Schlieffen Plan
For the French deployment plan of 1914, see Plan XVII. Count Alfred von Schlieffen in 1906 Schlieffen Plan Operational scope Offensive strategy Planned 1905-06–1906-14 Planned by Schlieffen, Moltke (the Younger) Objective disputed Date 7 August 1914 Executed by Moltke Outcome disputed Casualties c. 305,000 v t e Battle of the Frontiers 1914 Mulhouse Haelen Lorraine Dinant Ardennes Rossignol Charleroi Mons Trouée de Charmes Grand Couronné The Schlieffen Plan (German: Schlieffen-Plan , pronounced [ʃliːfən plaːn] ) was the name given after World War I to the thinking behind the German invasion of France and Belgium on 4 August 1914. Field Marshal Alfred von Schlieffen, the Chief of the Imperial Army German General Staff from 1891 to 1906, devised in 1905 and 1906 a deployment plan for a war-winning offensive, in a one-front war against the French Third Republic. After the war, the German official historians of the Reichsarchiv and other writers, described the plan as a blueprint for vi