h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: The Schlieffen Plan - A87842028
Author: Bullet To Be - U43530

A Flea Market Rescue of:
Article: A3463003 The Schlieffen Plan
Author: U1225542 Mightyluke
Halloween seems an appropriate time for an article about the Great War.

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A particular challenge of writing in British English is the correct spelling of manoeuvre and manoeuvring.

Please swap the following two sentences around. The text makes more sense that way:

In 1893 Russia entered into a defensive pact with France called the Dual Alliance treaty. France too was strongly anti-German, having lost the Franco-Prussian War (1870-1).

This is just brilliant! As someone who has spent too many fruitless hours trying to describe the world wars in plain English, I appreciate the clarity of this account.

And it's right on time for the centenary.

A request, and I know it's my OCD kicking in. Could you possibly change the phrase 'to quickly defeat the French' to 'to defeat the French quickly'? My ears would stop twitching. And yeah, I know language changes and rules don't count, etc, but heck, it sounds better...

As you asked so nicely, okay then

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You're a kind soul.

cool, I liked this.

As a question, was part of the Schlieffen Plan the construction of the huge station at Metz, with each track having two platforms, on different levels, as so to allow quick and easy disembarking of both German troops and equipment?

Germany did indeed prepare major civil engineering works in preparation for the war, including railway building as the Franco-Prussian War had taught them the vital importance of being able to move troops quickly. Quadruple-track railways were built across Germany to allow troops to get across the country from the French to Russian borders, with stations designed for the swift movement of troops.

At the same time in France, the Ecole Superieure de Guerre was preparing French officers for war by teaching them that French courage was the best defence against German machine-guns.

You're probably right that it deserves a mention - but I'll have to avoid the temptation of getting too detailed about Germany's pre-war railway preparations...

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This is good: clear and informative.

One question - is there any chance of a map to go with this?

One nitpick in the section 'The Plan in Action', the sentence beginning 'Though Von Schliefen had conceived of five vast German armies' gets a bit convoluted. Can you split it?

Another question has just occurred to me. What were the Austro-Hungarians doing at this point?

Drinking coffee and eating Linsertorte, as usual.

Thanks for your excellent comments – a map would be really, really good, just don't ask me to draw one. I certainly hope that, what with the events having happened over a century ago now, we can find an out-of-copyright illustration to go with it, full of useful town names and arrows.

As for Austro-Hungary, although von Schlieffen's predecessor von Moltke the Elder had planned a close-co-operation with the Austrian army, von Schlieffen seemed prejudiced against Austria. As far as he was concerned, the 1897 Dual Alliance was a mistake because Germany was allied against Russia's enemy, distracting Germany from the true enemy of France. He even seemed to remain hopeful that if Germany did not advance against Russia directly, after defeating France a peace could be arranged.
Von Schlieffen broke off relationships with Austrian generals and was convinced that Austrian armies were incapable of attack or deployment. Through the 1890s he wrote notes like 'we cannot let ourselves be beaten by the French on the 15th or 17th day of mobilisation while the Austrians are happily completing their deployment' and even 'We already know that the Austrians' transport for deployment is inefficient, that the Austrian troops cannot be very highly rated, and that the Austrian advance… will be very hesitant'.

So basically Schlieffen planned to leave Austria to face Russia alone on the Eastern front. But the Eastern Front and the Italian Front are subjects for other articles (I'm not volunteering) – I want to keep this one confined to the opening stages of the war in the West, before Trenches, Floods, Ypres and the March to the Sea.

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Well done Mightyluke.

If anyone has a handy public domain map that shows the areas concerned, possibly with little arrows on, please let me know!

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Excellent