WAR OF MOVEMENTS: CAUSES, CHARACTERISTICS AND BATTLES - HISTORY - 2025

The war of movements was the first phase of the First World War. It took place during the first year, 1914, on the western front of Europe. The war had begun after the assassination of Archduke Francisco Fernando in Sarajevo, although the real causes were economic, nationalist and the alliance system created on the continent.

The conflict faced the Triple Alliance (Austro-Hungarian Empire, German Empire and Italy) and the Triple Entente (United Kingdom, France and Russian Empire). Later, other countries got involved, giving the confrontation a global character.

Schlieffen Plan and Plan XVIII - Source: Schlieffen Plan it.svg: Tinodela under the Creative Commons license

Germany, like the other powers, thought the war was going to be short. Her intention was to develop a series of rapid movements to invade France in a few weeks. For that, they would use a large number of forces, since they thought that the Russians would take time to organize.

Although the German plan seemed to work at first, the French and their allies managed to stop them. That ended up causing the strategies to change completely and the contenders were doomed to a long trench warfare. Finally, World War I ended in 1918, with the defeat of the Triple Alliance.

Causes

The assassination of Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir to the imperial throne, while he was visiting Sarajevo on June 28, 1914, was the event that triggered the start of hostilities on the continent.

However, the reasons for the conflict were other, from the economy to the politics of alliances that had been carried out on the continent, passing through imperialism, nationalism or growing militarism.

At the beginning of the war, both sides thought it was going to be very short. The military strategy in those first moments was to carry out massive infantry attacks to obtain quick victories.

According to the Schlieffen Plan, followed by the Germans, this tactic would allow the conquest of France and then focus on the eastern front to defeat Russia.

Bad military planning

As has been pointed out, the general staffs of the European countries were convinced that the war was going to last very little.

According to historians, the generals of the time were wrong in their initial approach, since they had based their forecasts on previous conflicts, such as the Napoleonic wars, without taking into account different circumstances.

The military entrusted everything to the efficiency of modern weaponry and the improvement of fortifications. However, they put aside the infantry doctrine.

In general, the war of movements was based on seeking direct battle. The Germans, to take advantage of the superiority of their army. The French, for their part, retreating to seek battlefields more favorable to their interests.

Attempt to quickly dominate France

At the beginning of the war, the French proceeded to group their troops on the border, between Nancy and Belfort. Their generals divided them into five different armies and organized the so-called Plan XVII, fearing a frontal attack.

The intention of Germany, with its Schlieffen Plan, was to defeat the French in about six weeks and, subsequently, to devote all its forces to fighting the Russians. To do this, they planned a rapid advance through Belgium and take the French by surprise. Once in the country, they intended to reach Paris.

The first steps of the plan were developed just as they had planned. The advance was very fast and the French army was retreating. However, the French retreat was faster than the German advance itself.

This caused Germany to stretch its lines more and more, making communications and logistics difficult.

Russia

The German war of movements had an objective beyond the conquest of France: to defeat the Russian Empire and invade the country.

Thus, his intention was to use the bulk of his troops to reach Paris in a short time, trusting that Russia would delay in mobilizing its troops. At first, he left some 500,000 soldiers on the eastern front, which he hoped to reinforce as soon as the French had been defeated.

characteristics

This first phase of the war was characterized by rapid German advances on French positions. These, in turn, reacted by retreating at equal, or greater, speed.

Double front

On the western front, the German Empire launched a plan designed in 1905 by General Alfred Graf von Schlieffen. The Germans did not mind invading Belgium to carry it out, which meant breaking the neutrality of that country. Their purpose was to surprise the French from the north and reach the capital in a few weeks.

Meanwhile, the eastern front had been somewhat sidelined by the Germans. In their belief that Russia would be slow to react, they did not strengthen the borders too much. However, the Russians intervened strongly, which affected the campaign they were carrying out in France.

Speed ​​of movements

The basis of the war of movements was speed. To be effective it was necessary for a large number of infantry troops to attack their enemies without giving them time to organize their defenses.

Germany's main problem during this phase of World War I is that the French reacted by shunning direct combat until they found a location that suited their strategic needs.

Use of reservists

The German plan soon ran into problems. Its intention was to extend towards the north, with a very powerful right wing, without weakening the central zones and to the left. In putting it into practice, Germany found that it did not have enough soldiers to take on such a broad front.

The solution was to get hold of the reservists, considered more mediocre and only fit to be in the rear without going into combat. Despite this, its incorporation into the war of movements did not weaken the power of the German army.

Main battles

Germany invaded Luxembourg on August 2, 1914. It was the first step to entering Belgium to implement the Schlieffen Plan. However, he first tried to get the Belgians to allow their troops to pass through the country peacefully to France.

The Belgians refused, but the Plan went ahead. On the 3rd, Germany formally declared war on France and mobilized its troops the next day. Her entry into Belgium violated the neutrality of that country, something that served the British to declare war on the Germans.

The German Chancellor himself, Bethmann Hollweg, recognized that invading Belgium was against international law, but justified it by saying that Germany was "in a state of necessity."

Plan XVII

Decades of conflict, including a war in which France had lost the territories of Alsace and Lorraine, had created a great feeling of hostility in the country towards the Germans. Thus, the French objective was to recover those lost territories.

To do this, they devised a strategy known as Plan XVII. However, its launch was a catastrophe. The whole plan was based on the mistaken belief that the German army was weak and understaffed.

The reality was very different. The German troops had numerical superiority in the Ardennes, causing the French to fail in their objectives.

Battle of the Marne

Although it is often simplified, there were actually two different battles on the Marne, north of Paris.

The first, also known as the Miracle of the Marne, took place between September 6 and 13, 1914, when the French army, commanded by Marshal Joffre, managed to stop the, until then, unstoppable German advance.

Marshal Joffre had carried out a task of reorganization of the French troops, which had been retreating since the beginning of the conflict, which allowed him to have six field armies. These were joined by the British Expeditionary Force (BEF). Finally, the German Imperial Army had to retreat to the northwest.

The second of these battles was already framed in the so-called trench warfare. It began on July 15, 1918 and ended, with the victory of the Allies, on August 5, 1918.

Race to the sea

As noted, the Schlieffen plan failed in the battle on the River Marne. The Germans were forced to retreat, beginning what was called "the race to the sea." Both armies undertook a swift march towards the North Sea, full of attacks and counterattacks.

The result of these warlike movements was the creation of a front line some 300 kilometers long. The two sides built a multitude of trenches along the line, from the sea to the border with Switzerland.

During this race, the French were supported by British troops and the rest of the Belgian army.

Consequences

The main consequence of the failure of the war of movements was the prolongation of the conflict. Germany, unable to invade France in a few weeks, strongly fortified their positions, something that allowed them to face the Russian army at the end of August.

Both blocs, therefore, started a war of position, the so-called trench warfare. Contrary to what happened in movements, in trenches the defenses weighed more than the attacks.

References

1. Lozano Cámara, Jorge Juan. The war of movements (1914). Obtained from classeshistoria.com
2. First Great War. War of Movements. Obtained from primeragranguerra.com
3. Ocaña, Juan Carlos. Battle of the Marne. Obtained from historiesiglo20.org
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5. Zabecki, David T. Military Developments of World War I. Retrieved from encyclopedia. 1914-1918-online.net
6. The Teaching Company. Military Tactics of WWI: The Failure of the Schlieffen Plan. Retrieved from thegreatcoursesdaily.com
7. Ministry for Culture and Heritage. Schlieffen Plan and German invasion of 1914. Retrieved from nzhistory.govt.nz