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when World War 1 broke out in August 1914 the Germans were ready. they

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had soldiers, they had guns and ammo. they also had plans. lots and lots of plans [world war 1 soldiers pictured]

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oh so many plans well some of these plans have been around for years just

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sitting in the closet waiting for a German general the whole amount dust him

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off and go to war. take for example the Schlieffen Plan.

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well back in 1905 when the waters of war were just beginning to simmer, the

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Germans had spent time trying to figure out what to do if they went to war with

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France, which could happen in one of two ways

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either the Germans and the French could get into it with one another which would

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draw in Russia or the Russians and Germans could have a spat drawing in the

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French. well either way the Germans realized there could be fighting on

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their eastern and western borders at the same time. well after processing that [ men representing France, Germany and Russia hedge in Germany]

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stomach churning realization the chief of the Imperial German General Staff

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Alfred von Schlieffen decided to come up with a way to attack France should the

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need arise. see the Germans figured it was more important to be able to spring

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into action on their western border than on their eastern border. not only did the

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Germans believe that Russian troops would take a long time to mobilize they

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also had put their faith in austria-hungary to hold Russia off, hence

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their focus on the French. well the Schlieffen Plan called for Germany to go

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in like Miley Cyru,s or like a wrecking ball, through Belgium and into France

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hopefully by knocking the fight out of the French as quickly as possible the

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Germans would be able to stop Britain from mobilizing all together. well the

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Germans could then turn their full undivided attention to their eastern

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border and Russia. Miley of course would be left to peace

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in Paris. shleffin died in 1913 which is probably a good thing because his plan [people run out of theater screaming]

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didn't work as blonde. the German army was stopped outside of Paris and for the

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next four years the fighting was at a stalemate. things went better in the east.

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by the end of August 1914 Germany had kicked Russian but at the Battle of

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Tannenberg. the Germans then went to lend a helping hand to the Austrians who had

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doggie paddled a bit too far out to sea and were having serious trouble with the

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Russians and the Serbs. while Germany and austria-hungary

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together were able to wipe up the Serbs, the Russians were another story the [Germany growls at Russia and Serbia]

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beast from the east was down but not out. which meant Germany had to keep troops

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stationed close at hand just in case. while unable to divert

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troops from the east to the West the Germans found they didn't have the

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manpower to plow through the stalemate at the Western Front, and that's how

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things went for the next four years. soldiers sat in trenches while the ghost

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of Schlieffen roamed the battlefields moaning about his plan. where are the

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Ghostbusters when you need them? yeah who you gonna call? come on. of course. [ghost roams the trenches]

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