Editing Schlieffen Plan (section)

===''Plan XVII''===
{{main|Plan XVII}}

[[File:Plan XVII.svg|thumb|{{centre|''Plan XVII''}}]]
After amending ''Plan XVI'' in September 1911, Joffre and the staff took eighteen months to revise the French concentration plan, the concept of which was accepted on 18 April 1913. Copies of Plan XVII were issued to army commanders on 7 February 1914 and the final draft was ready on 1 May. The document was not a campaign plan but it contained a statement that the Germans were expected to concentrate the bulk of their army on the [[Franco-German border]] and might cross before French operations could begin. The instruction of the Commander in Chief was that

{{quote|Whatever the circumstances, it is the Commander in Chief's intention to advance with all forces united to the attack of the German armies. The action of the French armies will be developed in two main operations: one, on the right in the country between the wooded district of the Vosges and the Moselle below Toul; the other, on the left, north of a line Verdun–Metz. The two operations will be closely connected by forces operating on the Hauts de [[Meuse (department)|Meuse]] and in the [[Woëvre]].|Joffre{{sfn|Edmonds|1926|p=446}}}}

and that to achieve this, the French armies were to concentrate, ready to attack either side of Metz–Thionville or north into Belgium, in the direction of [[Arlon]] and [[Neufchâteau, Belgian Luxembourg|Neufchâteau]].{{sfn|Doughty|2005|p=37}} An alternative concentration area for the Fourth and Fifth armies was specified, in case the Germans advanced through Luxembourg and Belgium but an enveloping attack west of the Meuse was not anticipated. The gap between the Fifth Army and the [[North Sea]] was covered by Territorial units and obsolete fortresses.{{sfn|Edmonds|1926|p=17}}