Changes

==Outcome and reputation==

==Outcome and reputation==

The Schlieffen Plan allowed the Germans to occupy a vast region that included most of Belgium and northeastern France. But this is not usually interpreted to mean that the plan was successful. It's fell far short of its goal to capture Paris so that the Germans could turn their attention to the east as quickly as possible. French leaders at the time stated that if Paris was captured, they would have retreated south and continued fighting. So the expectation of a quick victory was never realistic. Instead, the plan led to the realization of a worst case scenario: A four-year two-front war with horrific loss of life and ending in German defeat.  

The Schlieffen Plan allowed the Germans to occupy a vast region that included most of Belgium and northeastern France. But this is not usually interpreted to mean that the plan was successful. It fell far short of its goal to capture Paris quickly so that the Germans could turn their attention to the east. French leaders at the time stated that if Paris was captured, they would have retreated south and continued fighting. So the expectation of a quick victory was never realistic. Instead, the plan led to the realization of a worst case scenario: A four-year two-front war with horrific loss of life and ending in German defeat.  

In 1919, historian Hans Delbrück wrote an article in which he argued that an offensive against Russia would have been a more realistic strategy than one focused on France. The immediate provocation for the war was Russian mobilization, so an attack on France, let alone Belgium, was difficult to justify in terms of international opinion.

In 1919, historian Hans Delbrück wrote an article in which he argued that an offensive against Russia would have been a more realistic strategy than one focused on France. The immediate provocation for the war was Russian mobilization, so an attack on France, let alone Belgium, was difficult to justify in terms of international opinion.