Events
August23, 1914
Battle of Mons; British and French troops begin 120-mile
retreat
September 4
Allied retreat halted at the river Marne
September 5
Battle of the Marne begins
September 9
Germans begin forty-five-mile retreat back to the
river Aisne
The Battle of Mons
After completing their occupation of Belgium on
August 20, 1914, German
forces moved quickly upon France with two armies. Although fighting
between French and German forces had taken place in the region of Alsace-Lorraine in
southeastern France, the first joint French-British encounters with
Germany occurred near the town of Mons along the Franco-Belgian
border on August 23, 1914.
As French and British armies tried to halt the
advancing Germans, they found themselves under heavy fire from long-range
German artillery. With the German troops still well outside
the range of their own guns, the Allied Powers
were quickly forced to retreat. The allied retreat continued
for two full weeks, allowing the Germans to advance over 120 miles
to the river Marne, on the outskirts of Paris. For
the Germans, the advance was not an easy one. As they retreated,
the French and British armies took every opportunity to
fight back and to hold each piece of ground for as long as they
could.
The Battle of the Marne
On September 4, the Allied retreat
was halted. The exhausted and sleep-deprived German troops faced
an Allied defense reinforced with fresh troops brought in from Paris.
On September 5, a decisive battle began that
lasted five days. More than a million troops fought on each side
as the Allies made their stand, determined to prevent the fall of
Paris.
As the Germans drove at Paris from the southeast, a gap
emerged between the German First and Second armies, and British
and French commanders seized the opportunity to split the German forces
apart by moving into the gap. French reservists were even ferried
in to fill the breach using streams of taxicabs. The Germans were
never able to regroup.
Formation of the Western Front
On September 9, after four days
of intense fighting, the German armies found themselves unable to
maintain their position on the Marne and began to fall back. British
and French forces pursued the Germans doggedly and were able to
drive them back forty-five miles, all the way back to the river Aisne.
At this point, the Germans managed to dig in successfully and hold
their position, taking advantage of a shorter supply line.
A deadlock ensued, with neither side able to budge the other. The western
front that formed would remain centered near this position
for the rest of the war.
Failure of the Schlieffen Plan
The aborted German invasion of France, though just a month
into the war, marked a major turning point. Although World War I
continued for four more years, this first failed advance is often
cited as the point when Germany lost the war it had entered with
such confidence. Unable to conquer France outright, Germany
became mired in a war on multiple fronts. The Schlieffen Plan,
according to which Germany would have quickly attacked and defeated France
before Russia could mobilize and attack Germany, had failed.
German military leaders, failing to adapt their strategy to cope
with the new situation, suddenly faced a long, drawn-out war on
an entrenched front.
