When a modern Russian man hears the words “lightning war”, “blitzkrieg”, the Great Patriotic War and Hitler’s failed plans for the instant conquest of the Soviet Union come to mind. However, this tactic was not used by Germany for the first time. At the beginning of the war, German General A. Schlieffen, who was later called the Blitzkrieg theorist, developed a plan for a "lightning fast" crushing of enemy forces. History has shown that the plan turned out to be unsuccessful, but it is worth talking in more detail about the reasons for the failure of the plan of lightning war.
World War I: reasons, participants, goals
Before analyzing what are the reasons for the failure of the plan of lightning war, you should first analyze the preconditions for the outbreak of hostilities. The conflict was caused by the contradictions in the geopolitical interests of two political blocs: the Entente, which included Great Britain, France and the Russian Empire, and the Triple Alliance, whose participants were Germany, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Italy, and later (since 1915) and Turkey. The need for redistributing colonies, markets and spheres of influence was brewing.
The Balkans, where many Slavic peoples lived, became a special zone of political tension in Europe, and the European great powers often took advantage of the numerous contradictions between them. The reason for the war was the murder of the heir to the emperor of Austria-Hungary, Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo, in response to which Serbia received an ultimatum from Austria-Hungary, the conditions of which practically deprived it of its sovereignty. Despite the willingness of Serbia to cooperate, on July 15 (July 28 in a new style) 1914, Austria-Hungary launched a war against Serbia. Russia agreed to side with Serbia, which led to the declaration of war by Germany as Russia and France. The last member of the Entente - England - entered into conflict on August 4.
General Schlieffen's plan
The idea of the plan, in fact, was to throw all the forces into victory in the only decisive battle, to which the war will come down. The enemy (French) army was planned to be surrounded from the right flank and destroyed, which would undoubtedly lead to the surrender of France. The main blow was planned to strike in the only tactically convenient way - through the territory of Belgium. It was supposed to leave a small screen on the Eastern (Russian) front, counting on the slow mobilization of Russian troops.
Such a strategy seemed well thought out, albeit risky. But what are the reasons for the failure of the plan of lightning war?
Moltke Changes
The high command, fearing the failure of plans for a lightning war, considered Schlieffen's plan too risky. Under the pressure of discontented military leaders, some changes were made to it. The author of the improvements, the chief of the Great General Staff of Germany, H. I. L. von Moltke, proposed strengthening the left wing of the army to the detriment of the attacking group on the right flank. In addition, additional forces were sent to the Eastern Front.
Reasons for making changes to the original plan
1. The German command was afraid of radically strengthening the right wing of the army, which was responsible for the encirclement of the French. With a significant weakening of the forces of the left wing, combined with an active attack by the enemy, the entire rear of the Germans was threatened.
2. Resistance of influential industrialists over the possible surrender of the Alsace-Lorraine region into the hands of the enemy.
3. The economic interests of the Prussian nobility (junkers) forced to divert a fairly large group of troops on the defense of East Prussia.
4. The transport capabilities of Germany did not allow providing the right wing of the army to the extent that Schlieffen assumed.
1914 Campaign
In Europe, there was a war on the Western (France and Belgium) and the Eastern (against Russia) fronts. Actions on the Eastern Front were called the East Prussian operation. In its course, two Russian armies going to the aid of allied France invaded East Prussia and defeated the Germans in the Battle of Gumbinnen-Goldap. In order to prevent the Russians from attacking Berlin, German forces had to transfer part of the troops from the right wing of the Western Front to East Prussia, which ultimately became one of the reasons for the failure of the lightning war. We note, however, that on the Eastern Front this transfer brought success to the German troops - two Russian armies were surrounded, and about 100 thousand soldiers were captured.
On the Western Front, timely assistance from Russia, which pulled German troops over, allowed the French to show serious resistance and prevent the German blockade of Paris. Bloody battles on the banks of the Marne (September 3–10), in which approximately 2 million people participated on both sides, showed that the First World War went from lightning to a protracted one.
1914 Campaign: Summary
By the end of the year, the Entente had an advantage. The troops of the Triple Alliance were defeated in most areas of the fighting.
In November 1914, Japan occupied the German port of Jiaozhou in the Far East, as well as the Mariana, Caroline and Marshall Islands. The rest of the Pacific colonies of Germany passed into the hands of the British. In Africa at that time, fighting was still going on, but it was clear that these colonies were lost for Germany.
The fighting in 1914 showed that Schlieffen’s plan for a quick victory did not meet the expectations of the German command. About what the reasons for the failure of the plan of lightning war became apparent at this point, will be discussed below. The war began to exhaust the enemy.
As a result of hostilities, by the end of 1914 the German military command transferred the main military operations to the east - in order to withdraw Russia from the war. Thus, by early 1915, Eastern Europe had become the main theater of war.
Reasons for the failure of the German plan for a lightning war
So, as was said above, by the beginning of 1915 the war passed into a protracted stage. Finally, let us examine the reasons for the failure of the plan of lightning war.
To begin with, the German command tritely underestimated the strength of the Russian army (and the Entente as a whole) and its readiness to mobilize. In addition, following the industrial bourgeoisie and the nobility, the German army often made tactical decisions that were not always tactical. Some researchers on this subject argue that just the original Schlieffen plan, despite its riskiness, had a chance of success. However, as mentioned above, the reasons for the failure of the plan of the lightning war, which were mainly the unpreparedness of the German army for a long war, as well as the dispersion of forces in connection with the requirements of the Prussian Junker and industrialists, are largely due to the changes made to the plan by Moltke, or, as they often called "Moltke errors."