The Schlieffen Plan Analysis Essay Example

capital city of France. Thirdly, troops were to be placed in correct spaces so that France would be defeated before Russia had an opportunity to attack Germany. General Schlieffen only put some of his soldiers around the eastern areas.He did this because we wanted France to attack there so that he could bring the rest of his troops to attack from the north, leaving the French taken aback.

Furthermore, Schlieffen planned that the rest of his soldiers not used in Alsace-Lorraine would accompany him in the north where the surprise attack would happen. The amount of soldiers there would be was 90% and they would be sent to attack France all the way through Holland and Belgium. Once they were in France they would seize Paris and then France would have to surrender as they would have no other choice.As soon as France has been defeated by the Germans, the troops would be sent to Russia and start a battle with them.

For the Schlieffen plan to succeed, it depended on many things. Firstly, the army that was around the north would have to be very large and they would need men from the southern army guarding Alsace-Lorraine. Secondly, it relied on the French being defeated in Alsace-Lorraine and not being able to fight back quickly enough. Thirdly, the plan also counted on the Dutch and Belgians not to defend themselves.But that wasn't the case, as they did defend which caused a real problem for Germany as it slowed down their soldiers.

Fourthly, it depended on its soldiers to walk 35km per day with superb logistics. This means the handling of troops in battle supplied

with food and equipment, ammunition etc. Fifthly, it relied on the British Neutrality which meant that Britain wouldn't join in the war as they took neither side in the war. But that's not what happened. They sent over the British Expeditionary Force (BEF).They were a small group but highly skilled in battle as they showed they slowed down the Germans in the Battle of Mame.

The last thing the Schlieffen plan needed to succeed was a slow Russian mobilisation which meant the Germans thought it would take the Russians 3 months to fight back. They thought this because Russia had a poor infrastructure; e. g. -poor communication and transport links. The Russian leader Tsar Nicholas II (1894-1917), shown in this picture here on the left, was a weak leader and Russia had proved to be a fading power after losing the Russia and Japanese war in 1905.