Decline Of The Schlieffen Plan

ermany formally surrendered on November 11, 1918, and other countries participating in the war agreed to end fighting until the terms of peace were decided; thus officially ending World War I. Germany and her allies lost the war due to poor military tactics including the Schlieffen Plan. In addition to Germany’s poor military tactics, her allies (Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria and the Ottoman Empire) were not strong. The combination of Germany’s poor military tactics and weak military of her allies resulted in Germany and her allies losing the war.

The Schlieffen Plan was created by German General Count Alfred Von Schlieffen and took nine years to complete. The plan was finalized in December 1905. It included a comprehensive plan to avoid a two

In that time period, Germany could then fight and quick and decisive battle against France. The majority of German forces would fight France, while a smaller concentrations of forces would be protecting Germany against the Russians. Germany planned on invading France through neutral countries with relatively small military forces including Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands. The plan relied on a quick and decisive victory in order for the Schlieffen plan to be successful. Schlieffen was replaced by General von Moltke, who modified the plan in order to make in less risky. Nevertheless, Germany failed to make substantial changes the plan that accounted for the military advancements of European countries. On July 3, 1914 Russia mobilized their army, and France did not. Essentially, the opposite of what Schlieffen had assumed. Thus, in order to follow the plan Germany declared war on France and began to invade France through Belgium . However, Belgian forces proved to be aggressive and stopped German advancement for almost four weeks. During this time period, Russia was able to mobilize and invade Germany within ten days. The

However, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire, and Bulgaria did not have strong militaries that could compete with the militaries of the Triple Entente. Austria-Hungary was composed with of several different ethnicities including Poles, Czechs, Slovaks, Croats and many more fighting under Austro-Hungarian officers. Additionally, before the war Austria-Hungary had began to gradually modernize their military. However, due to the various ethnicities under one rule during World War I, this led to conflicts among Austria-Hungary commanders. Like Germany, Austria Hungary was unable to consider factors such as the modernization of weaponry in order to enhance their military tactics. Despite, Austria-Hungary’s modern warfare devices, their were unable to modernize their war techniques as they modernized their arms. They clung to their military tactic of fortress-warfare, which proved detrimental in battles such as the Battle of Lemberg. Similar to Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire was also culturally divided. The Ottoman Empire proved beneficial in helping the Germans and Austro-Hungarians in several battles against Russia, however after Germany and Russia signed a peace treaty, the Ottoman Empire gradually decreased war efforts. Thus, without the support of the Ottoman Empire on the Russian front, Germany and her allies became militarily weak. Therefore, poor military tactics of