1914: Why German strategy in the late 19 th and early 20 th centuries was based on the assumption that, in the event of a war with Russia, Germany would also have to fight France. No formal provision was made for combined operations with the On 28 June the Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated and on 5 July the Kaiser promised "the full support of Germany" if Austria-Hungary took action against Serbia. Germans already have a bridgehead over canal west of Eecloo. A corollary to the emphasis on the Western Front was a lack of troops for the Under Plan XVII the French peacetime army was to form five field armies, with a group of reserve divisions attached to each army and a group of reserve divisions on each flank, a military force of A German attack from south-eastern Belgium towards Mézières and a possible offensive from Lorraine towards Verdun, Nancy and St. Dié was anticipated; the plan was an evolution from Plan XVI and made more provision for the possibility of a German offensive from the north through Belgium. Cut signal communications and message links on the 2. The Germans had advanced beyond The French 7th Army, on the northern flank of the Belgian line, protected the During the night of 11/12 May, the Belgians were fully engaged in withdrawing to the Dyle line, covered by a network of demolitions and rearguards astride Tongeren. The pursuit created severe problems for the French artillery. By 1 November, the BEF was close to exhaustion and The offensive strategies of France and Germany had failed by November 1914, leaving most of Belgium under German occupation and Allied blockade.The Germans had used Belgium to invade northern France, which had led to the Franco-British defeats of Charleroi and Mons, followed by a rapid retreat to the Marne, where the German advance was stopped. Accompanied by her husband, Charlotte's party was able to link up with the government motorcade at Longwy.At 08:00, elements of the French 3rd Light Cavalry Division under General Petiet, supported by the 1st Spahi Brigade under Colonel Jouffault and the 2nd company of the 5th Armoured Battalion, crossed the southern border to conduct a probe of German forces; these units later retreated behind the By the evening of 10 May 1940, most of the country, with the exception of the south, was occupied by German forces. French troops sent to relieve the city were defeated at the Battle of Charleroi and only a few managed to participate in the fighting for Namur.

3. On 23 July the Austro-Hungarian Government sent an ultimatum to Serbia and next day the British Foreign Minister Sir Edward Grey proposed a conference to avert a war and the Belgian Government issued a declaration that Belgium would defend its neutrality "whatever the consequences". The To avoid delays and minimise the detachments of garrisons to guard lines of communication, the German army resorted to The French and Italian governments accepted British proposals for a conference on 27 July but the next day Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia and the German government rejected the British proposal for a conference and on 29 July the Russian government ordered partial mobilisation against Austria-Hungary as hostilities commenced between Austria-Hungary and Serbia. On 10 November Falkenhayn told the Kaiser that no great success could be expected on the Western Front. Facing only light resistance, German troops quickly occupied Luxembourg. However, the Belgian Army resisted more than the Germans expected and this help to frustrate the Schlieffen Plan. The German invasion of Luxembourg was part of Case Yellow (German: Fall Gelb), the German invasion of the Low Countries—Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands—and France during World War II.The battle began on 10 May 1940 and lasted just one day. The situation for the Belgian divisions was either to withdraw or be encircled.