Alfred von Schlieffen

Schlieffen, as Chief of the German General Staff, developed the Schlieffen Plan. The plan called for a rapid invasion of France through neutral Belgium, then a turn to encircle Paris. It assumed Russia would mobilize slowly. The plan was modified by Moltke the Younger and failed in 1914.

Schlieffen retired as Chief of the German General Staff in 1906, succeeded by Helmuth von Moltke the Younger. He continued to advise on military matters and his plan remained the basis for German war planning. He died in 1913, before the outbreak of World War I.