The Great War
The Opening days of the Western Front
Allied soldiers stalled in Trenches along the Western Front
French and German recruitment posters from the Great War
"I knew that a Franco-Prussian War must take place before a united Germany was formed."
-Otto Von Bismarck
From "Dawn of the Western Front", by Prof. Frederic Newman, Seattle Publishing House, 1952
The Western Front, an armed frontier during the Great War, was fought between the German Empire and the Allied Powers, also known as the Entente Powers. In terms of the Western Front, the principle nation of the later alliance was the French Third Republic. [….] Many in France, politicians in particular, had wrought revenge on Germany ever since the end of the disastrous and humiliating Franco-Prussian War over forty years before. [….] When the Great War began with the assassination of Archduke Francis Ferdinand on July 27, 1914, that opportunity was about to come. [….]
On August 3, 1914, Germany declared war on France and the Kingdom of Belgium, in fulfillment of the
Von Scheiliffen Plan. [….] Only a day before Germany invaded the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. [….] Both nations neutrality had been guaranteed by the 1839 Treaty of London. As a reuslt, the United Kingdom, one of the signatories of the treaty, declared war on Germany on the next day, August 4, 1914. [….] The British Expeditionary force landed in France four days after the German invasion, on August 7th.
[….] The French Army was facing a much stronger and much more prepared German Army. France's men at the begging of the war amounted to 8,660,000, while the German Empire had the strength of 13,250,000 [2] [….]
[….] Opposite the Von Schlieffen Plan, was France’s military strategy in the event of a war against Germany, known as
Plan XV [3]. [….] The plan was first adopted in 1898, in the form of Plan XIV. [….] Plan XIV was not only an offensive strategy, but called for, among others, the usage of reserves, due to the ever increasing population disparity between France and Germany.[….] The debate on whether or not to use reservists, as Germany had done during the Franco-Prussian war, was eventually resolved. In the event of war with Germany, reserves would be used, without a doubt. France would also make use of their railway system to transport the reservist to the front lines, as, again, Germany had previously done [4]. [….] Over a decade later in 1909, Plan XIV was amended into Plan XV [5], and placed more emphasis into a German attack into Belgium [6]. Two years later, in 1911, General Joseph Joffre, nicknamed "Papa Joffre" modified Plan XV to include a plan of concentration [7].
[….] The battles that collectively made up the
Battle of the Frontiers would collide the German Von Schlieffen Plan with the French Plan XV. [….] The Battle of the Frontiers would turn out to be a victory for the Allied Powers of France, Britain and Belgium [8].
[….]
List of Battles that made up the Battle of the Frontiers
Battle of Mulhouse - (7–10 August 1914)
Battle of Lorraine - (14–25 August 1914)
Battle of the Ardennes - (21–23 August 1914)
Battle of Charleroi - (21- August 1914)
Battle of Mons - (23–4 August 1914)[….]
Although each of the listed battles were victories for the French, they were all but hard won battles, costing the French army countless men. [….] Still, there was some more good news coming from the BEF. The
Battle of Mons, fought on August 23, 1914, although a minor battle, only helped to delay the German right wing, thought it would not be stopped.[….] General Joseph Joffre however remained confident, and was quite pleased with the early progress the French Army had managed to make, however difficult it may have been. [….] Joffre, along with BEF Commander-in-Cheif Sir John French [9], knew that such sacrifices were necessary to defeat the Germans and push them out of French territory as quickly as possible. [….]
These offensives managed to push Germany back in the short term. In the long term, France would have much, much more trouble on its hands. The Western Front would, for the most part, remain a perpetual stalemate for the rest the war.
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[1] Everything so far is pretty much a recap of OTL.
[2] These are OTL statistics.
[3] OTL's PLan XVII, more on this below.
[4] This is one of the POD's. IOTL Plan XIV did not resolve the debate of whether or not to use reserves or not.
[5] IOTL Plan XVI did give the way to Plan XV, but in 1903. The plan did consider the usage of reserves, but only in subordinate roles.
[6] IOTL, this is part of Plan XVI, which was devised in 1909, the same year that TTL's Plan XV was devised.
[7] IOTL Plan XVII was presented in 1913, and did include a plan of concentration, but did not include a fixed military strategy. This is not the case with Plan XV ITTL, which includes both strategies.
[8] As a result of earlier mentioned POD.
[9] Irony at its finest.
Yes, he's real.
