The War Begins

German Objective:Avoid a 2-front war by quickly defeating France

before turning toward Russia

The Schlieffen Plan

• The German Army Chief of Staff Alfred von Schlieffen devised a plan that would be able to counter a combined attack from France, Britain and Russia.

• He knew when war broke France had to be defeated quickly so that Russia and Britain would be unwilling to continue.

What Schlieffen thought: Russia would take 6 weeks to mobilize its

army Belgium would offer little or no resistance France could be defeated in 6 weeks Britain would remain neutral, despite an

alliance with BelgiumFrance was less dangerous than Russia,

being beaten by Germany within weeks in 1870

What Schlieffen knew:Belgium and the Netherlands are flat lands,

easy to move an army acrossFrance would concentrate its army along the

French-German Border

How do I draw the arrows?

Move rapidly against the French while the Russians take a long time to mobilize their army

As the French army massed at the German border, the Germans would sweep across Belgium and The Netherlands

Then turn towards Paris like a claw, falling west of the capital

All this would take six weeks With France out of the war, Germany could

turn to Russia

The Schlieffen Plan

The Schlieffen Plan

How the plan was actually executed

Germany assumed wrongly that Britain would not object to the invasion of Belgium

Britain used the invasion as a reason to enter the war

Schlieffen died in 1913 – his replacement made changes to his plan

Instead of approaching Paris from the west, they were forced to turn south too soon, meeting the French army along the border

Why did the plan fail?

A weaker German right flank was attacked by an effective British Expeditionary Force

Belgium put up a strong resistanceRussia mobilized faster than expectedGerman troops were moved from the Western

front to support the Russian advance

The German advance was halted on the Marne River

Both sides “dug in” extensive trench systems protected by artillery and machine guns

Germany found itself trapped on the Western Front, facing the combined armies of France, Britain, and their empires, including Canada

Four years of trench warfare began

The Result?

Canada Responds“When the call comes, our answer goes at

once, and it goes in the classical language of the British answer to the call of duty: ‘Ready, aye, ready’”

Most of Canada was soon caught up in war fever, with many worrying it would be over before they got there

Although automatically at war when Britain was at war, Canada was able to determine the extent of its participation

An expeditionary force was prepared before the British even requested one