Compare And Contrast The Two Front War And Shlieffen Plan

Peyton Stubblefield
Pickle
History
March 15, 2017
The Two Front War/Schlieffen Plan
Alfred von Schlieffen, German Army Chief of Staff, was given instructions to come up with a strategy that would be able to stop a two-front war from happening. Schlieffen argued that if a war took place, it is important that France is quickly defeated. If this happened, Britain and Russia would be uninterested in carrying on fighting. The Plan included taking most of Germany’s army through Belgium and around the Franco-German Border, attacking Paris from behind and forcing France to surrender South. Britain was not happy with Germany wanting to invade Belgium so Britain asked France and Germany if they would not invade Belgium during this war. France agreed to leave Belgium alone, but Germany did not respond. With this, Britain told Germany that if they invaded Belgium, Britain would go to war. Thinking that Belgium will allow Germany to march right through according to plan, Schlieffen went on and calculated that it
It is usually lead out by two or more separate forces that both have the hope that their opponent will be forced to split their army to deal with both threats, therefore minimizing their odds of success. During World War I, Germany, under Kaiser Wilhelm II, fought a two-front war against France, Britain, Belgium, and, later, American forces on the Western Front while, at the same time, fighting the Russians on the Eastern Front. The immediate cause of the war was the assassination of Archduke Francis Ferdinand, heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, by 19 year old Serbian nationalist, Gavrilo Princip. After the assassination, Austria-Hungary sent an ultimatum to Serbia on July 23, making demands developed to humiliate the Serbs so they would reject the ultimatum. On July 28, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia, after ordering a partial mobilization of its armed