Lesson Y9-U03-L01

Y9-U03-L01 The Schlieffen Plan and Stalemate Quiz: KS3 History, Unit 16

20 questions

Written by Revision Ninja · Last reviewed 11 October 2026

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Lesson Y9-U03-L01, The Schlieffen Plan and Stalemate: 20 multiple choice questions for the KS3 History (National Curriculum), Unit 16: Year 9: WW1 Warfare, written with Revision Ninja.

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The 20 questions

  1. What does 'stalemate' mean?

    • A plan to move an army by train to a new front
    • A treaty that divides enemy land between the winners
    • A quick victory that ends a war in a single battle
    • A deadlock where neither side can win or advance

  2. What kind of war was the Schlieffen Plan designed to AVOID?

    • A civil war between German states over their borders
    • A long two-front war against France and Russia
    • A colonial war fought only in Africa and Asia
    • A naval war fought only in the North Sea against Britain

  3. How many weeks did the Schlieffen Plan expect to need to defeat France?

    • About six days
    • About six years
    • About six weeks
    • About six months

  4. Why did Germany fear a two-front war?

    • Austria-Hungary and Serbia on both of its borders in every single year
    • France in the west and the huge Russian empire in the east
    • Britain in the north and Italy in the south, both hostile to its plans
    • No army in the west, so it had to defend Paris alone against its neighbours

  5. Which Belgian city's forts held out for days against the German advance?

    • Brussels
    • Ghent
    • Antwerp
    • Liège

  6. Which German commander weakened the right wing of the army in 1914?

    • Falkenhayn
    • Schlieffen
    • Moltke
    • Hindenburg

  7. About how long after the war began did Germany have to send troops east to face Russia?

    • About six months
    • About one hour
    • About six weeks
    • About ten days

  8. What was the effect of Moltke weakening the right wing?

    • The army was forced to surrender at the Belgian border
    • The army passed east of Paris instead of encircling it
    • The army sailed back to Germany by sea
    • The army moved south to attack Italy in the Alps

  9. Between which dates was the First Battle of the Marne fought?

    • 5 to 12 September 1914
    • 1 to 4 August 1914
    • 1 to 10 November 1914
    • 25 December 1914 to 1 January 1915

  10. How were around 6,000 reserve troops rushed to the front at the Marne?

    • By bicycle from the coast of Belgium
    • By horse-drawn wagon from the Alps
    • By taxi from Paris
    • By balloon from the fortress of Verdun

  11. Why is the Battle of the Marne called a turning point?

    • It ended the war on the Western Front in a single day of heavy fighting
    • It gave Germany control of Paris and the French railway network for the war
    • It stopped the German advance and ended the quick win
    • It forced Britain to leave the war in September 1914 after the battle

  12. What did the Germans do after retreating from the Marne?

    • They marched straight back to Berlin
    • They sailed their army home across the Atlantic
    • They surrendered their guns to the French army
    • They dug in along the River Aisne

  13. What was the 'race to the sea' in autumn 1914?

    • A sprint by troops to capture the Belgian port of Antwerp before the winter
    • Both sides tried to outflank each other to the north
    • A competition between armies to reach the Russian capital before the others
    • A rowing contest between the navies of Germany and Britain in the North Sea

  14. What did the trench line from the Channel to Switzerland represent?

    • Stalemate, with no open flank left to get round
    • A defence built only to stop Russian troops from advancing
    • A treaty line dividing France between the two sides
    • A victory for Germany that ended the Western Front

  15. What does Source A, the soldier's letter of September 1914, show about the fighting?

    • The soldiers were resting in camps far away from the enemy near the coast
    • The war had changed from movement to digging in
    • The fighting had ended because both armies had agreed a truce for the winter
    • The soldiers were advancing quickly towards Berlin in open country across Germany

  16. Why must historians handle Source B, Falkenhayn's 1919 memoir, with care?

    • It was printed on the same day as the Battle of the Marne began in France
    • It was written by a neutral Swiss journalist who never visited the front at all
    • It was written in secret code and cannot be fully understood by historians today
    • It was written after the war to defend the author's decisions

  17. Which source is most useful for understanding what stalemate FELT like on the ground?

    • Source A, a first-hand letter from a soldier
    • Both sources equally, because both describe the same day
    • Neither source, because both are about naval battles
    • Source B, a general's memoir about the strategic picture

  18. Why did the Allied victory at the Marne make stalemate MORE likely?

    • The Allies stopped the Germans without driving them out
    • The Allies left the Western Front and sent every soldier to Russia
    • The Allies won so decisively that the war ended in a few weeks
    • The Allies captured Berlin and forced Germany to surrender in September

  19. What did the failed timetable mean for Germany?

    • It was forced to fight on two fronts after all
    • It was allowed to keep Belgium as a neutral country
    • It was able to end the war by Christmas 1914 as planned
    • It was able to take Paris without a fight in September 1914

  20. Which weapon made attacks on dug-in trenches so costly?

    • The machine gun
    • The dreadnought battleship
    • The Zeppelin airship
    • The submarine torpedo

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