Causes of WW1: The Schlieffen Plan vs. The Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand

The Schlieffen Plan

• The plan was to, originally, surround Paris by surprise and have France surrender in six weeks by going through neutral Holland and Belgium.
• Then they would attack Russia on the Eastern frontier because they thought Russia would take a long time to mobilise their army.
• This plan was thought up in 1905 by the head of the German army, von Schlieffen, thinking the French would not expect an attack from the north, but through Alsace-Lorraine where they share a border
• They expected that they had time to defeat France and then turn their army around and attack Russia.

Why did it fail?

• They changed the plan after von Schlieffen died in 1912.
• Instead, they only went through Belgium and didn't go around Paris or reach Paris at all
• The Russians had mobilised their army quicker than they had…