Battle of the Marne

Battle of the Marne, name of two battles of World War I; the first halted German advance into northeastern France, and the second tipped the balance of power in favor of the Allied forces. The battles took place near the Marne River in northeastern France.

(September 6-9, 1914), a decisive battle that halted the German advance near the Marne River, less than 48 km (30 mi) from Paris. The German forces had been encountering little resistance in their march on Paris. Then, supposedly because of an error in decoding an order, they wheeled to the southeast. Joseph Simon Gallieni, the military governor of Paris, persuaded the French commander in chief, Joseph Jacques Césaire Joffre, to attack the flank thus exposed. Under Joffre's orders troops were rushed to the front by all available means, including taxicabs, and the Allied attack was begun on September 6. On September 9 the Germans began to retreat, and the threat to Paris was ended.

(July 15-August 4, 1918), the action that marked the turning point of the war. The Germans, according to the plan of General Erich Ludendorff, attacked to the east and west of Reims. West of Reims they succeeded in crossing the Marne but made little subsequent progress. On July 18 the Allied commander general Ferdinand Foch counterattacked with forces that included several American divisions. One of the centers of fiercest combat was at Château-Thierry, where the American troops won their first decisive victory. The German armies were forced back across the Marne. This counterattack destroyed Ludendorff's plan for a massive attack in Flanders and gave the Allies the initiative thereafter.