why did germany want to take over france in world war one?

Question

please help me!

Answer 1

It didn't.

France was part of the Entente Cordiale, a mutual protection pact, with Russia and Britain, whilst Germany was aliied with Austria-Hungary.

When the Austrian Crown Prince was assassinated in Sarajevo, Austria delivered an unltimatum to Serbia. This led Russia, a fellow Slav nation, to support Serbia against Austria, which triggered Germany's alliance with Austria and was therefore expected to trigger France's alliance with Russia.

The movements of conscript armies in 1914 was constrained by the needs for men to leave their work. They would then be taken to the front by trains run accorcing to complicated timetabes drawn up by the Chiefs of Staff. Once set in action, these plans would cause chaos if stopped, which would be unacceptable at a time of international tension.

France was always going to mobilise faster than Russia, with its huge distances. And Germany felt threatened by the greater numbers of France and Russia combined. So the German plan was to knock out France, leaving time to redirect its victorious troops against the Russians. This meant that Germany acted pre-emptively against France, which declared war when Germany violated belgian neutrality.

If Germany had won, they would have demanded heavy reparations. They wouldn't have needed Alsace-Lorraine as this had been German already since 1871! However, it is also likely that they would have taken over the Channel Ports, which is probably the real reason why Churchill, the First Lord of the Admiralty, railroaded the British cabinet into entering the War, Belgian neutrality being the supposed reason.

Answer 2

Germany did not want to "take over" France. Despite the ludicrous and gratuitous Frenchie bashing going on in the previous answers, at the beginning of the twentieth century, France was one of the world's economic and cultural superpowers. Germany was a relatively new political entity, having formed into a single nation from a lot of small nations only in the late 1800s. However, in a very short time, Germany had become an economic powerhouse. Using the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand of the Austro-Hungarian Empire by a Serbian Separatist as an excuse, Germany went to war with France and England in the hopes of crippling its main economic rivals in the world.

Answer 3

They didn't, they wanted to destroy France's army in the field. What noone realised with the huge armies that were deployed and the advances in the acuracy range and fire power of rifles and artilery and the development of machine guns, was that armies had become much more effective defensively than when on the offensive. Germany had attacked and invaded France in 1870 (the Franco-Prusian War) and their intent was the same, to beat Frances army and to prove that Germany was the more powerfull. Their victory in that war alllowed the Germans under Wilhelm I to establish several African colonies at the expense in French Expansion. The Germans thought that a swift victoy (they could mobilise quicker than France and 1870 had been quick and successful) they would paralise the forces of the Tripple Entent (Britain France and Russia) and continue these teretorial advances. Instead they cause the ultimate ruination of the European Empires (Britain emerged nearly Bankrupt from WW1) and the definition and Expansion of Americal Imperial comercial culture.

Answer 4

germasny wanted to take over france during ww1 because the people in those 2 nations have a history of hating each other stretching all the way back to the middle ages, the most recent conflict at the time was the franco-prussian war which germany won but differences were not settled and france constantly vied for more limitations on germany, germany lead by the kaiser wanted to show of his military might and also he wanted to make sure he was the dominant power on the continent which could only be achieved by destropying his chief rivals in everything; france and england, england was impenaturable thanks to their navy and the fact that it is an island so freance was the obvious target to crush and subjugate

Answer 5

It was a case of attack France before she attacks us , both nations had been packing their borders with troops , both felt threatened by the other because Germany had asked France to stay neutral in the forthcoming war between Germany and Russia, the French had replied that they would consult their own interests, and in doing so put themselves in the firring line, Germany had been provoking war with Russia for some time, using the excuse of the assassination of the, Archduke Franz Ferdinand heir to the thone of Austria-Hungary .

Answer 6

Not so much "take over" France, as "take out" France.

Amongst a whole complex of forces and influences, there was something very much like a row of dominoes inevitably toppling following the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand.

France and Russia had treaties of alliance, so, faced with the the prospect of of Russia moving to a war footing (See the term "mobilisation") in support of Serbia, Germany had to contemplate hostile armies on both western and eastern frontiers: the prospect of a dreaded "two-front" war. The strategy that had been worked out for this contingency, should it arise, was to rely on Russia being slow to put its armies in the field, and use that singular opportunity to strike hard at France, ideally to force a surrender or armistice, before transferring forces swiftly east to face the Russians.

Answer 7

It didn't particulally, because of allies each country had to go into war. France tried to invade Germany aswell with plan 17, this was not as successfull as the German's schlieffen plan so they left their attacking positions to defent Paris. The schlieffen plan had failled by the battle of Marne and then after Ypres both sides dug in. The Germans didn't want to retreat so the fighting happened in France.

Answer 8

Germany and France always have issues with one another, one of which is the dispute they had during the 20th Century over the region of Alsace, which they both claimed as their own...

Answer 9

The Schlieffen plan called for the quick defeat of France so that Germany would not be forced to fight a two front war.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schlieffen_Plan

Answer 10

It didn't want to take over France, as you put it. Go to the link, all the answers you need are there.