The campaign of the Marne, 1914

With diplomacy unravelling during summer 1914, Germany swept into Belgium in an audacious attempt to catch France and England off-guard.

First contemplated after the Franco-Prussian War, the Schlieffen Plan was designed to keep Germany from fighting on two fronts.

With a quick and decisive victory over France and its allies to the west, Germany could then confront Russia to the east.

Despite the surprise of Germany's initial advance, the plan ultimately failed due to lack of troop mobility - something that would have to await the mechanized blitzkrieg of WWII.

What followed was a stalemate and the beginning of four long years of destructive trench warfare that would only be lifted in 1918.

In "The Campaign for the Marne", the entire genesis of the Schlieffen Plan, its modification, implementation, and the complex series of gruelling battles that followed is laid out with the intent to make the entire episode comprehensible to the general reader.