Schlieffen's strategic plan, which assumed a quick victory for Germany in the First World War, was not implemented. But it still continues to haunt the minds of military historians, because this plan was unusually risky and interesting.
Most military historians are inclined to believe that if the plan of the chief of the German General Staff, Alfred von Schlieffen, was implemented, the First World War could have gone on a completely different scenario. But back in 1906, the German strategist was removed from his post and his followers were afraid to implement Schlieffen's idea.
Lightning War Plan
At the beginning of the last century, Germany began planning a major war. This was due to the fact that France, defeated several decades earlier, was clearly hatching plans for a military revenge. The German leadership was not particularly afraid of the French threat. But in the east, Russia was gaining economic and military power, which was an ally of the Third Republic. For Germany, there was a real danger of a war on two fronts. Realizing this well, Kaiser Wilhelm ordered von Schlieffen to develop a plan for a victorious war in these conditions.
And Schlieffen, in a fairly short time, created such a plan. According to his idea, Germany was to start the first war against France, concentrating on this direction 90% of all its armed forces. Moreover, this war was supposed to be lightning fast. Only 39 days were allotted for the capture of Paris. For the final victory - 42.
It was assumed that Russia would not be able to mobilize in such a short time. After the victory over France, German troops will be transferred to the border with Russia. Kaiser Wilhelm approved the plan, while saying the famous phrase: "We will have lunch in Paris, and we will have dinner in St. Petersburg."
The failure of the Schlieffen plan
Helmut von Moltke, who replaced Schlieffen as chief of the German General Staff, took the Schlieffen plan without much enthusiasm, considering it too risky. And for this reason, he underwent a thorough revision. In particular, he refused to concentrate the main forces of the German army on the western front and, for reasons of precaution, sent a significant part of the troops to the east.
But according to Schlieffen's plan, it was planned to cover the French army from the flanks and completely encircle it. But due to the transfer of significant forces to the east, the German grouping of troops on the western front simply did not have enough funds for this. As a result, the French troops were not only not surrounded, but also managed to deliver a powerful counterattack.
The reliance on the slowness of the Russian army in terms of protracted mobilization also did not justify itself. The invasion of Russian troops into East Prussia literally stunned the German command. Germany found itself in the grip of two fronts.
