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Conflict and Tension: The First World War, 1894–1918

The Schlieffen Plan

  • 3 things to know
  • Paper 1 section B

Overview

Who drew up the plan and the problem it solved, the six-week timetable and the sweep through Belgium, Moltke's changes, Belgian resistance and Mons, the Battle of the Marne and the race to the sea.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

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Numbers

What was Germany's plan for a war on two fronts, and how was it meant to work?

Numbers

Who drew up Germany’s war plan, and when?

Key term

What problem was Germany’s war plan designed to solve?

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    Who drew up Germany’s war plan, and when?

    Model answer

    Count Alfred von Schlieffen, chief of the German general staff, who set it out in 1905.

  2. 2

    What problem was Germany’s war plan designed to solve?

    Model answer

    Germany had enemies on both sides, so it had to knock France out quickly before Russia was ready to fight.

  3. 3

    How long did the plan allow for the defeat of France?

    Model answer

    About six weeks, which was how long Germany expected Russia to need to mobilise.

  4. 4

    Which route into France did the plan choose, and why that one?

    Model answer

    A wide sweep through Belgium, because the direct frontier with France was heavily fortified.

  5. 5

    How did Moltke the Younger alter the plan before 1914?

    Model answer

    He weakened the sweeping right wing and kept more troops back to guard Alsace-Lorraine and the east.

  6. 6

    Why did Belgian resistance matter so much in August 1914?

    Model answer

    The Belgian army held the Germans up at Liège and elsewhere, costing them days their timetable could not spare.

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