The German army had a plan on how they would defeat France before the Russian army were ready to fight, (this was called the Schlieffen Plan), instead of entering France the most predicted way, through the French borderline, they would go through Belgium a neutral country (and taking it), then they would defeat France in 6 weeks, then they would deal with Russia. Britain had been worried about Germany since Kaiser
If it hadn’t been for Germany, Austria-Hungary would not have been confident enough to start a war with Serbia and Russia. France and Britain were allied with Russia and therefore had to protect it. This is frequently referred to as a Domino effect. On the 3rd of August Germany declares war on France, this is when the Schlieffen plan comes into play. The Schlieffen plan also lays a lot of the blame on Germany.
Germany strongly believed that future wars would include short and rapid mobilization, which would be key for achieving victory. Von Schlieffen had produced a war plan, which followed these assumptions. Germany feared a war on two fronts, he decided to use the bulk of German forced to win a speedy victory over France, after which troops can then attack the Tsar’s army. His plan however, required the Germans to sweep through to northern France via the neutral Belgium and then advance into the west of Paris, sweeping back eastwards to defeat the French who would still be defending the German boarder. Germany would then be free to move to the Eastern Front to confront the Russian Army, who would only just have mobilized due to their vast size.
In time, however, technology began to produce new offensive weapons, such as gas warfare and the tank. [46] After the First Battle of the Marne (5–12 September 1914), both Entente and German forces began a series of outflanking manoeuvres, in the so-called "Race to the Sea". Britain and France soon found themselves facing an uninterrupted line of entrenched German forces from Lorraine to Belgium's coast. [14] Britain and France sought to take the offensive, while Germany defended the occupied territories. Consequently, German trenches were much better constructed than those of their enemy; Anglo-French trenches were only intended to be "temporary" before their forces broke through German defences.
They were very close because in the first 5 days they were doing so well. The Ludendorff offensive was far from winning because the western front had broken, this was a disadvantage of winning because, they wanted to split the British and French and be able to push the British and conquer the French but it’s was late because the British and French had agreed to be like a team. The British had the best scientists in the war; these helped then have fast planes and they were able to use it wisely and quick therefore the German’s were losing by shortage of men as they were
The Nazi-Soviet pact was responsible for the outbreak of war because France and Britain had decided to finally intervene. Since Hitler had taken Czechoslovakia as a cause of Britain’s policy of appeasement, this frightened USSR and Stalin felt that the only way to keep the USSR safe was by signing the Nazi- Soviet pact. The Nazi-Soviet pact gave Hitler confidence in invading Poland and was a way to avoid war on two fronts. Britain and France on the other hand felt it was time to react and as soon as Germany’s army entered Poland they themselves prepared their own military defenses causing the Second World War. The pact was the final cause of war as Hitler could now invade Poland without any interference from Stalin.
From “War of Movement” to “Stalemate” The Schlieffen Plan: * Germans believed they could win the war quickly. 1905, General Chief of Staff Alfred von Schlieffen planned a way of preventing Germany from fighting a war on two fronts. He believed that it was a priority to defeat France quickly, forcing them to surrender before Russia had a chance to mobilise her armed forces * Helmuth von Moltke revised/modified the plan, less prepared to take risks than Schlieffen – lacked faith in elements of the original plan. * Execution of Schlieffen Plan led to Britain declaring war on Germany and honouring alliance/agreement guaranteeing protection of Belgian neutrality and territory against invasion, 4th August 1914. * Moltke changed ratio of number of troops in right wing to left wing from 7:1 to 3:1 as he thought the left wing were too small and might be over-run and forced back by French forces; weakened the main strike force by diverting more German troops reinforcing Eastern Front from right wing to support Austria-Hungary * Right wing (main attack force) of the German army would mobilise in massive strength (north) and invade France through neutral Belgium * Smaller left wing (decoy/diversion) would hold French army on Rhine border against unexpected attack through Alsace-Lorraine * French Plan 17 went to German hands.
HIS 105: Factors Contributing to World War I There were many factors that led to World War I, some detailed below: The assassination of Austria’s Archduke Franz Ferdinand (heir to the Austro-Hungarian Empire) was a major contribution. He and his wife Sofia were shot while on a visit to Sarajevo on 28 June 1914, by Gavrilo Princip (a member of the Serbian nationalist group called the Black Hand). The Black Hand had a primary objective of forcing the Austro-Hungarians out of Serbia. The assassination caused ricocheting consequences among Europe’s military alliances. Austria declared war on Serbia, which provoked Russia to help the Serbians, which led to Germany declaring war on Russia and France, which triggered England to declare war on Germany.
As you can see there were also many other reasons for the war besides the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. After Serbia declined the ultimatum, the Austro-Hungarian Empire waged war on Serbia on 28th July 1914. Since Russia was allied to Serbia, they announced mobilization of troops in defense for Serbia on August 1st 1914. Germany was allied to the Austro-Hungarians and took the Russian mobilization as a threat and declared war on Russia on August 1st 1914. Since Russia and France were allies and France didn’t like Germany due to the lost war against them in 1870, they declared war on Germany on August 3rd 1914.
The plan calls for the German Army to defeat the French in one felled swoop, and then quickly move to the East to defeat Russia. The biggest problem with the plan is that it never takes into consideration that the French will counterattack successfully to deny large amounts of German troops to move to the East. It also ensures the small amount of German troops delaying the Russians in the east are out numbered. The Germans should have encouraged Austria-Hungary to seek a political resolution to the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand and his wife in June 1914, instead of writing a blank check to Austria. Germany backing the Austrian punishment of the Serbs was a key mistake in angering Russia, prompting her to mobilize for war.