High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The Battle of the Marne was a First World War battle fought between 5 and 12 September 1914. It resulted in a Franco-British victory against the German Army under Chief of Staff Helmuth von Moltke the Younger. The battle effectively ended the month-long German offensive that opened the war and had reached the outskirts of Paris. The counter-attack of Allied forces during the First Battle of the Marne ensured that a quick German victory was impossible, and set the stage for four years of trench warfare on the Western Front. The first month of the First World War had resulted in a series of victories by German forces in France and Belgium. By the end of August 1914, the whole Allied army on the Western Front had been forced into a general retreat back towards Paris. Meanwhile the two main German armies that had just conquered Belgium continued to advance through France.