The Outbreak of War^889

(Left) French soldiers depart for war. (Right) British men surge toward a recruiting

office.

Opening Hostilities

The Schlieffen Plan dictated the course of the opening hostilities. It was
as if Schlieffen’s “dead hand automatically pulled the trigger.” However,
Moltke had eliminated the Netherlands from the invasion plan and
reduced the strength of the attacking force in order to bolster German
defenses in Alsace-Lorraine. The French high command, which had known
the basics of the Schlieffen Plan for years, did not believe the German army
could move rapidly through Belgium, in part because the attacking forces
would have to overcome the imposing fortress at Liege. The French also
doubted that reserves incorporated into the German army could quickly
become an able fighting force. In any case, the French command expected
a frontal attack between the Meuse River and the hills of the Ardennes in

northeastern France. The French generals also underestimated the speed
with which their enemy could attack.
Although the Belgian army fought bravely against vastly superior strength,
Liege fell on August 16 after a massive bombardment, followed by the fall
of Namur. The Belgian army retreated north to Antwerp. Moltke then
deployed seven divisions to prevent the Belgian army from escaping, fur­
ther weakening the attacking forces that Schlieffen had anticipated would
move as rapidly as possible toward the English Channel.
General Alexander von Kluck, commander of the First German Army,
turned his troops toward the Belgian town of Mons. He hoped to force the
French to surrender before they could bring up more troops from the Paris
region. French advances in Alsace now convinced Moltke to divert troops
to that border region from the primary attacking force, which intended to