Europe Plunges into WarStalemate, Schlieffen Plan

August 1914

• Battle lines clearly drawn- both sides mobilized• Central Powers: Germany,

Austria-Hungary, Ottoman Empire

• Allied Powers: Great Britain, France, Russia

“Home by Christmas”

• Both sides convinced it would be a short war• Few could predict the horror that was about to ensue

“The lamps are going out all over Europe. We shall not see them lit again in our lifetime” – Sir Edward Grey, Britain’s foreign minister.

What is Sir Edward Grey predicting?

Stalemate on the Western Front

• Summer turns to fall- locked in a bloody stalemate• Making no real land

gains, high numbers of casualties on both sides

• What led to this?• Trench warfare• New technologies

Two Front War

The Schlieffen Plan

• German General Von Schlieffen developed a six week plan to knock France out of the war before turning attention to the Russians

The Schlieffen Plan

• Schlieffen based his plan on the following assumptions:• Russia would take at

least 6 weeks to mobilize

• France would be easily defeated in 6 weeks

• Belgium would not resist any German attack

The Schlieffen Plan

• The reality of the plan:• On August 2, 1914, the German army invaded

Luxembourg and Belgium• Germans held up by Belgium army, backed up by British

troops• Russia mobilized in just 10 days and Germany was

forced to withdraw troops from the Schlieffen Plan to defend her eastern border

• September 5th- Allies and Germans meet northeast of Paris at the Battle of the Marne, where the Germans were defeated

Trench Warfare

• Much of the war's combat involved trench warfare, where hundreds often died for each meter of land gained.

• Many of the deadliest battles in history occurred during the First World War.

New Technologies

• The First World War was a clash of 20th century technology with 19th century tactics.