This is a very interesting and well-made French site that shows the movements on the Western Front:

http://carto1418.fr/

If you look at the situation 100 years ago, it can be seen how the German armies are pushing into Belgium and the French are advancing in Alsace. Just a couple of weeks later the Germans are very close to Paris and the Entente powers are desperately concentrating more troops to stop their advance on the Marne. These maps also show quite clearly just how small the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) really was in 1914 compared to the mighty French and German armies. The Belgian troops are also shown accurately.

The years 1917 and 1918 don't seem to be included yet, but even without them the site is very informative. I find it's always much easier to visualize military actions when you can see things on a map and not only read about them.

That is a great and interesting find, Hasse!
I find it frightening to see, when the armies first take and change positions along the frontiers.
The Germans seem to have bluffed the French by having huge troop concentrations in the Alsace region
first. But then a big part of them was quickly moved north, towards Belgian borders.

Yes, and it becomes even more frightening when you think about all the people hidden behind the names and numbers of all those formations. Millions of men marching, fighting and dying all across France and Belgium, and let's not forget all the millions of civilians who suddenly found themselves overrun by massive armies looking to destroy each other. It wasn't a very good time to be living in Europe!

When you look at the map in early September 1914, it's easy to see just how close the Germans came to Paris. That's one of the big what-ifs of the Great War: if the Germans had had more men on their right flank, would Paris have fallen? We'll never know!

For that matter, IF Paris falls in 1914, THEN does France surrender?

It's hard to say. Logic says yes, but France was looking to avenge their loss in the Franco-Prussian War. Assuming the government has time to get away, they might have tried to continue the fight.

I think it's fair to state that if the war had ended in 1914-1915 with either side winning, the treaty terms would have been much less harsh than Versailles. It was the monstrous infantry losses that embittered the whole affair.