Why Germany Failed to Win World War One in 1914

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Why Germany Failed to Win World War One in 1914

By 1914, everyone seemed to know that a war was on the verge of break

out. The Schlieffen Plan was the first movement that was made in the

war movement, a plan devised by Germany in the hopes for a quick

victory against France, and then against Russia.

The Schlieffen Plan gets it's name from it's creator, Count Alfred von

Schlieffen, the Chief of German General Staff from 1891 to 1905. He

was born in Berlin in 1933, but died in 1912, before the war or a

chance to see his plan go into action. Even though he was dead,

Germany still decided to use the plan and with only a few slight

modifications, it was launched into action. Could Germany win the war

with a dead man's plan?

The main reason Schlieffen was asked to formulate a plan was because

of the Franco-Russian Alliance formed 1894 between Russia and France.

Bismarck's plan to keep France isolated had failed, shortly after his

resignation and the new aggressive Emperor Kaiser. Not only was France

no longer isolated, but it was also allied with one of the most

dangerous powers - Russia had a huge army, but even more dangerous, if

they got into war, Germany would be attacked from both sides.

The last thing Germany wanted was for her army to have to split up,

she knew they would never be able to defeat both the Russians and the

French at the same time, which was why Schlieffen was asked to make a

war plan - if in the future a war looked likely to commence, they

could avoid being attacked at both sides.

Schlieffen set down to work, and by December of 1905 he had formed his

plan.

There were many reasons the Schlieffen Plan failed, many of them due

to the large assumptions Alfred von Schlieffen made when devising it.

He thought as Russia was so large it would take at least six weeks for

her to mobilise, when in actual fact it only took 10 days.

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