Question

Why is the Schieffen Plan a strategic failure?

Answer 1

It didn't account for a number of factors such as the complexity of a number of logistics (all of the technical details focusing on supplying an army, how to move it effectively, etc..) to changes on the battlefield that the plan did not anticipate such as reversals on the French front and Russia's unexpectedly swift mobilization and having everything bog down into trench warfare. Once that happened, the Plan was essentially useless because it failed to avoid the one thing it was meant to -- a long, drawn out war.