Permanent historical factsheet

Second Army

Germany · Warfare / World War, 1st. Chronological records rendered directly from the World History Database.

7Records
1914–1917Date range
4Named people
4Places

Chronological records

1914

Marshal Karl von Bulow5 August 1914

Leige · Warfare / World War, 1st

Liege blocked the narrow gap between the Limburg appendix and the Ardennes, considered the best route into Belgium.

Marshal Karl von Bulow5 August 1914

Leige · Warfare / World War, 1st

The Battle of Liege signifies the first land Battle of the war, as the German Second Army crosses the frontier into neutral Belgium (since 1839) to attack France from the north, the Schlieffen Plan had started.

Marshal Karl von Bulow5 August 1914

Leige · Warfare / World War, 1st

Von Bulow's Second Army, comprising 320,000 men, initially aimed to seize Liege, the gateway to Belgium.

Erich von Ludendorf17 August 1914

Liege · Warfare / World War, 1st

The German Second Army, together with First and 3rd Armies, began to implement the next stage of the Schlieffen Plan, embarking upon a wide sweeping wheel movement through Belgium, forcing the Belgian army back to Antwerp

Hermann von Francois20 August 1914

Gumbinnen · Warfare / World War, 1st

Francois persuades Prittwitz to launch an offensive against the Russian First Army while the Second Army was still far to the south

1916

Georg von der MarwitzDecember 1916

Warfare / World War, 1st

Appointed Commander of the Second Army

1917

Georg von der Marwitz20 November 1917

Cambrai · Warfare / World War, 1st

Facing the British attack is the German Second Army led by Georg von der Marwitz

Names involved

Erich von LudendorfGeorg von der MarwitzHermann von FrancoisMarshal Karl von Bulow

Provenance

This factsheet is generated from stored World History Database records matching the country, broad category, detailed category and exact Event value shown above. Duplicate display records are collapsed; database wording is otherwise preserved. Source provenance varies by record, so formal academic citation should be checked against the relevant primary source, archive or specialist historical reference.