Battle of the Frontiers begins

Contemporary chronicles of the war record 6 August 1914 as the start of the so-called Battle of the Frontiers. The name covers not a single clash but a whole series of battles that the French armies fought against the Germans in the first month of the war, from Alsace in the south to the Belgian border in the north, right up to the Battle of the Marne at the beginning of September.

Two war plans

Two opposing concepts collided on the Western Front. Germany, in line with the Schlieffen Plan, sent its main forces through Belgium to bypass the heavily fortified Franco-German border and envelop the French army from the north. France, under its Commander-in-Chief Joseph Joffre, was carrying out an offensive plan: its armies were to strike east into Alsace and Lorraine, lost in 1871, and then through the Ardennes.

Course of events

The first step was the French offensive in Alsace. On 7 August French troops entered German territory, and the next day they took Mulhouse. In the following weeks the fighting spread along the whole border. We describe the most important clashes of this phase of the war in detail in the Battles (PL) section:

• the Battle of Mulhouse in Alsace (7–26 August),
• the Battle of Lorraine at Morhange and Sarrebourg (14–25 August),
• the Battle of the Ardennes (21–23 August),
• the Battle of Charleroi on the Sambre (21–23 August),
• the Battle of Mons, in which the British fought (23 August).

Earlier, from 4 August, the Belgians had been defending the fortress of Liège, which is described in the Battle of Liège.

The offensive fails

The French offensives in Lorraine and the Ardennes collapsed under the fire of German artillery and machine guns. The French infantry, advancing in close order and in bright uniforms, suffered enormous losses. 22 August was the bloodiest day in the history of the French army: some 27,000 soldiers were killed according to frequently quoted estimates, at least 25,000 according to other figures. At the same time the German right wing passed through Belgium and threatened the left wing of the French army and the British.

Significance

The Battle of the Frontiers ended in a German victory. At the end of August the French and British forces began the Great Retreat towards Paris. The French doctrine of the offensive at all costs proved disastrous, and Joffre removed many commanders. The retreat came to a halt only on the Marne, where at the beginning of September the French and British stopped the German advance.