Helmuth von Moltke the Younger

Upon becoming the head of the General Staff, Moltke led the German Army from 1 January 1906 to 14 September 1914 during the opening months of World War I. His legacy remains a matter of controversy, due to his involvement in Germany's decision to go to war and in the execution of the invasion of France and Belgium that culminated in the First Battle of the Marne.

Early career

Helmuth von Moltke was born in

In 1904 Moltke was made Quartermaster-General; in effect, Deputy Chief of the General Staff. In 1906, he became chief on the retirement of Alfred von Schlieffen.^[2] His appointment was controversial then and remains so today. The other likely candidates for the position were Hans Hartwig von Beseler, Karl von Bülow and Colmar Freiherr von der Goltz.^[1]: 68 Critics charge that Moltke gained the position on the strength of his name and his friendship with the Emperor (who liked to call him Julius^[3]), with whom he was certainly far closer than were the other candidates. Historians argue that Beseler was too close to Schlieffen to have succeeded him, while Bülow and Goltz were too independent for William II to have accepted them. Moltke's friendship with the Emperor permitted him a latitude that others could not have enjoyed. Goltz, at least, saw nothing wrong with Moltke's performance as Chief.^[1]: 71

Chief of the Great General Staff

Preparing for war

After becoming

In December 1911, Moltke lectured the General Staff: "All are preparing themselves for the great war, which all sooner or later expect."[8]

In 1913, Moltke discarded the Germany's sole alternative to the Schlieffen Plan, the Eastern Deployment Plan, which confined hostilities to Russia alone in the event of a Russo-German conflict.^[6] Thus, by the time of the July Crisis, there was no way for Germany to go to war to with Russia without simultaneously opening hostilities against the West.

Outbreak of World War I

Shortly before the outbreak of the First World War and the First Battle of the Marne in September 1914, Moltke was called to the Kaiser who had been told by Karl Max, prince Lichnowsky, that the British Foreign Secretary, Sir Edward Grey, had offered French neutrality under guarantee of Great Britain.^[9] According to the historian John Keegan, however, the Kaiser believed that Britain would remain neutral if Germany did not attack France.^[10] Whichever is true, the Kaiser, seeing that a two-front war could be avoided, told Moltke to divert forces from the western to the eastern front against Russia. Moltke refused, arguing that such a drastic alteration of a long-planned major mobilization could not be done without throwing the forces into organizational chaos, and the original plan now in motion had to be followed through. Years later, General Hermann von Staabs, head of the German railway division, disagreed, in a book detailing a contingency plan that the German army had for such a situation.^{[11]: 93–94} Grey's offer turned out to be a wishful misinterpretation by Lichnowsky^[11]: 92 and the Kaiser told Moltke to proceed as originally planned.

Moltke's health, already stressed from this argument with his ruler, would break down as a consequence of Germany's subsequent defeat at the first battle of the Marne, and on 14 September 1914 he was succeeded by Erich von Falkenhayn.

Marne Campaign

It is a matter of debate whether the "failure" of the Marne Campaign can be placed at Moltke's feet. The German actions had been based on the

Although earlier in the campaign, German generals and the press had been proclaiming the campaign as good as won, on 4 September, Moltke was found despondent that the lack of prisoners and captured guns meant that the Germans had not yet really won a decisive victory.[16]^{: 186–7 [17]} Moltke may well have been overly preoccupied with the unsuccessful German offensive in Lorraine, and he issued no orders to the First, Second and Third Armies between 2 and 5 September whilst the Battle of the Marne was in progress.^[16]: 192

Following the German retreat from the Marne, Moltke allegedly reported to the Kaiser, "Your Majesty, we have lost the war."^[18]

Whether General von Moltke actually said to the Emperor, "Majesty, we have lost the war," we do not know. We know anyhow that with a prescience greater in political than in military affairs, he wrote to his wife on the night of the 9th, "Things have not gone well. The fighting east of Paris has not gone in our favour, and we shall have to pay for the damage we have done".

— Churchill^[19]

Later life

After Moltke handed over authority to Falkenhayn in September 1914, he was entrusted in Berlin with the office of Chief of the Home Substitute for the General Staff, which had the task of organising and forwarding the reserves together with controlling the territorial army corps while corresponding to those at the front. Moltke's health continued to deteriorate, and he died in Berlin on 18 June 1916 (aged 68) during the state memorial ceremony for

