In December of 1905 General Count Alfred von Schlieffen created a plan to attack France after Russia had declared their mobilization in response to the global tension. Due to the execution of the plan Great Britain declared war on Germany on August 4th, 1914. The Plan had taken nine years to finalize and it was created with the belief that Germany would be faced with war on two fronts. By 1905 Europe had been split into two groups the Triple Alliance and the Triple Entente. General Schlieffen believed most of the action would be taking place on the western portion of Europe. He presumed that France was Germany’s most dangerous opponent and that Russia was not as much of a threat as France was. He knew it would take Russia up to six weeks to mobilize troops and that the bulk of the combat would be done on the Russian-German border, which could be held of until Germany had a victory over France. These six weeks would allow Germany time to rally troops and mobilize the troops from …show more content…
They were defeated in the first Battle of the Marne. The poor communication on the frontline commanders and the Army headquarters in Berlin made it harder to pursue the Plan. Germany also withdrew a portion of their troops from France to help with the forces against Russia. This hindered Germany’s ability to defeat the French troops. The defeat of Germany lead to the era of trench warfare that became a huge part of World War I. After the defeat the Germans blamed the Plan for their defeat. The allies thought of the Plan as an example of the German aggression against neutral countries and it later became the basis of of war guilt and reparations. After the war both the Schlieffen Plan and the Moltke’s rewrite were locked away at the Reichsarchiv at Potsdam, and any access to the documents was prohibited with few exceptions. On April 14th, 1945 during a British bomber attack the documents were
In order to analyze and answer the question, we must first understand the context of trench warfare. World War 1 was a time when advanced weapons and technology were invented. Weapons such as machine guns, artillery, tanks, and other long range military weapons were used at the opposing side. To defend against a wide use of artillery and other long range weapons, trench warfare was used by both the allied and central powers. Trench warfare was a very important factor in World War 1, not only because it would defend one’s own trench, but also attempt to attack the enemies at the same time.
Of course, all the rest of the countries was still major contributors to the cause of the war, but they weren 't as conspicuous as Germany. All were to be responsible for the war, and all should be paying the price. After so many lives spared and damages, in the end, maybe it wasn 't worth for such of a large scaled war to happen; but it is still important to analyze the possible causes in order to alleviate future
Laurence V.Moyer wrote about the German views saying, “.... Most Germans saw it as an atrocious injustice, an evil thing which must be destroyed… What they knew of the treaty was etched indelibly in their minds and could be abbreviated in (a) single word: humiliation…. (Doc H)”. Although they did sign the Treaty of Versailles, they believed that Europe had been unjustly cruel to them, and had gone too far in their punishment. In 1924 Adolf Hitler, a German political figure who will later be essential to world history wrote, “.... The restoration of the frontiers of 1914 could be achieved only by blood.
Imperialism was a big impact on the late 1800’s leading into the early 1900’s with counties like the British, Spanish, Russia, and Germany pushing to gain more land in different counties. This would lead to an arms race and the buildup which would lead into World War 1. Many different alliance were made if another country would attack another other countries would help with the fight. This would keep peace till the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria.
However, due to the poor execution and non participation of the defeated Germany the treaty only fostered future tensions and set the stage for another world war. The Great War, which it was referred to at the time, began with the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand the heir of the Austria-Hungarian empire in Bosnia in 1914.Due to the alliance system between the European countries and the huge build up of militaries the event triggered a war so massive that about hundred countries participated in the fighting. The countries were divided between the Allies and the Central Powers.
Most of them had also confronted the Wehrmacht’s formidable fighting power during the disastrous 1940 campaign in France while the experiences of British forces in North Africa and Libya against Field Marshal Erwin Rommel it did so much to diminish their respect for the German military capabilities. After the war, Brooke put the situation in these terms. He said, That he had found Marshall's rigid form of strategy very difficult to cope with. He said that he had never really fully appreciated what operations in France would mean the different type of training of German divisions as opposed to the rawt traiining American divisions and to most of our new divisions. He could not appreciate the Germans could reinforce the point of attack some three to four times faster than we could, nor would he understand that until the Mediterranean was open again we should always suffer from a crippling shortage of sea
They felt vulnerable to everyone. France is right next to Germany, and refuse to let them have any military forces at the border. (Doc A) Germany is even more defenseless and they have to obey by what France tells them. Since
Finally, Germany wasn 't going to give up. They wanted to win this thing. President Wilson said "Victory would mean peace forced upon the loser. " Meaning, if the Allies won the war, then Germany would have to face the consequences, which would end the war (deaths,
If he had waited he may have given the German army more time to prepare themselves along with gathering more men for
World War I is often associated with trench Warfare and battles on the land, with very little thought given to the importance of naval warfare. Beginning with the Anglo-German Naval Race (1898-1912), Germany began building up their High Seas Fleet to challenge the Grand Fleet (“Anglo-German Naval Race”). Britain had been the World’s only international naval superpower for well over 100 years until Germany decided to challenge their dominance. Shortly after the start of World War I, the Anglo-French Naval Convention (1914) was signed, which greatly shaped Allied naval strategy. In 1914, Britain put a distant blockade on Germany, which allowed them to control exits from the North Sea and damaged both Germany’s economy and War effort (Roskill 4: 533).
The attacks were the last straw for Woodrow Wilson. As a result of these incidents, he officially declared war on Germany in April 1917. Directly following this announcement, the United States had to do a lot of preparation to get ready for a battle of this magnitude. This war cost the U.S, as well as many other countries, a lot of lives and millions of dollars. Germany acted as the warmonger in this war.
There was more than just one incident that led to World War I. Americans killed on a sunken ship, the use of restricted submarines, and the assassination of Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand. President Wilson did all he could to avoid a conflict. When things got out of hand for him, he pushed back. The Bible scriptures states that there is a time for war, and I am sure that God’s direction was taken into consideration before war was declared. Archduke Franz Ferdinand was a friend of Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany.
One of the earliest causes of the Allied Powers victory was the failure of the German Schlieffen Plan. Its aim was to occupy the France, coming through the Belgium, and then, when these would be under their control, it would create one big front to fight with Russia. Unfortunately, everything went wrong, Belgium soldiers were extremely brave, what delayed the German advance. Germany did not manage to break through to France as quickly as it intented to. Due to the "Treaty of London", which guaranteed the independence of Belgium, Britain declared war on Germany.
“European nations began World War 1 with a glamorous vision of war, only to be psychologically shattered by the realities of the trenches. The experience changed the way people referred to the glamour of battle; they treated it no longer as a positive quality but as a dangerous illusion.” –Virginia Postrel. World War 1 was one of the most horrendous, life shifting wars in history that began in Europe and lasted for 4 years (1914 - 1918) besides affecting 9 million lives. The world was so destructive due to the intensity of the fighting and the deadly weapons.
Therefore, in 1912, Germany began preparations to enact major war that could (hopefully) be blamed on Russia. Considering Russia would have completed its military armament and railroads by 1917, Germany realized they needed to strike sooner rather than later – they needed to maximize their own