Explain why the open war Essay

World War 1 had begun in August with both nerves certain that their sudden attacks with cavalry and infantry would work a war of quick movement, which would bring them a swift victory. The oddment of this possibility and build up towards a stationary war of situated entrenchment was not only due to the failure of the Schlieffen conception and Plan XVII, but the problems in communications, problems faced through tactics and strategies and the role of the commanders throughout the planning and progression of the war. The possibility of further outflanking movements was gone.The initially hastily constructed trenches of the confederate forcers took on a more permanent look as twain massive armies consisting of over 4 million men faced severally other over 800 kilometres of continuous trench lines from the coast of Belgium to the Swiss border. For the nigh four years, the rival commanders struggled and blundered in an attempt to find a direction to break the stalemate, which had emerged by the end of 1914. In order to break the stalemate there were twain major offensives remembered from 1916, which both failed but were attempts none the less. two sides had become aware that it was easier to hold a defensive position than it was to lay down an offensive. However, this did not stop them, launching repeated disastrous offensives, relying on cant over of men, artillery and supplies to crumble the opposition through attrition and each side endeavored to weaken the other. The generals decided only a big push would be able to break through the enemy lines and restart the war of rapid movement. This was not achieved until the attrition of 1915-18 finally weakened the German lines in mid-1918.The Schlieffen Plan, earlier devised by Alfred von Schlieffen, the then German Army Chief of Staff, in 1905, was the German Plan which would they would implement to avoid a war on two fronts. Schlieffen argued that France had to be beated as soon as possible in the ev ent of a great European War. If that were to happen, Schlieffen realised that Russia and France would be loth to continue fighting. In addition, Schlieffen estimated that it would take Russia six weeks to mobilise her forces in readiness for war against them. Thus, he reasoned that Germany would have six weeks in which to defeat France and surrender.On August 2nd 1914 the Schlieffen Plan was put into effect and the German Army began its advance upon France through Belgium. The delicate plan was upset with the primeval arrival of the British Expeditionary Force under Sir John French, world-shaking resistance by the Belgian Army, resistance of the Belgians and the early arrival of Russian Forces. The German implementations and strategies relied too heavily on the Schlieffen Plan itself. The plan greatly depended on speed and movement, the strict deadline of 42 days was impractical, this unreasonable design was pushed further away from the Germans.General von Moltke did not follow through the authoritative Schlieffen Plan instead, he had shifted the numbers of the planned armies and therefore altered the proportion for the plan to work. All these events led up to the Battle of the Marne, the first major battle on the Western Front. The French Allied victory at this battle marked the failure of the Schlieffen Plan, and the death of any German wish for a quick decisive victory. The German forces were not only to incrimination for the reason of stationary war during 1914, the problems with the French Plan XVII also contributed to the fact.