In August 1914, Germany launched the Schlieffen Plan, aiming to defeat France within six weeks. (a) Describe the main features of the Schlieffen Plan. [4] (...

(a) Main features of the Schlieffen Plan [4 marks]

The Schlieffen Plan, devised by Count Alfred von Schlieffen in 1905 and modified by General Helmuth von Moltke, was Germany's strategy for fighting a two-front war against France and Russia. Germany would avoid France's heavily fortified eastern border by swinging its main force through neutral Belgium and into northern France. The plan aimed to encircle Paris from the north and west, knocking France out of the war within six weeks. A smaller holding force would defend against Russia on the Eastern Front while the main army dealt with France. After France's defeat, German forces would be transferred east by railway to face Russia, which was expected to mobilise slowly due to its vast size and poor infrastructure.

(b) Why the Schlieffen Plan failed in September 1914 [6 marks]

The Plan failed for a combination of reasons. Belgian resistance, particularly at the fortified city of Liege, delayed the German advance by several crucial days. Germany's violation of Belgian neutrality brought Britain into the war, adding the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) to the Allied side. Russian mobilisation was faster than the Plan had assumed, forcing Germany to divert two corps to the Eastern Front and weakening the critical right wing. German soldiers were physically exhausted after marching hundreds of kilometres in summer heat. Von Moltke had weakened the right wing further to reinforce other sectors, diluting the Plan's decisive striking force. The French and British counter-attacked at the Battle of the Marne (5-12 September 1914), halting the German advance and forcing a retreat to the River Aisne.

(c) How far the Schlieffen Plan's failure was responsible for the stalemate [10 marks]

The Plan's failure was directly responsible:

• Its failure to achieve a quick knockout victory against France trapped Germany in the two-front war it had been designed to avoid.
• The retreat from the Marne led both sides to attempt to outflank each other in the "Race to the Sea" (September-November 1914), resulting in a continuous trench line from the English Channel to Switzerland.
• The failure demonstrated that offensive warfare could not deliver the rapid, decisive results that pre-war military planning had assumed.

Other factors also created the stalemate:

• Modern defensive technology, especially the machine gun, barbed wire, and rapid-firing artillery, gave defenders enormous advantages over attackers in the open.
• The flat terrain of Flanders and northern France was ideal for defensive warfare.
• Military commanders on both sides lacked effective tactics for breaking through fortified trench positions and relied on attritional methods that produced casualties without breakthroughs.
• Neither side possessed the technology (until tanks appeared in 1916-17) to overcome entrenched defences reliably.

The Schlieffen Plan's failure was the immediate cause of the stalemate, but the deeper reason was that military technology in 1914 overwhelmingly favoured defence over attack, making any offensive strategy likely to fail.