Military Failure: The Schliefflen Plan

In 1914, prior to the outbreak of the First World War, there was a general sense of optimism throughout the entirety of Europe, in particular within Germany, in which there was a belief that the war they were entering would be a short one, one that wouldn't last longer than a few months. In addition, prior to entering the war, Germany had one of the most powerful and developed industries, economy and military force (Llewellyn et al. 2012). However, by the end of the war in 1918, Germany was completely different. What caused Germany to undergo such a drastic change and defeat is hard to define due to the several possible factors, such as the failure of the Schliefflen Plan, Germany’s unrestricted submarine warfare and the British Blockade. However, …show more content…
Military Failure: The Schliefflen Plan

When discussing Germany’s defeat within the First World War, one of the most brought about causes is the failure of Germany’s Schliefflen Plan. Out of the many possible German military failures such as the Michael Offensive and the unrestricted submarine warfare, the Schliefflen Plan could be considered as one of the most significant due to the fact its failure was what put Germany in a disadvantageous situation in 1914 at the start of the war. The Schliefflen Plan was a military plan that was created by the Germans in fear of a two front war with the two allied countries Russia and France and consisted of Germany planning to swiftly attack and defeat France through Belgium invasion before Russia would have had the chance to mobilize its large army in France’s defense (Llewellyn et al. 2012). However, although Germany was confident in the success of the plan, when it was placed in effect, the plan did not go accordingly and failed. A significant reason for which the plan was unsuccessful was that Germany was unable to keep advancing at the speed required by the Schliefflen Plan. In fact, by the time the …show more content…
One of the most evident ways in which poor management contributed to Germanys’ failure was the result of the lack of food in Germany during the war primarily caused by the British blockade. It is evident that through the blockade, Britain was able to undermine German battle efforts by contributing to the chaos and instability in the German home front. In fact, the First Lord of the British Admiralty himself confirmed that “the British blockade (…) sought to starve the whole population (…) into submission” (Janicki 2014). The blockade was a naval operation that consisted of Britain blocking and preventing all food supplies and resources to enter Germany by declaring the North Sea a war zone, in which Britain placed mines and patrolled the seas, and by isolating Germany from the imports of neutral states (Raico