施里芬計劃的詳細資料

施里芬計劃為第一次世界大戰時德國參謀總部制定的一套作戰方法。其主要目標為應付來自德國東西兩面的兩個敵盟國—俄國與法國的夾攻。此作戰計劃的利用了兩國總動員速度之差異：由於俄國彊域遼闊，士兵眾多，且鐵路系統極不完善，故其總動員之速度大約需時一個月；而法國則只須一個星期左右則可完成總動員令。故此德國希望在日後戰爭爆發後先以精兵在西線強攻法國，在攻克法國後才將軍隊調至東線以應付俄國之進犯。

在一次大戰發生後，德國總帥小毛奇便立即施行施里芬計劃。當德國之精銳部隊開始進攻法國時，其參謀部卻開始發現此計劃有一弊病—完全忽視英國的存在。由於1907年的三國協約早已簽訂，故英國便履行承諾，盡派精兵以協助法國。由於外力的幫助，法國未被迅速擊潰，而此時俄國之總動員令亦已完成，故施里芬計劃完全失敗。

三國協約（英語：Triple Entente）是英、法和俄三國在1907年簽訂的互相諒解和互相支持的協議。「Entente」是法語詞匯，意指諒解。
1904年的摯誠協定及1907年的英俄條約簽訂後，英法、英俄的各種糾紛已經平息。這兩個協約，加上法俄同盟便促使三國家走在一起。此外，他們皆因為德國在歐洲的影響力不斷上升而警醒。因此，他們便結盟，名為「三國協約」。

英國支持比利時的原因很明顯。因為比利時位處德軍通向法國的必經之路，英國若不想被孤立於歐陸之外，她就要保證法國的安全。如果能保持比利時不被德國的攻擊，那麼法國和英國本身就安全了。
另外，比利時及荷蘭位處英國對岸，英國從那裡打擊德國亦比較容易。但更重要的是比利時和荷蘭有德國求之不得的出大西洋的港口，如安特衛普、海牙及阿姆斯特丹等，所以英國無論如何都要保護比利時的安全。

The Schlieffen Plan was the German General Staff's overall strategic plan for victory on the Western Front against France, and was executed to near victory in the first month of World War I; however, a French counterattack on the outskirts of Paris, the Battle of the Marne, ended the German offensive and guaranteed years of trench warfare. The controversial Plan has been fodder for historians and military scholars and analysts ever since.

Overview
The Schlieffen Plan takes its name from its author's, Alfred Graf von Schlieffen. It envisioned a rapid German mobilization, disregard of Luxembourg and Belgian neutrality, and the overwhelming sweep of the powerful German right wing through Belgium and Northern France in a southwesterly direction, "letting the last man on the right brush the Channel with his sleeve," [1] in the words of Schlieffen, while maintaining only a defensive posture on the central and left wings, in Lorraine, the Vosges, and the Moselle. The raison d'etre of the plan was to win a two-front war quickly by first triumphing in the West before the "Russian Steamroller" would be able to mobilize and descend upon East Prussia—the Plan scheduled 39 days for the fall of Paris [2].

The plan was made after the Entente Cordiale of 1904 was signed between Britain and France. Kaiser Wilhelm II asked Alfred Graf von Schlieffen to devise a plan which would allow Germany to fight a war on two fronts and in December 1905 von Schlieffen began circulating it.

Paris was not to be taken but to be passed by the right wing to the west of the city. The intent of the plan was not to conquer cities or industry in order to weaken the French war efforts, but to capture most of the French Army and to force France to surrender, in essence a repeat of the strategy used to defeat France during the Franco-Prussian War.

A seed of disaster lurked in the conception of the plan: both Schlieffen and the man who would eventually implement his Plan, Helmuth von Moltke the Younger, were seduced by the possibility of the double envelopment of the entire French Army by the right wing coming from the north and west of France and the left wing coming from the east. The inspiration was the destruction of the Roman Army by Hannibal's forces at the Battle of Cannae in 216 BC.

As noted supra, Russian mobilization would supposedly be extremely slow, due to their poor railway system. Following the speedy defeat of France, the German General Staff would switch German concentrations to the Eastern Front. The Plan called for sending 90% of the German troops to France and 10% to Russia. His goal was to defeat France in six weeks, the time it took for Russia to mobilize their army, and turn back to the Eastern Front before Russia could react. Kaiser Wilhelm II is quoted as having said "Paris for lunch, dinner at St. Petersburg."