In 1914, the war to end all wars began; it would later become known as the First World War. All the major European powers were involved at one point. All of these powers had individual war plans that outlined how they would rise above their enemies and achieve victory. Unfortunately for some, not all of these plans were created equally. Unlike other European powers, Germany had only created one plan known as the Schlieffen Plan. The Schlieffen Plan had been created to be used as the perfect tool to win a war. Unfortunately, the plan was born from the arrogance of Alfred von Schlieffen and later modified by Helmuth von Moltke. Due to the way the Schlieffen Plan was created and modified, both von Schlieffen and von Moltke were doomed to bring Germany only to failure in a multi-front war. In 1888, Emperor Wilhelm II ascended the throne of the German Empire and began a new plan. era of foreign policy for Germany. Two years later, in 1890, Wilhelm dismissed German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck. Bismarck had unified the various German kingdoms of the 19th century and created the German Empire of the late 19th century. Bismarck had also helped forge various alliances across Europe in order to maintain Germany's pro-numbers political and military position. In less than two decades, Wilhelm had essentially destroyed most of the alliance systems created by Bismarck and placed Germany in a position where it was both allied with Europe's weaker great powers and at a numerical disadvantage. . Wilhelm went from an isolated France, Germany's enemy in the 19th century, to a Germany that was almost politically isolated and surrounded by enemies. In 1904, the d...... middle of paper ...... attrition, 1870-1916. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Kennedy, Paul M. 1979. The War Plans of the Great Powers, 1880-1914. London: Allen & Unwin. Ritter, Gerhard. 1979. The Schlieffen Plan: critique of a myth. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press. Bodleian Library. “Cordial understanding”. Last accessed October 6, 2011. http://www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/dept/scwmss/projects/entreprises/entreprises.html Fawcett, Bill. 2006. How to Lose a Battle: Foolish Plans and Big Military Mistakes. New York: Harper. Mombauer, Annika. 2001. Helmuth von Moltke and the origins of the First World War. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Ousby, Ian. 2002. The road to Verdun: the most important battle of the First World War and the madness of nationalism. New York: Doubleday. Shapiro, Seymour and Gerhard Ritter. 1959. “The Schlieffen Plan.” Military affairs. 23 (2):107-108.