Germany adopts a defensive strategy in the West in WWI while aiming for a limited offensive strategy in the East

[Futurist]

What if Germany would have adopted a defensive strategy in the West in World War I while aiming for a limited offensive strategy in the East? Specifically, here is what I am thinking of: Have Germany play defense in Alsace-Lorraine and watch French forces constantly get mauled as they try to break through German fortifications. If the French try to take heavily fortified Metz, for instance, then they could endure a bloodbath comparable to what they and the Germans endured when the Germans tried to take Verdun in 1916 in real life. An advantage of this would be that Germany would have a significantly shorter front line in the West in comparison to real life and also would not be seen as an aggressor state since Belgium's neutrality wouldn't be violated by it, through a downside of this approach is that France would still be able to keep control of the natural resources in northeastern France--though I suppose that Germany can still make a move for iron ore-rich Briey and Longwy after the French bleed themselves dry in a much larger version of the Battle of the Frontiers in this scenario:

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/proxy ... BKhrjQJQE-



As far as I know, Briey and Longwy contained 90% of France's iron ore reserves, so losing it during the war would have undoubtedly hurt France.

As for the East, Germany's logic here would be simple: Help the Austro-Hungarians fight the Serbs and the Russians. If Germany focuses more resources on the East, I was wondering if it was capable of doing something comparable to the Gorlice-Tarnow Offensive back in 1914:

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/ ... t1915b.jpg



After such an offensive, Germany can rest and play defense in the East until the end of the year, and then launch a new offensive in the East in the following spring where it would aim to expand up to the Dvina and Dnieper Rivers:

https://camo.voz.tech/7118f084a56449811 ... 76d646c48/



Then, a new permanent defensive line in the East can be set up on the Dvina and Dnieper Rivers, after which point Germany can sit back and watch the Franco-Russians bleed themselves try in trying to penetrate the German defensive lines in both the West and the East. Eventually, the logic would go, the Franco-Russians (and maybe British as well, depending on whether or not they are actually in the war here) would get tired of pointless and endless offensives and thus ask the Central Powers for a ceasefire, where the existing ceasefire lines would more-or-less become the new national borders.

Such a peace deal would involve a more-or-less status quo ante bellum in the West (depending on what exactly happens to Briey and Longwy--and France might be insist on getting it back if it will actually want to make peace) while Germany would get to set up satellite states in Poland, Lithuania, Courland, western Belarus, and western Ukraine, with Romania of course getting Bessarabia. Austria-Hungary would get no additional territories of its own but some kind of modus vivendi would have to be reached between it and Serbia. And it's possible that Austria-Hungary might have to make some territorial cessions to Italy, such as Trentino, in exchange for peace on that part of the front. But it all depends on the relative strength of each side's military positions at the time of the eventual ceasefire--assuming that there actually is one--of course.

Anyway, any thoughts on this?

[Futurist]

For what it's worth, apparently I'm not the only one who thought of the idea of the Dvina-Dnieper Line, or Daugava-Dnieper Line (Dvina and Daugava appear to be two names for the same river):

https://www.reddit.com/r/Kaiserreich/co ... r_dd_line/