Alfred von schlieffen biography

Alfred von Schlieffen (1833-1913) was the German Field Marshal who, as chief of the general staff from 1891-1905, was responsible for devising the Schlieffen Plan, upon which German strategy at the outbreak of the war was unsuccessfully based.  Debate continues today as to whether the plan itself was flawed, or whether its execution was flawed.

Schlieffen, born on 28 February 1833, was the son of a Prussian general, and entered the army himself in 1854.  Quickly moving to the general staff he participated in the Seven Weeks War against Austria in 1866 and in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71.

In 1884 Schlieffen became head of the military history section of the general staff, replacing Alfred, Graf von Waldersee as chief of the Great General Staff in 1891.

The Schlieffen Plan provided for a war on two front, West and East, by first quickly defeating France through a concentration of troops on the Western Front