The Battle of the Frontiers was a series of battles fought along the eastern frontier of France and in southern Belgium shortly after the outbreak of the First World War. The battles represented a collision between the military strategies of the French Plan XVII and the German Schlieffen Plan. Plan XVII, which embodied the military doctrine of offensive à outrance (offensive to the limit), was a disaster and the French army suffered enormous casualties. The British Expeditionary Force (BEF) fought a relatively minor battle at ...

Including:

• Battle of the Frontiers - Prelude
• Battle of the Frontiers - Alsace & Lorraine
• Battle of the Frontiers - Ardennes offensive
• Battle of the Frontiers - Charleroi & Mons
• Battle of the Frontiers - Aftermath

Read more here: » Battle of the Frontiers: Encyclopedia - Battle of the Frontiers

The objective of the French Plan XVII was to recapture the provinces of Alsace-Lorraine, lost in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870, pinning the German forces on the Rhine, and to attack the German centre through the southern Ardennes. In opposition to Plan XVII, the German Schlieffen Plan anticipated the target of the French assault and determined to remain there on the defensive, holding the Alsace-Lorraine front with the minimal possible force needed to keep the bulk of the French engaged there. The main German force would be on the right wi ...

See also:

Battle of the Frontiers, Battle of the Frontiers - Prelude, Battle of the Frontiers - Alsace & Lorraine, Battle of the Frontiers - Ardennes offensive, Battle of the Frontiers - Charleroi & Mons, Battle of the Frontiers - Aftermath

Read more here: » Battle of the Frontiers: Encyclopedia II - Battle of the Frontiers - Prelude

By 20 August, Lanrezac's Fifth Army had begun to concentrate on a 40 km front along the Sambre, centred on Charleroi and extending east to the Belgian fortress of Namur. On his left, the Cavalry Corps of General Sordet linked the Fifth Army with the British Expeditionary Force at Mons. Lanrezac's army of 15 divisions, weakened by the transfer of troops to Lorraine, was confronted by the 38 German divisions from the Second ...

See also:

Battle of the Frontiers, Battle of the Frontiers - Prelude, Battle of the Frontiers - Alsace & Lorraine, Battle of the Frontiers - Ardennes offensive, Battle of the Frontiers - Charleroi & Mons, Battle of the Frontiers - Aftermath

Read more here: » Battle of the Frontiers: Encyclopedia II - Battle of the Frontiers - Charleroi & Mons

Under Plan XVII, the French offensive against the German centre through the lower Ardennes was to involve the Third, Fourth and Fifth French armies, but by the time the offensive was due to start Plan XVII was beginning to crumble. General Charles Lanrezac, commander of the northern-most Fifth Army, alarmed by German progress in Belgium, sought permission to realign his forces away from the Ardennes and towards Belgium, shifting west into the angle between the Sambre and Meuse rivers. Joffre remained dismissive of the threat but on 12 August ...

See also:

Battle of the Frontiers, Battle of the Frontiers - Prelude, Battle of the Frontiers - Alsace & Lorraine, Battle of the Frontiers - Ardennes offensive, Battle of the Frontiers - Charleroi & Mons, Battle of the Frontiers - Aftermath

Read more here: » Battle of the Frontiers: Encyclopedia II - Battle of the Frontiers - Ardennes offensive

On 7 August the first French attack of the war, known as the Battle of Mulhouse, began in the south when the French VII Corps advanced into southern Alsace with the objective of seizing the towns of Mulhouse and Colmar. Mulhouse was taken without a fight on 8 August, causing enormous celebrations in France, however a German counterattack commenced on 9 August, forcing the French to withdraw the next day. In response to the repulse of VII Corps, Joffre sent four additional divisions to form th ...

See also:

Battle of the Frontiers, Battle of the Frontiers - Prelude, Battle of the Frontiers - Alsace & Lorraine, Battle of the Frontiers - Ardennes offensive, Battle of the Frontiers - Charleroi & Mons, Battle of the Frontiers - Aftermath

Read more here: » Battle of the Frontiers: Encyclopedia II - Battle of the Frontiers - Alsace & Lorraine