruined
-over 120,000 allied casualties and over 180,000 for the Turks
-Turkey successfully defended their country
-the Russians remained short of supplies
However
-campaign diverted Turkey away from helping Germany or Austria Hungary.
-no troops died in evacuation
-a few British subs managed to get through the Dardanelles and sink some Turkish warships
-turkeys war effort was majorly affected
