French Strategy in 1914: Joffreis Own

Abstract

In August 1914, General Joseph Joffre controlled the design and execution of French strategy. After concentrating the French army on the northeast frontier in the opening days of the war, he waited until after the Germans began their advance to complete the design of his strategy and did not fully inform his political superiors or his military subordinates until he published General Instructions No. 1 on 8 August. As Joffre implemented his strategy, he complied with the provisions of the Franco-Russian alliance by attacking into Alsace and Lorraine, but he sent his main thrust through central Belgium toward Neufch�teau and Arlon where he hoped to avoid the powerful enemy force driving toward his left and strike the enemy's less dense, more vulnerable center. French strategy in 1914 was Joffre's own.