Schlieffen Plan

The Schlieffen Plan, the German General Staff's overall strategic blueprint for victory on the Western Front against France in the years up to 1914, takes its name from its author, Alfred Graf von Schlieffen. It envisaged a rapid German mobilisation, disregard of Luxembourg,Belgian and Dutch neutrality, and the overwhelming sweep of German armies through Belgium southwards in the back of the French defences pivoting on weakly-held left-wing positions in the province of Alsace-Lorraine.

Related Topics:
German General Staff - Western Front - France - 1914 - Alfred Graf von Schlieffen - Mobilisation - Luxembourg - Belgian - Dutch - Neutrality - Alsace-Lorraine

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Paris was not to be taken but to be by-passed in the east. The intent of the plan was not to conquer cities or industry in order to weaken the French war efforts, but to capture most of the French army and to force France to surrender, in essence a repeat of the strategy used to defeat France during the Franco-Prussian War. Schlieffen in fact viewed the double encirclement of the entire French Army by the right wing coming from the North and West of France and the left wing coming from the East as the ultimate objective of his plan, his inspiration being the encirclement of the Roman Army by Hannibal's forces at the Battle of Cannae.

Related Topics:
Paris - French - Franco-Prussian War - Hannibal - Battle of Cannae

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

One motivation was defence by means of attack. In the event of a European war, Von Schlieffen most feared an attack against Germany on two fronts. Because of the Franco-Russian Alliance, it was inevitable that Germany would have to face both France and Russia. Therefore Von Schlieffen hoped to eliminate France's ability to wage war against Germany before Russia had a chance to mobilize. Following the speedy defeat of France, Von Schlieffen imagined switching German concentrations to the Eastern Front. His goal was to defeat France in the time it took for Russia to mobilize their army, and turn back to the Eastern Front before Russia could react.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~