Pros And Cons Of Schlieffen Plan

Q7. General Alfred Graf von Schlieffen was first faced with a very complex task. He would have to come up with a plan that would allow the Germans to fight and win a two front war, as you can imagine achieving this goal would prove to be a difficult challenge. The odds would most likely be stacked against him as he went to work in achieving his country 's task. Eventually, after a long period of time, the Schlieffen Plan was created. This new bold and extremely daring plan would ensure a victory for Germany in the two front war, or at least they thought. German officials thought that plan would in fact save them and lead them off to their amazing victory. However in reality, the Schlieffen Plan was a long, complex, unadjustable plan. Unfortunately,

To continue, additionally other factors would play roles as well, for example, the plan revolved around the idea of time. It was supposed to be a plan involving rapid, quick movement. In other words, everything had to go accordingly plan at the right time in order to pull the plan off successfully. As you can imagine, with the key factor being time, many problems would begin to arise regarding time. The entire German plan revolved around time, time was absolutely critical. When it came to time, it was exceedingly the most important factor in the Germans success. As soon as Germany had declared war on other European countries, the plan was automatically set into motion. With the plan started, the clock had began ticking, time would begin to run out quicker then expected. There was simply no turning back for the German military now. Time became somewhat of an issue when the Germans began marching through Belgium. Belgium would stand up against the German forces only to fall miserably in defeat; however, they had managed to steal small amounts of time away from the German troops. Marching through Belgium was a high price Germany would have to pay. Not only did Belgium slow them down, but by marching through Belgium it made England enter the war against Germany. Marching through Belgium did a lot more harm then good. Not only did Belgium put a dent on plans, but the very first battle on the Western Front, the First Battle of Marne, ultimately landed the final blow to end the

In conclusion, it was arrogance and the lack of thought that would play a monumental role in the downfall of the Schlieffen Plan. The Germans were not and did not prepare for the worst, they were unaware how it would play out. On paper the plan was great, but in reality it would only get the Germans so far before it failed. The Germans ultimately underestimated every aspect of the plan. They were unprepared for what they had gotten themselves into. The possibility of problems the plan would create would seem to be