Why did the Schlieffen Plan ultimately collapse?

Answer 1

The Schlieffen plan was the German plan of attack designed to defeat France quickly and then turn on Russia. It was intended to avoid a war on two fronts. However, the plan was based on a number of assumptions, and these turned out to be flawed.

1. It was thought that Russia would take at least six weeks to mobilize. In reality Russia mobilized in just ten days.
2. The German General Staff thought that Belgium would not resist any Germany attack. When Germany invaded on 2nd August 1914, they were held up by the Belgium army, backed up by the BEF (British Expeditionary Force).
3. It was also estimated that France could easily be defeated in six weeks. Backed by the British, the French managed to halt the German advance.
4. The Germans thought that Britain would not fight and that its army was just a huge joke.

With the quick Russian mobilization, Germany was forced to withdraw troops from France defend her eastern border.

Thus, the Schlieffen Plan failed because it was based on a number of monumemtally arrogant assumptions that were flawed. For years the German General Staff had been badly out of touch with reality.

Answer 2

Well, the plan was to attack one country with its army, and take it out. THEN they would hurry back to Another Country to take them over with their soldiers remaining. As you can see, the plan wasnt very percise, therefore the "second" victim was able to declare war on the country with the army.

Answer 3

Answer

The Schlieffen Plan relied upon the destruction of the Western Allies within a very short period of time, allowing Germany to focus on Russia and avoid war on two fronts. When the German attack of the West failed, they were forced to split the attentions of their military and were rendered incapable of delivering decisive blow to the Allies. This resulted in stalemate.

After the failure of the Schlieffen Plan the German High Command did not continue the war with an attitude of hopeful optimism. They found a man called Alexander Helphand who knew a Russian nihilist whose aim was the destruction of Russia. In 1915 the Germans recruited him and began payments that finally amounted to 86m gold marks (Prof Fritz Fischer) The Russian`s name was Lenin. A miracle was needed for him to succeed. It was provided by the British backing for General Kornilov`s disastrous attempt at counter-revolution in August 1917.

Answer 4

The purpose of the Schlieffen plan was to defeat France in less than six weeks so if war occurred between either Germany and France or Germany and Russia, (because Russia and France were in the same empire- and if war broke out between two of them the one country left would help the other (not Germany) because they are n the same empire) then Germany couldn't get attacked from both sides.

so Germany's plan was to defeat France first then Russia so they could not get attacked on both sides so Germany could not be defeated; unfortunately this did not go to well for the Germans as France heard of this and started to march their army to Germany and Germany did not know, so therefore did not know and couldn't get their army mobilized soon enough before the France defeated the Germans.

Answer 5

The first part of the plan that failed was going through Belgium. Belgium's forces resisted more than von Schlieffen expected. He thought it would be easy to get through Belgium. Once he did get to France, progress was slower than the Germans hoped. The British came in to lend a hand to their allies, the French. Von Schlieffen hadn't anticipated this either. The German army's plan to take Paris in the first month of the war (eliminating France from the war) nearly worked out, with the Germans reaching within about 100 km of the French capital. The French were able to organize a strong counterattack in the Battle of the Marne, which ended the possibility of a quick victory. The Schlieffen plan required a rapid victory over France, and when that did not materialize (and the Russians attacked strongly in East Prussia) the Schlieffen plan failed, degenerating into years of static trench warfare.

Answer 6

Germany Schlieffen plan failed because the Russians mobilised their troops quicker than expected. Also the resistance from Belgium and the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) led to the stalemate of trench warfare, when both sides gained and loss territory at a great loss of life.

Answer 7

They should have waited 3 more years for jet acrcraft and the modern elctro u boats that would have won the Battle of Britain and The Battle of the Atlantic Ocean

Answer 8

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