Inventing the Schlieffen plan : German war planning, 1871-1914 /
Terence Zuber.
- Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, (c)2002.
- 1 online resource (xii, 340 pages) : maps.
Originally presented as the author's thesis (doctoral)--Universität Würzburg.
Includes bibliographies and index.
Inventing the Schlieffen Plan -- Moltke's Ostaufamarsch, 1871-1886 -- Fortresses, spies, and crisis, 1886-1890 -- Schlieffen's war plan, 1891-1905 -- Moltke's war plan, 1906-1914 -- Excuses and accusations.
"The existence of the Schlieffen plan has been one of the basic assumptions of twentieth-century military history. It was the perfect example of the evils of German militarism: aggressive, mechanical, disdainful of politics and of public morality. The Great War began in August 1914 allegedly because the Schlieffen plan forced the German government to transform a Balkan quarrel into a World War by attacking France. And, in the end, the Schlieffen plan failed at the battle of the Marne." "Yet it has always been recognized that the Schlieffen plan included inconsistencies which have never been satisfactorily explained. On the basis of newly discovered documents from German archives, Terence Zuber presents a radically different picture of German war planning between 1871 and 1914, and concludes that, in fact, there never really was a 'Schlieffen plan'."--Jacket.
9780191581830
Schlieffen, Alfred, Graf von, 1833-1913.
World War, 1914-1918--Causes. Military planning--History--Germany--20th century. Strategy.