The German General Staff’s early 20th century plan for fighting a possible two–front war: First, attack France to the west; then, Russia to the east. The plan envisioned the capitulation of France within 42 days. Then, turning the German war machine on Russia to the east.
Kaiser Wilhelm is quoted as saying: “Paris for lunch; dinner in St. Petersburg.”
Integral to the plan, was rolling the German Army to France through neutral Belgium (presumably unopposed by Belgium), without inciting third party countries. However, as it turned out, when the Schlieffen Plan was put into effect in WWI, first, Belgium fought back tenaciously; and second, Britain was not impressed by the invasion of Belgium, and declared war on Germany. The combination, in turn, enabled both the French and Russian armies to mobilize much more effectively than the Germans had anticipated.
Count Alfred von Schlieffen was the author of the ill–fated plan; his deputy Helmuth von Moltke the Younger put the plan “into effect” (as Schlieffen had retired) launching WWI.
WWI would prove disastrous to Germany and hyper–destructive to the Western world at–large. The extent of the disaster then set the stage for WWII, which again proved disastrous to Germany and hyper–destructive to many other warring and civilian parties—including the Jews. Total dead from the two wars growing out of the 1905 Schlieffen plan – 100 million+.