Lecture 32: 1914 Marne—Paris Is Saved
short and made the decision to start withdrawing his troops. Kluck’s
First Army soon followed. Paris—and France—were saved.
Outcomes
x The halting of the German advance at the Battle of the Marne left
both sides enmeshed in a war that neither had anticipated or prepared
for. With the failure of the Schlieffen Plan, the Germans had lost
their best chance to win the war, and by failing to aggressively
follow up the victory at the Marne, the allies had probably lost their
best opportunity to bring the war to a rapid end.
x Each side was now locked into an escalating and seemingly
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10 million men would be dead and another 20 million wounded.
It could be argued that all the horrible and destructive remainder
of World War I was the legacy of the Battle of the Marne and the
chances that both sides missed to end the war quickly.
Herwig, The Marne.
Sumner, The First Battle of the Marne.
Tuchman, The Guns of August.
- If the Germans had stuck to the spirit of Schlieffen’s original plan, could
they have won World War I? - How did the technological advances in military equipment in the
early 20th century lead to the stalemate of trench warfare, and was this
inevitable?
Suggested Reading
Questions to Consider