How Did The Schlieffen Plan

On the Eastern Front, the Schlieffen Plan was not succeeding. Russia mobilized its troops more quickly than the Germans expected. By late August of 1914, two Russian armies had made separate paths and pushed deeply into the German territory of East Prussia. They planned to drive a wedge between Germany and Austria-Hungary and attack Berlin. However, these plans failed. In the Battle of Tannenberg, one of Russia’s armies had been encircled and destroyed by German and Austrian troops. In the Battle of the Masurian Lakes, the other army was chased out of East Prussia. In these two battles, Russia suffered about 250,000 casualties. Unlike Germany, Austria-Hungary had less success on the Eastern Front. With little success, Austria-Hungary’s forces attacked Serbia three times by the end of 1914. Also, Russia had captured a large amount of Galicia, an Austro-Hungarian province. …show more content…
The empire destroyed Russian ports on the Black Sea, cutting off Russia’s easy sea communications with its allies. Ottoman forces invaded Russia through the Caucasus Mountains. The Ottoman Empire also threatened to invade the Suez Canal, which would disrupt British communications. At the end of August 1914, Japan declared war on Germany, bringing the war to Asia and the Pacific. Japan, Australia, and New Zealand seized several German colonies in the Pacific. The war also spread to Italy, Bulgaria, Greece, and Romania. Italy was a member of the Triple Alliance but remained neutral during 1914. However, in May 1915, Italy joined entered the war as a member of the Allies. The Allies promised to give Italy large amounts of land from Austria-Hungary after the war. In turn, Italy promised to attack Austria-Hungary. However, the war on the Italian front was not very successful and made little progress. In the Battle of Caporetto, Austria-Hungary defeated Italy, who was led by General Luigi Cadorna. In October 1915, Bulgaria joined the