Why exactly did the Schlieffen Plan fail Germany at the start of World War 1??

Question

How could have Germany used the Schlieffen Plan effectively?

Answer 1

They could have concetrated more on taking out the fRENCH AND LET THE RUSSIANS HANDLE TYHE REST BUT THE RUSSIANS QUIT ON THEM.

Answer 2

According to what I found there were several reasons. The first reason, which I did know, was that the plan got modified. After von Schlieffen retired as the chief of staff in 1906, Helmuth von Moltke became the new chief of staff. He thought the plan was too risky. He could not abandon it because it was already apart of German millitary thinking, so he modified it.

The second reason was that the Belgians resisted more than planned. even though the Belgian forces were far inferior to the Germans, they resisted the Germans for about a month and caused the plan to be ruined a little. Even after the defeat of the Belgian army, the Belgian people slowed them too by destroying their own infrastructure and sniping.

The third reason was the BEF. The Germans were not expecting the British to enter the war. The plan only called for the French to be at war. So, because of this, the Germans started them to wheel too soon.

The fourth reason was the speed of Russian mobilization. The Germans did not expect the Russians to mobilize so quickly. The Russians advanced much more quickly into Prussia than expected. It wa snever a real threat to the plan, but the Germans pulled more troops away from the other front to combat the problem with Russia.

The fifth reason was the French railway system. Because of the resistance of the British and Belgians, the French were able to take more time to get their troops to the front. The Germans underestimated the speed in which the French did this.

The only way the Germans could have been more effective with the Plan was not to have modified on the first place. Also, had more troops in the East to combat the Russians. They also needed to have room in the plan for flexiblity. Instead of staying the course, they needed to go around Belgian and British strongpoints and just cut them off.

I hope this helps.

Answer 3

There are two reasons why "the plan" failed Germany in 1914. The first is noted by British historian Ian Ousby who, in his "The Road to Verdun," tells us that there were just too many troops and too few roads for the plan to work.

The second reason for the "failure" was because von Moltke lost his nerve and sent his reserves east to stop the Russians. Those troops were simply "lost" during the critical part of the campaign. They went east before the issue was decided in France, and they did not arrive in Poland until after the Russians had already been defeated.

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When you read the great historians of the war (John Keegan, Holger Herwig, etc.) the amazing thing is how close "the plan" came to actually working. All it needed was a daring commander who would lead from the front. Von Moltke was just not the man.

Answer 4

It was the inadequate French rail system in the Franco-Prussian war forty years before which enabled a similar plan to succeed. At the start of WW1 the rail and road systems had improved to such a point that the French could move reserves further and faster than the advancing Germans who were hampered by destroyed bridges and rail lines.

When a somewhat modified plan would be attempted thirty years after the German tanks could move faster than the retreating French to say nothing of reserves on the rails, the tanks beat the french to all of the planned blocking positions.

There was really no way for that plan to succeed in WWI, the speed of movement was in the hands of the defender and not the attacker. It was also the time of the supremacy of the defense, a relatively small group of men with a machine gun could halt a large advance because there was no armor to bring up to silence the gun. The technology of the time did not allow for movement based offensive strategy, at least not on the large scale.

Answer 5

von Moltke lost his nerve when he thought that the French could strike at a gap in his line. Also, the advance of the right wing, 1st & 2nd Armies had been too rapid, and the BEF had put up a strong defence, so the Germans were exhausted. They should have rested temporarily.

In fact, the plan was ok, but Moltke had weakened the right at the expense of the left, altho as it happens the left defended successfully against the French in the Vosges.

The Austrian failure in the Carpathians and against Serbia are what scuppered the chances for victory in 1914.

Answer 6

I dont like all of them possibilities. Is there an E? heavily - the respond is A - it may could desire to be wouldnt it? I recommend u cant use a militia to do unrestricted submarine conflict - so it cant be B. And Germany already had Alsace-Lorraine so it cant be C. And it cant be D because of fact Germany attacked West into France, and Germany grew to become into already at war with Russia so it cant be D. So if its not B, its not C, its not D - maybe A?