<P> The Schlieffen Plan ( German : Schlieffen - Plan , pronounced ( ʃliːfən plaːn ) ) was the name given after World War I to the thinking behind the German invasion of France and Belgium on 4 August 1914 . Field Marshal Alfred von Schlieffen , the Chief of the Imperial Army German General Staff from 1891 to 1906 , devised a deployment plan for a war - winning offensive , in a one - front war against the French Third Republic from 1905 -- 06 . After the war , the German official historians of the Reichsarchiv and other writers , described the plan as a blueprint for victory . German historians claimed that the plan had been ruined by Generaloberst ( Colonel - General ) Helmuth von Moltke the Younger , the Commander - in - Chief of the German army after Schlieffen retired in 1906 , who was dismissed after the First Battle of the Marne ( 5 -- 12 September 1914 ) . </P>
<P> The Schlieffen Plan ( German : Schlieffen - Plan , pronounced ( ʃliːfən plaːn ) ) was the name given after World War I to the thinking behind the German invasion of France and Belgium on 4 August 1914 . Field Marshal Alfred von Schlieffen , the Chief of the Imperial Army German General Staff from 1891 to 1906 , devised a deployment plan for a war - winning offensive , in a one - front war against the French Third Republic from 1905 -- 06 . After the war , the German official historians of the Reichsarchiv and other writers , described the plan as a blueprint for victory . German historians claimed that the plan had been ruined by Generaloberst ( Colonel - General ) Helmuth von Moltke the Younger , the Commander - in - Chief of the German army after Schlieffen retired in 1906 , who was dismissed after the First Battle of the Marne ( 5 -- 12 September 1914 ) . </P>
the schlieffen plan was intended to bring about the quick defeat of
the schlieffen plan was intended to bring about the quick defeat of
the French Third Republic
the French Third Republic