First Battle of the Marne (the Miracle of the Marne)

The Battle of the Marne (French: 1re Bataille de la Marne) (also known as the Miracle of the Marne) was a First World War battle fought between the 5th and 12th of September 1914. It resulted in a Franco-British victory against the German Army under Chief of Staff Helmuth von Moltke the Younger. The battle effectively ended the month-long German offensive that opened the war and had reached the outskirts of Paris. The counter-attack of Allied forces during the First Battle of the Marne ensured that a quick German victory was impossible, and set the stage for four years of trench warfare on the Western Front.

Allied Forces, 1,200,000

General Joffre, Commander-in-Chief
Army Alignment from Paris to Epinal:
(Paris Garrison, General Gallieni)
Sixth French Army, General Maunoury
British Army, General Sir John French
Fifth French Army, General D'Esperey
Ninth French Army, General Foch
Fourth French Army, General Langle de Carey
Third French Army, General Sarrail
Second French Army, General de Castelnau

German Forces, 1,750,000

Field Marshall von Moltke, Commander
Army Alignment from Paris to Epinal:
First Army, Gen von Kluck
Second Army, General von Buelow
Third Army, General von Hausen
Fourth Army, Duke of Württemberg
Fifth Army, Crown Prince of Prussia
Sixth Army, Crown Prince of Bavaria
Seventh Army, General Heeringen

The safety of France, and through her, of all civilization, was assured in that fateful hour when von Kluck's army, after turning its back on Paris and then thrusting von Buelow's vanguard jealously aside, plunged eastward toward the Marne, "like a boar with lowered head", in blind pursuit of D'Esperey's battered French army, already below the Marne, which von Kluck mistakenly supposed to be wholly isolated and consequently ripe for destruction.

Von Kluck's jealousy of von Buelow had led him into the double indiscretion of usurping the latter's appointed task, and, in disobedience of explicit orders, taking four corps of his army south of the Marne, instead of remaining behind, facing Paris, with his entire army, to guard the west flank of the whole German line. Von Kluck's amazing indiscretion proved fatal to the German plan of campaign and to his disobedience of orders is attributed the subsequent defeat of the Kaiser's legions.

All unwittingly, and at the precise moment when he made his detour east of Paris, von Kluck had fallen headlong into a trap prepared for him by the sagacious General Joffre. His frantic efforts to escape from the trap, whilst the French and British armies were endeavoring to close it, precipita...