The Schleiften Plan Flashcards
What was Germany’s Problem concerning WWI?
When the First World War broke out in 1914, Germany had a massive problem. The alliance between France and Russia left them totally surrounded, with only Austria Hungary on their side
What Was the goal of the Schleiften Plan?
-It’s goal was to allow Germany to have a successful war on both fronts.
-The idea was that Germany had an advantage of the allies France and Russia because they were separated. They would control one front whilst destroying the other
-Once one ally was defeated, they would be able to combine its forces and defeat the other through massive troop concentration and rapid deployment.
-They decided to start the plan by defeating France First.
What Were the steps of the Schleiften Plan?
-7/8 of the troops would invade France through Belgium in order to surprise France as well as avoid their strong military bases
-This was risky because it threaten the neutrality of Belgium, thus bringing England into the war
-After a quick defeat of France they would send the rest of the troops over to Russia
What Did they alter about the Schleiften Plan in case it was not carried out quickly?
They excluded southern Holland and Netherlands from this plan, as well as protected Alsace, and placed an army core in east Prussia as defence for the Russian advance
-This was a safety net in case a quick victory was not possible
-That being said, these precautions made a quick victory even harder
What is a war of attrition
-a military strategy of continuously wearing down an enemy through continuous losses in personnel and resources until their will to fight collapses.
-The German did NOT want this
Why did the plan fail?- Troops
-They did not have enough troops to defeat France (they may have initially but could not composite their casualties)
Why did the plan fail- transportation
The Germans mostly relied on trains for transportation but as they would retreat during battles the French and Belgium would destroy the tracks, and thus they would have to be built again- Due to this the Germans wanted control of Leige Belgium which was a major railway hub
-The control of Leige took much longer than expected (2 weeks instead of 2 days) this delayed plan which heavily relayed on quickness
Why did the plan fail- communication
-The plan was very inflexible so once an order was given out it could not be reversed
-Because they could not have advanced technology like telephones at the front oftentimes the high commanders would get outdated orders on out dated planes
Why did the pan fail- Misunderstood situation in the East
-They also wrongly predicted how strong Russia was was- they mobilized before France which forced the Germans to send more troops over to Russia before they originally planned
- Bavarian troops refused to go to the eastern front, thus they had to take troops from Belgium which was more difficult and time consuming
Why did the plan fail- Officer Captured
-A German officer was captured by the French and told them about their plan to attack offensively thus, giving the French a lead-time to retreat.
