.  There was no maginot line in 0000.....Plus the French were not allied to the Russians in 0000 as they were in 0000. The scheifflen plan was designed to knock the French out before the Russians had mobilised. Saving the Germans from a two front war.....it didn't work! But Adolfs European tour in 00 did as he'd just signed a pact with Stalin...  France did have fortified regions like Verdun. When the Germans slammed into them, they bled and died. Verdun and the Somme wrecked the German Army in the West. Avoiding the fortified regions is why the Germas went with the big right hook, but then they got greedy and scared at the same time. Instead of moving troops to reenforce the main effort once the French offensive on the frontiers was defeats, they counter attacked back at them. This chewed up several corps. Then they transferred two more east to save a Prussia that as it turned out did not need the troops. The combination left the right wing push too weak to do the job.  France did have fortified regions like Verdun. When the Germans slammed into them, they bled and died. Verdun and the Somme wrecked the German Army in the West. Avoiding the fortified regions is why the Germas went with the big right hook, but then they got greedy and scared at the same time. Instead of moving troops to reenforce the main effort once the French offensive on the frontiers was defeats, they counter attacked back at them. This chewed up several corps. Then they transferred two more east to save a Prussia that as it turned out did not need the troops. The combination left the right wing push too weak to do the job.  They were very successful against the Czars army. Like you say though they bled heavily in France and Belgium. All this of course led to various military thinkers to devise new ways of conducting warfare... the culmination being German blitzkreig, from then on it was catch up for the Allies  