The Schlieffen Plan Essay, Research Paper
THE SCHLIEFFEN PLAN
The German commanders realized that if war came they faced the danger of fighting two enemies at once France to the west and Russia to the east.
This would mean splitting their forces in two. They had therefore worked out a plan, years earlier, to deal with this problem. It was called the Schlieffen Plan and it was a calculated gamble. The Germans took two risks.The first was that the Russians would be slow to get ready for war. They hoped that they would have three clear weeks before Russia could mobilize its troops and have to be faced on the Eastern Front.
The second risk they took was that Britain would not join in the war when Germany invades Belgium.
Britain had a treaty with Belgium, which went back to 1839. In this treaty Britain had promised to support Belgium’s neutral position in war and go to its help if attacked.
If they were right, and these two gambles worked, the Germans believed they would be able to defeat France rapidly. According to the Schlieffen Plan, the left wing of the German army would attack France along the frontier from Metz to Switzerland. Their only task was to keep the French army pinned down along this line their attack was expected. Meanwhile, the right wing would sweep round through Belgium, taking France by surprise, cross northern France, capture Paris and trap the French army from behind.
Their advance would be like a huge swinging door, with Metz as the hinge. Then, with France defeated, the German army could concentrate on attacking Russia. The whole plan was carefully worked out in detail to a strict timetable.