by Daniel Whelan

Created on: February 23, 2007   Last Updated: May 08, 2007

The Schlieffen plan was to work on the assumption that France could be beaten in just six weeks, in time for armed forces to be returned over to the other front before Russia had fully mobilised. The German armed forces were to open the war with a strong offensive against France while remaining on the defensive with weak forces against Russia. The German armies were to attack through Belgium overwhelming them and arriving in France with sufficient time to swing round in a wide ark and take control of the ports therefore preventing the British expeditionary unit from landing in France. An advance through Belgium would force the French back into their interior but would make quicker progress so it should be preferred. The Germans had to invade through Belgium because an attack through Holland was discounted because Dutch neutrality was required for as long as possible and Switzerland was geographically invasion proof. By outflanking the French armies von Schlieffen aimed to attack from the rear where the French were likely to be most vulnerable. A small force would guard the Franco-German border luring the French to move forward, and then they would be attacked from the rear by the main bulk of the German armies mean they would be surrounded. The German armies would attack northern France in a sweeping movement that would trap the French armies between the German 5th and 6th armies and their own line of forts. The 1st and 2nd armies in the northwest would take the longest route and the 4th and 5th armies would take a more direct route via Luxemburg and Paris and encircle the French armies.

A stalemate developed on the western front due to many things mainly because in its underestimation of the difficulties in supply and communication in forces so far advanced from command and supply lines, the allied troops could move troops to the front quicker than the Germans could arrange for fresh supplies of food and troops. Molke's isolation from the troops at the front close to Paris led to a number of poor decisions and a critical weakening of his troops in the north. Moltke changed the ratio of right wing forces from 8:1 to about 3:1 violating Schlieffens reputed deathbed wish to keep the right wing strong, this was probably a very large factor in the development of the stalemate. The 1st army had to alter its course to help the 2nd army that had met unexpected resistance at Guise, so its path of advance had moved eastwards. Instead of moving round Paris to the west

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