Graf Moltke

Helmuth Karl Bernhard von Moltke (October 26, 1800 - April 24, 1891), who became Helmuth Graf von Moltke in 1870, was a famous Prussian general.

Born in Parchim, Mecklenburg-Schwerin to an old noble family, Moltke first joined the Danish service, studying at the military academy at Copenhagen and gaining his officer's commission in 1819. In 1822 he entered the Prussian army as a second lieutenant. From 1835 to 1839 he served as advisor to the army of the Ottoman Empire. From 1857 to 1888 he functioned as head of the Prussian Großer Generalstab (chief of military staff). He planned and led the successful military operations during the Austro-Prussian War of 1866 and the Franco-Prussian War (1870-1871), which paved the way for the creation of the Prussian-led German Empire in 1871. Moltke was rewarded for his services in September, 1871, by a promotion to the rank of field marshal and a large monetary grant. He served in the Diet of the North German Confederation from 1867 to 1871, and from 1871 to 1891 he was a member of the Reichstag, the German parliament of the time. In 1888 he retired as Chief of the General Staff and was succeeded by Count Alfred von Waldersee. His nephew, Helmuth Johann Ludwig von Moltke, was Chief from 1906 until 1914.

He wrote a number of works on military theory. His main thesis was that military strategy had to be understood as a system of options since only the beginning of a military operation was plannable. As a result, he considered the main task of military leaders to consist in the extensive preparation of all possible outcomes. His thesis can be summed up by two statements, one famous and one less so, translated into English as "No battle plan survives contact with the enemy," and "War is a matter of expedients."

Graf Moltke retired from active service on Aug. 9, 1888, and died in Berlin in 1891.