The Schlieffen Plan was a German Army's strategic scheme which outlined Germany's offensive operations in the west in the case it had to deal with a two-front war. In this military strategy, the German Empire had to quickly defeat France first before being able to send its armies to the East to fight against Russia. Thus, the plan had to ensure a fast German victory over France if such a military situation arose. As soon as the First World War broke out in early August, 1914, the German offensive in the West was based on this strategy.
This military plan had been designed by General Alfred von Schlieffen between 1897 and 1905. An important characteristic of this strategic offensive was a powerful right flank advance, which would encircle Paris, in the same way the Prussian Army had done in the Franco-Prussian War (1870-1871). The scheme involved marching fast through neutral nations; Belgium, Holland, and Luxemburg. It was planned under the assumption that Great Britain would not be willing to go to war to fulfill its treaty obligations to protect Belgian neutrality and the military agreements established in the Triple Entente pact.
Despite its initial success, the German offensive in the west would ground to a halt at the First Battle of the Marne, where the German advance was stopped by the French Army and the British Expeditionary Forces. When the offensive stalled, the Germans and the Anglo-French armies dug in into deep trenches, which was the beginning of the long stalemate which characterized the First World War, in which neither side could significantly advance as every attack launched was extremely costly in terms of men killed and logistics.
Below, map which shows the directions of the offensives of the German forces delineated in the Schlieffen Plan in 1905.
