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The Schlieffen Plan
Before WWI, Germany had a powerful army. Germany believed that if war
broke out they would probably have to fight both France and Russia.
Look at the map and shade in France and Russia.
Holland
Belguim
Luxembourgh
Fighting both countries would mean splitting the armed forces to fight on two
fronts. To prepare for this the Germany army Chief of Staff, Alfred von
Schlieffen was asked to come up with a plan.
The Schlieffen plan involved using over 90% of the army to quickly attack and
defeat France and then to turn their forces on Russia, who they believed
would be slow to prepare their troops for war.
The Schlieffen plan proposed to attack France by using a Scythe shaped (see
the arrow below) attack through Holland, Belgium and Luxembourg, and to
avoid the strong French fortresses on the France/Germany border
Use arrows like the one below, draw the planned attack from Germany to
France onto your map.
Place red dots along the open border to show
that this was well defended.
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In 1914 the Schlieffen plan was put into operation and the German army
invaded Luxembourg and Belgium. But they were held up by the Belgium
army and the arrival of the British army (British Expeditionary Force). Russia
was also quick to mobilise taking just 10 days.
Look at the assumptions made in the Schlieffen Plan below and
complete the table by adding the realities.
Assumptions
Reality
Russia would take 6 weeks to
mobilise
France would be defeated in 6 weeks
Belgium would not resist
Britain would not get involved
Add the missing words:
The …………………….. plan had not succeeded in bringing a
quick victory, but the ………………… army was not beaten and
the digging of trenches marked the beginning of many years of
…………. ……. warfare.
The plan led to Great Britain declaring war on Germany, as they
had an agreement with ……………….. as part of the triple
………………. As Germany advanced to attack France, Britain
declared war.
Missing words:





France
Schlieffen
Trench
Entente
German
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