Commanders of the first World War

The war consisted of a number of commanders and yet none of them were commanders of the first rank. The first world war was the only war ever fought in which commanders lacked voice control over their armies. Communications broke down almost immediately after the troops left the trenches. Chief of the German General staff, 1906-1914, Von Molke modified the original schlieffen plan for the invasion of France. Instead of keeping the right wing of the Germans strong, Von Molke reinforced the left because he thought that the French would push through the centre of into Lorraine and create problems for German communications. The removal of two infantries and one cavalry corps from the western to the eastern fronts, made it impossible for the German army to encircle Paris. The schlieffen plan failed to meet its goals. Molke stationed himself too far behind the front line, meaning that he had little control over his field commanders. Due to these decisions Von Molke lost the first battle of the Marne in 1914. He was replaced in late 1914 by Falkenhayn. Falkenhayn was appointed Prussian war minister in 1913 and succeeded Von Molke as Chief of General Staff in September 1914. Falkenhayn disagreed with General Paul Von Hindenburg and

Others have defended his actions and claimed that his approach was largely determined by French demands for continuous action at that part of the Western front. In 1917 Pershing was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the American Expeditionary force in Europe. Appointed Chief of Staff of the British Army in 1911, French took command of the British Expeditionary Forces sent to Europe in August 1914. In 1925 Hindenburg replaced Friedrich Ebert as President of Germany. Following the advice of General Joesph Gallieni, Joffre ordered the attack on the German Army at the Marne. French resigned in December, 1915 and Sir Douglas Haig replaced as leader of the BEF. Haig, who was granted L100,000 by the British government, devoted the rest of his life to the welfare of ex-servicemen via the Royal British Legion. French, as commander of the British home forces, was responsible for dealing with the Easter Rising in 1916. His last command before retirement was in 1918 with the German Tenth Army in Lithuanian. Foch took the view that it was vitality important that the terms made German military recovery impossible. After the withdrawal of Russia from the war in 1917 Ludendorff was a key figure in the Brest-Litovsk negotiations. Falkenhayn was transferred to Palestine in July 1917. After the signing of the Armistice Ludendorff fled to Sweden where his wrote books and articles claiming that the unbeaten German Army had been "stabbed in the back" by left-wing politicians in Germany. On 29th September 1918, the Third Supreme Command transferred power to Max Von Baden and the Reichstag. Edmund Allenby at the beginning of the first world war ,was put in charge of the Cavalry Division of the British expeditionary Forces.