Inventing the Schlieffen Plan: German War Planning, 1871-1914

Rating:
Summary: An interesting thesis
Review: Zuber believes that the Schlieffen plan never existed and that Moltke the younger was the true designer of the German war plans in 1914. Zuber states that Schlieffen concentrated his forces in the areas around Metz and the Lorraine area in France and never intended to invade Belgum or have the bulk of the forces on the northern flank. Instead Schlieffen wanted to surround the French forces after they left the Rhine and thereby the French forces would be defeated near or on Germam territory. Moltke introduce the attack through Belgum because he thought that Germany had to quickly defeat the French in order to take on the Russians. This is a highly readable book and dispels commonly held beliefs about the origins of the First World War. The only weakness of this book is its expensive price.

Rating:
Summary: An interesting thesis
Review: Zuber believes that the Schlieffen plan never existed and that Moltke the younger was the true designer of the German war plans in 1914. Zuber states that Schlieffen concentrated his forces in the areas around Metz and the Lorraine area in France and never intended to invade Belgum or have the bulk of the forces on the northern flank. Instead Schlieffen wanted to surround the French forces after they left the Rhine and thereby the French forces would be defeated near or on Germam territory. Moltke introduce the attack through Belgum because he thought that Germany had to quickly defeat the French in order to take on the Russians. This is a highly readable book and dispels commonly held beliefs about the origins of the First World War. The only weakness of this book is its expensive price.

Rating:
Summary: An interesting thesis
Review: Zuber contends that there really was no Schlieffen Plan and that the movements of the German army in 1914 was improvised by Molke in response to failure on the German left flank. Zuber writes that Schlieffen planned to let the French army to across the Rhine and then be surrounded by the German army. Schlieffen made both the right and left flanks strong contrary to popular belief. Moltke attacked the French in 1914 with both flanks equally strong but changed the main direction of the attack to the right flank after the Germans failed to destroy the French forts on the left. This is a highly interesting and controversial book that is highly readable. The main weakness of this book is its expensive price.