The Battle of the Frontiers set the initial shape of the Western Front, forcing Franco-British retreat and leading directly to the First Battle of the Marne.
Key Facts
- Start date
- August 1914
- Theater
- Western Front, World War I
- French strategic plan
- Plan XVII
- German deployment plan
- Aufmarsch II (adapted)
- Area of fighting
- Eastern frontier of France and southern Belgium
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
The outbreak of World War I in 1914 triggered French General Joffre's Plan XVII and a German offensive adaptation of Aufmarsch II under Helmuth von Moltke the Younger, which concentrated German forces on the right flank to wheel through Belgium and strike the French from the rear, setting the two sides on a collision course along France's eastern frontier and into southern Belgium.
A series of engagements erupted along France's eastern frontier and in southern Belgium as French and British Expeditionary Force troops attempted to halt the German advance. The French Fifth Army under General Lanrezac moved north-west to intercept the Germans while the BEF extended the Allied left flank. Despite rearguard resistance, Franco-British forces were driven back and the Germans penetrated into northern France.
The Franco-British retreat compelled the French to transfer forces from the eastern frontier westward to protect Paris. Rearguard actions slowed the German advance sufficiently to allow this redeployment, which culminated in the First Battle of the Marne and halted the German offensive in the west.
Belligerents & Mobilization Analysis
Side A
2 belligerents
Joseph Joffre, Charles Lanrezac.
Side B
1 belligerent
Helmuth von Moltke the Younger.