References

1. ^
   ISBN 978-0-521-79101-4
   .
2. ^ "Moltke, Helmuth Johannes Ludwig, Graf von | Encyclopedia.com". www.encyclopedia.com. Retrieved 18 July 2023.
3. ^ Herfried Münkler - Irrtümer und Illusionen im großen Krieg, retrieved 3 October 2022
4. ^ Meyer 2015, p. 94.
5. ^ Meyer 2015, pp. 107.
6. ^ ^{a b} MacMillan 2014, pp. 343.
7. ^ Meyer 2015, p. 109.
8. ISBN 978-0-521-54530-3
   .
9. ^ The Historical Journal, 37, 4 (1994), pp. 885–889, Cambridge University Press
10. ISBN 0-7126-6645-1
    .
11. ^ ^{a b} Tuchman, Barbara (1962). The Guns of August. Ballantine Press.
12. ISBN 9780425176429
    .
13. ^ Keegan, John source cited 116-117
14. ISBN 014 00 2481 6
    .
15. ^ "Who's Who – Helmuth von Moltke". Firstworldwar.com. Retrieved 2 January 2007.
16. ^
    ISBN 1-84022-240-9
    .
17. ISBN 0 14 00 2481 6
    .
18. ^ "Majestät, wir haben den Krieg verloren" in Otto-Ernst Schüddekopf [de], Der Erste Weltkrieg, Bertelsmann Lexikon-Verlag (1977) p. 18.] jellepeters.com
19. ISBN 0 7432 8343 0
    , p.168.
20. ISBN 978-1-84603-502-9
    .
21. ISBN 0-09-1801788
    .
22. ^ Tuchman, Barbara W., The Guns of August, Four Square, 1964, p. 99
23. ISBN 978-1-4000-6855-5
    .
24. ^ Biggar, Nigel (September 2013). "Why Britain Was Right To Go To War In 1914". Standpoint.
25. ^ "Helmuth Johannes Ludwig von Moltke, der Jüngere". the Prussian Machine. Retrieved 9 April 2021.
26. ^ "Königlich Preussische Ordensliste (supp.)", Preussische Ordens-Liste (in German), 1, Berlin: 87, 105, 1895
27. ^ Hof- und Staats-Handbuch des Großherzogtum Baden (1910), "Großherzogliche Orden", pp. 188, 892
28. ^ "Verdienst-Orden Philipps des Großmütigen", Großherzoglich Hessische Ordensliste (in German), Darmstadt: Staatsverlag, 1914, p. 134 – via hathitrust.org
29. ^ "Großherzogliche Orden und Ehrenzeichen". Hof- und Staatshandbuch des Großherzogtums Mecklenburg-Strelitz: 1915 (in German). Neustrelitz: Druck und Debit der Buchdruckerei von G. F. Spalding und Sohn. 1915. pp. 16, 27.
30. ^ "Großherzogliche Hausorden", Staatshandbuch für das Großherzogtum Sachsen / Sachsen-Weimar-Eisenach (in German), Weimar: Böhlau, 1900, p. 47
31. ^ Sachsen (1901). "Königlich Orden". Staatshandbuch für den Königreich Sachsen: 1901 (in German). Dresden: Heinrich. p. 169 – via hathitrust.org.
32. ^ ^{a b} "Königliche Orden", Hof- und Staats-Handbuch des Königreich Württemberg (in German), Stuttgart: Landesamt, 1907, pp. 61, 134
33. ^ "Ritter-Orden", Hof- und Staatshandbuch der Österreichisch-Ungarischen Monarchie, 1916, pp. 46, 64, 109, 196, retrieved 9 April 2021
34. ^ Bille-Hansen, A. C.; Holck, Harald, eds. (1912) [1st pub.:1801]. Statshaandbog for Kongeriget Danmark for Aaret 1912 [State Manual of the Kingdom of Denmark for the Year 1912] (PDF). Kongelig Dansk Hof- og Statskalender (in Danish). Copenhagen: J.H. Schultz A.-S. Universitetsbogtrykkeri. pp. 13–14. Retrieved 30 April 2020 – via da:DIS Danmark.
35. ^ Journal de Monaco
36. ^ Sveriges statskalender (in Swedish), 1915, p. 674, retrieved 9 April 2021 – via runeberg.org
37. ^ Shaw, Wm. A. (1906) The Knights of England, I, London, p. 440

Further reading

• Craig, Gordon A. The politics of the Prussian army 1640-1945 (1955). Online free to borrow
• Foley, Robert T. "Preparing the German Army for the First World War: The Operational Ideas of Alfred von Schlieffen and Helmuth von Moltke the Younger." War & Society 22.2 (2004): 1-25. online^{[dead link]}
• Fromkin. David. Europe's Last Summer: Who Started the Great War in 1914? (2005)
• Herwig, Holger H. The Marne, 1914: the opening of World War I and the battle that changed the world (2011).
• MacMillan, Margaret (2014) [2013]. The Road to 1914: The War That Ended Peace. New York: Random House Trade Paperbacks.
  ISBN 978-0-8129-8066-0
  .
• Meyer, G.J. (2015) [2006]. A World Undone: A Story of the Great War 1914-1918. New York: Bantam Books.
  ISBN 978-0-553-38240-2
  .
• Meyer, Thomas (Ed.). Helmuth von Moltke, Light for the new millennium: Rudolf Steiner's association with Helmuth and Eliza von Moltke: letters, documents and after-death communications. Rudolf Steiner Press, London, 1997.
  ISBN 1-85584-051-0
  .
• Mombauer, Annika. Helmuth von Moltke and the Origins of the First World War. Cambridge University Press, 2001.
• Terraine, John (1960). Mons, The Retreat to Victory. London: Wordsworth Military Library.
  ISBN 1-84022-240-9
  .
• Tuchman, Barbara. The Guns of August, also published as August 1914, Macmillan Publishers
  , 1962.
• Zuber, Terence. Inventing the Schlieffen Plan: German War Planning, 1871–1914. Oxford University Press, 2002.
• Heinrich Walle (1997), "Moltke Helmuth", Neue Deutsche Biographie (in German), vol. 18, Berlin: Duncker & Humblot, pp. 17–18; (full text online)
• Helmuth Johannes Ludwig von Moltke: Erinnerungen, Briefe, Dokumente 1877-1916. Stuttgart 1922

External links

• Media related to Helmuth Johannes Ludwig von Moltke at Wikimedia Commons

Wikiquote has quotations related to Helmuth von Moltke the Younger.

• Newspaper clippings about Helmuth von Moltke the Younger in the 20th Century Press Archives of the ZBW

Military offices
Preceded by Count Schlieffen	Chief of the General Staff 1906–1914	Succeeded by Erich von Falkenhayn
Preceded by Karl von Bülow	Quartermaster-General of the German Army 16 February 1904 – 31 December 1905	Succeeded by Fritz von Below