1914

The great war began exactly according to plan.

A million German troops are loaded into 6,480 railways trains and headed towards Belgium. (Scheliefen Plan)

The French begin to execute Plan 17. Sending three great armies to invade

the province of Lorraine.

The British ships loaded with 125,000 men land in French ports and begin to move east.

It only takes 3 weeks before the war plans go wrong.

The Germans were slowed down by the Belgium armies. (10 days)

Then the B.E.F. also slows the Germans down.

French armies were being torn to pieces in Lorraine.

300,000 French soldiers were killed in 2 weeks. (machine-gun post)

The Russian armies start attacking Germany faster then predicted.

German commander Moltke, must send troops from the western front to fight the Russians. (2 Fronts)

The German 1st army has a long way to go to get to Paris. (50km a day)

The German armies in the south run into unexpected French armies that were marching back from Lorraine to cut the Germans off. (Pan 17 armies)

By September 4th the German armies reach the Marne River. (some could see Eiffel Tower)

Things looked good for the Germans, until one fatal mistake. The German armies did not surround Paris as planned. The French could now save themselves.

The Germans push south. The French now can attack from the

North, south (17), and by “taxi” from the west.

This lasted one week (Sept.5 – 11), one of the biggest battles ever.

Germans retreat 60km to the Aisne and dug in. (Trench)

Schlieffen Movie

The Germans, French, and B.E.F all head north to try and outflank each other before they reach the English Channel.

One of the worst Battles took place in the city of Ypres. (Belgium) The B.E.F. lose 11,000 of its 12,000 soldiers.

Both sides started to dig trenches from Belgium to Switzerland. Nobody can move = Stalemate