Editing Battle of Liège (section)

====Germany====
{{Main article|German Army order of battle (1914)}}
German strategy had given priority to offensive operations against France and a defensive posture against Russia since 1891. German planning was determined by numerical inferiority, the speed of mobilisation and concentration and the effect of the vast increase of the power of modern weapons. Frontal attacks were expected to be costly and protracted, leading to limited success, particularly after the French and Russians modernised their fortifications on the frontiers with Germany. [[Alfred von Schlieffen]], Chief of the [[German Empire|Imperial]] [[German General Staff]] ({{lang|de|[[Oberste Heeresleitung]]}}, OHL) from {{nowrap|1891–1906,}} devised a plan to evade the French frontier fortifications with an offensive on the northern flank, which would have a local numerical superiority and obtain rapidly a decisive victory. By {{nowrap|1898–1899,}} such a manoeuvre was intended to pass swiftly through Belgium, between Antwerp and Namur and threaten Paris from the north.{{sfn|Humphries|Maker|2013|pp=66, 69}} [[Helmuth von Moltke the Younger]] succeeded Schlieffen in 1906 and was less certain that the French would conform to German assumptions. Moltke adapted the deployment and concentration plan, to accommodate an attack in the centre or an enveloping attack from both flanks as variants, by adding divisions to the left flank opposite the French frontier, from the {{circa|  1,700,000 men}} which were expected to be mobilised in the {{lang|de|Westheer}} (western army). The main German force would still advance through Belgium to attack southwards into France, the French armies would be enveloped on their left and pressed back over the Meuse, Aisne, Somme, Oise, Marne and Seine rivers, unable to withdraw into central France. The French would either be annihilated by the manoeuvre from the north or it would create conditions for victory in the centre or in Lorraine on the common border.{{sfn|Strachan|2003|pp=190, 172–173, 178}}