Editing First Battle of the Marne (section)

===The combatants===
Germany declared war on France on 3 August 1914. Both sides expected a short war. Germany faced the spectre of a two-front war, facing Russia in the east and France and Britain in the west. German strategy was to defeat France in six weeks and then turn its attention to Russia. As envisioned by the [[Schlieffen Plan]] (revised by [[Helmuth von Moltke the Younger|Helmuth von Moltke]]), the Germans embarked on a rapid, circular, counter-clockwise offensive through Belgium and into France with the objective of capturing Paris and enveloping and destroying the French army east of Paris within their six-week timetable. The German violation of Belgium's neutrality brought the [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|United Kingdom]] into the war. Britain sent the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) to France.

Germany created seven armies for service on the western front. Three of them on the German right flank would be most involved in the Battle of the Marne. At the beginning of the war, the First Army numbered 320,000 men commanded by [[Alexander von Kluck]]; the Second Army had 260,000 men commanded by [[Karl von Bülow]]; and the Third Army commanded by [[Max von Hausen]] had 180,000 men. These numbers would be depleted by the time of the Marne Battle.{{sfn|Herwig|2009|pages=30–31}} The French army stationed on the western front initially consisted of five armies of which the Fourth Army, commanded by [[Fernand de Langle de Cary]], and the Fifth Army, commanded by [[Charles Lanrezac]], on its left flank would be most involved in the Battle of the Marne. Two additional French armies would be created to stem off the German offensive: the 6th Army commanded by [[Joseph Gallieni]], created to protect Paris; and the 9th commanded by [[Ferdinand Foch]]. The French armies engaged in the Marne Battle were reinforced by reservists, recruits, and by transfers from other French and colonial armies. French divisions facing the German right wing rose from 17.5 on 23 August to 41 on 6 September, numbering more than 700,000 men.{{sfn|Meyer|2007|pages=163–164, 193}} The BEF numbered 130,000 men at the beginning of the war and was commanded by [[John French, 1st Earl of Ypres|John French]].{{sfn|Herwig|2009|page=22}}

The Commanders-in-Chiefs of the armies were a study in contrasts. Moltke, the chief of the German General Staff, remained at his headquarters in [[Luxembourg]] throughout the battle. He issued General Directives by way of emissaries from his headquarters, but gave his army commanders wide latitude in their operations.{{sfn|Herwig|2009|page=122}}{{sfn|Strachan|2001|pages=235–236}} By contrast, the French commander, Joseph Joffre, was a whirlwind of activity (although insisting on fine dining and an uninterrupted eight hours of sleep every night). Joffre visited his armies and their commanders frequently, driven by a [[Grand Prix motor racing|Grand Prix]] race car driver. He was ruthless in firing more than 30 French generals who did not meet his standards (or, as some say, who dared to disagree with him).{{sfn|Herwig|2009|pages=192–195}}{{sfn|Meyer|2007|page=191}} John French, the British commander, was intimidated by the casualties suffered by the British in initial battles and thereafter reluctant to engage the Germans, but finally played an important role in the Battle of the Marne.{{sfn|Herwig|2009|pages=140–142, 192–194, 253}}

The strategies of the French and Germans likewise contrasted. The French focused their attention, troops, and defences in eastern France where they believed the Germans would be most dangerous. They were wrong. The Germans mostly stayed on defence in the east, although blunting French attacks. In the east, France had the objective of regaining [[Alsace–Lorraine]] which it had lost to Germany in the [[Franco-German war]] of 1870. The French did not fortify their north western border with Belgium as they did not expect the Germans to attack there and also feared being accused of violating Belgian neutrality—and thereby losing British participation in the war. Germany, however, had no compunctions about violating Belgian neutrality as its objective was to win the war quickly before the United Kingdom could intervene decisively. The French and British were outnumbered in contesting the German offensive through Belgium into France.{{sfn|Meyer|2007|pages=105–114, 127, 132–133}}{{sfn|Strachan|2001|pages=191–194, 212–214}}

The Germans recognized that a long war was not in their interest as the resources of France, the United Kingdom, and Russia were far greater than their own. To win the war with France quickly would even the odds. To historian Herwig, the Schlieffen Plan, the violation of Belgian neutrality, and the German invasion of France in 1914 were "an all-or-nothing throw of the dice, a high-risk operation born of hubris and bordering on recklessness."<ref name="Coyner">{{cite web |last1=Coyner |first1=Kristin |title=Fight to Change all Fights |url=https://rollcall.com/2010/01/25/fight-to-change-all-fights/ |website=Roll Call |date=25 January 2010 |access-date=31 May 2023}}</ref>