The Alliance System Collapses
By 1914, Europe was divided into two rival camps. One alliance, the Triple Entente, included Great Britain, France, and Russia. The other, known as the Triple Alliance, included Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy. Austria-Hungary’s declaration of war against Serbia set off a chain reaction within the alliance system.
In response to Austria’s declaration of war, Russia, began moving its army toward the Russian-Austrian border and the German border. Czar Nicholas II of Russia called it as a precaution. But on August 1, the German government declared war on Russia. Russia looked to its ally France for help. But Germany also declared war on France. Much of Europe was now locked in battle.
The Schlieffen Plan
It was Germany’s war plan designed by General Alfred Graf von Schlieffen. He had called for attacking France and then Russia. Under the Schlieffen Plan, a large part of the German army would race west, to defeat France, and then return to fight Russia in the east.
- Germany demanded that its troops be allowed to pass through Belgium on their way to France. Belgium, a neutral country, refused. Germany then invaded Belgium. This brought Great Britain into the conflict.
- On one side were Germany and Austria-Hungary. They were known as the Central Powers, because of their location in the heart of Europe. Bulgaria and the Ottoman Empire would later join the Central Powers in the hopes of regaining lost territories.
On the other side were Great Britain, France, and Russia. Together, they were known as the Allied Powers or the Allies. Japan joined the Allies within weeks. Italy, which at first was neutral, joined the Allies nine months into the war Italy was with Triple Alliance earlier).
Germany’s lightning-quick strike instead turned into a long and bloody stalemate, or deadlock, along the battlefields of France. This deadlocked region in northern France became known as the Western Front. Early on, Germany’s Schlieffen Plan worked brilliantly. By September 3, German units were on the edge of Paris.
- The French military used intelligence and Allies attacked the Germans northeast of Paris, in the valley of the Marne River (First Battle of the Marne). German were defeated and Schlieffen Plan failed.
- To fight Russia in the East, German high command sent thousands of troops from France to aid its forces in the east.
- By early 1915, opposing armies on the Western Front had dug miles of parallel trenches to protect themselves from enemy fire (trench warfare).
- In July of 1916, Britain and Germany fought in the valley of the Somme River. Each side had suffered over half a million casualties.
New tools of war—machine guns, poison gas, armoured tanks, larger artillery had not delivered the fast-moving war they had expected, fighter planes and submarines also used. The slaughter reached a peak in 1916.
