Schlieffen Plan Essay

Alfred von Schlieffen, Chief of the Imperial German General Staff, created The Schlieffen Plan for war against France and Russia. It was designed to avoid a two front war. Seven eighths of german troops were sent to surround the strong french defenses by going through Belgium and the Netherlands while a third were ready at Germany and France’s border to attack. After the success of the attack on France, they planned to send the rest of the troops to Russia. Germany had no plan for dealing with Russia once the troops got there.
When Helmuth von Moltke took Schlieffen’s place, he changed the plan. Instead of invading the Netherlands, he decided to only invade Belgium. He decided to leave the Netherlands and use them as a place for supplies.

After the Germans invaded Belgium, the belgians that lived in France destroyed the train tracks, so the Germans had to lay the tracks themselves if they were going to go anywhere. The Liege was a major railway station that they were going to take. Before the plan even started, there was information that the French had not even mobilized at all and Germany was advised by London to sent troops to Russia instead.
It was too late, the Schlieffen plan was already initiated. There was no going back. There were so many delays and miscommunication that it caused the Schlieffen Plan to crumble and fail. Because this plan failed, Germany was forced to face the Two Front War. Germany did not know that Russia had mobilized troops before France and they were ready for Germany. Germany was now worried about attacks from all over.
France and Russia were trying to get Britain to join the war because Germany was trying to keep Britain out of the war. France and Russia asked Britain to join the war if the Germans attacked France. Britain did not commit until Germany sent a secret message saying that if they stayed neutral, Germany would not take any territories except their colonies. This showed Britain that Russia was committed to a war. Britain then joined the