Schlieffen Plan

The Schlieffen Plan was a German military plan for World War I that consisted of a strategic flanking maneuver through Belgium and then a turn south into northern France. The attack on Belgium was successful but delays allowed the French to organize a defense. The focus of the attack drifted eastward and eventually lost momentum without taking Paris. The Germans and the Allies then engaged in the race to the sea.

The German leadership has been criticized for not completely following the Schlieffen Plan, and instead diverting units to the east of Paris where they were ground up in the French fortress system and a war of attrition.