The Schlieffen Plan
Devised by German Chief of Staff Alfred von Schlieffen, The Schlieffen Plan was the German early 20th century strategic plan for victory both on the Western Front against France and against Russia in the east, taking advantage of expected differences in the three countries’ speed in preparing for war. In modified form, it was executed to near victory in the first month of World War I. But the modifications to the original plan, a French counterattack, and speedy Russian offensives, ended the German offensive and resulted in years of trench warfare.
The Schlieffen Plan strategy was to win a two-front war by quickly beating France first in the west, as had been done before in the Franco-Russian War of 1870-1871, then concentrate all the military resources to defeat Russia in the east. To win a fast victory over France, the Schlieffen Plan involved a Germany invasion of Belgium and a right-wing flanking movement through Holland and then southwards, to cut off Paris from the sea; a scythe-like sweeping attack through these countries to surround Paris.
[...] Alfred Graf von Waldersee as Chief of General Staff. In 1905, Alfred von Schlieffen presented the Schlieffen Plan, which would stipulated that fighting a two-front war should be avoided by first defeating France [...]
[...] As Germany wanted to avoid a two-front war that would sap and divide the strength of its army, the Schlieffen plan was conceived to strike quickly in the west to defeat France first, as had been done successfully [...]
[...] by former army Chief of Staff Alfred von Schlieffen, the Schlieffen Plan had been conceived to deal with a two-front war scenario. The outlined plan was to conquer France, [...]
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