Early career As a young officer For a year Moltke had charge of a cadet school at Frankfurt an der Oder, then he was for three years employed on the military survey in
Silesia and
Posen. In 1832 he was seconded for service on the general staff at Berlin, to which he was transferred in 1833 on promotion to first lieutenant. He was at this time regarded as a brilliant officer by his superiors, including Prince
William, then a lieutenant-general. Moltke was well received at court and in the best society of Berlin. His tastes inclined him to literature, to historical study, and to travel. In 1827 he published a short romance,
The Two Friends. In 1831 he wrote an essay entitled
Holland and Belgium in their Mutual Relations, from their Separation under Philip II to their Reunion under William I. A year later he wrote
An Account of the Internal Circumstances and Social Conditions of Poland, a study based both on reading and on personal observation of Polish life and character. He was fluent in English and a talented writer in German; in 1832 he was contracted to translate Gibbon's
The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire into German, for which he was to receive 75 marks, his object being to earn the money to buy a horse. In eighteen months he had finished nine volumes out of twelve but the publisher failed to produce the book and Moltke never received more than 25 marks.
Service with the Ottoman Empire In 1835, on his promotion to captain, Moltke obtained six months' leave to travel in southeast Europe. After a short stay in
Constantinople, he was asked by the Sultan
Mahmud II to help modernize the
Ottoman Empire's army and with permission from Berlin he accepted the offer. He remained for two years at Constantinople, learned
Turkish, and surveyed the city of Constantinople, the
Bosporus and the
Dardanelles. He travelled through
Wallachia,
Bulgaria and
Rumelia, making many other journeys on both sides of the Straits. With great difficulty, Moltke made his way back to the Black Sea, and thence to Constantinople. His patron, Sultan Mahmud II, was dead, so he returned to Berlin, broken in health, in December 1839. In 1843 he published the article "What Considerations should determine the Choice of the Course of Railways?" Even before Germany began constructing its first railroad he had noticed their military potential and he urged the general staff to support railway construction for mobilisation and supply. As soon as he gained the position he went to work making changes to the strategic and tactical methods of the Prussian army: changes in armament and means of communication; changes in the training of staff officers (such as instituting
staff rides); and changes in the method for the mobilization of the army. He also instituted a formal study of European politics in connection with the plans for campaigns which might become necessary. In short, he rapidly put into place the features of a modern general staff. By 1860, his reforms were completed. In 1859, the
Austro-Sardinian War in Italy caused the mobilization of the Prussian army, though it did not fight. After the mobilization, the army was reorganized and its strength was nearly doubled. The reorganization was the work not of Moltke but of the Prince Regent,
William, and the Minister of War,
Albrecht von Roon. Moltke watched the Italian campaign closely and wrote a history of it in 1862. In an act that was yet another first in military affairs, this history was attributed on the title page to the historical division of the Prussian staff. In 1860, "[Moltke] added a Railway Section to the military council. A contemporary would write that von Moltke never made an important decision without consulting the German railway timetables." Moltke had been following developments relating to the railroad ever since his return from Egypt, at which time he wrote that: “Every new railway development is a military benefit, and for national defence, it is far more profitable to spend a few million on completing our railways than on new fortresses.” In December 1862, Moltke was asked for an opinion on the military aspect of the quarrel with Denmark. He thought the difficulty would be to bring the war to an end, as the Danish army would, if possible, retire to the islands, where, as the Danes had the command of the sea, it could not be attacked. He sketched a plan for turning the flank of the Danish army before the attack upon its position in front of
Schleswig. He suggested that by this means its retreat might be cut off.
War with Denmark When the
Second Schleswig War began in February 1864, Moltke was not sent with the Prussian forces but kept at Berlin. His war plan was mismanaged, and the Danish army escaped to the fortresses of
Dybbøl and
Fredericia, each of which commanded a retreat across a strait to an island. Dybbøl and Fredericia were besieged,
Dybbøl taken by storm, and Fredericia abandoned by the Danes without assault – but the war showed no signs of ending. The Danish army was safe on the islands of
Als and
Funen. On 30 April 1864, Moltke was sent to be chief of the staff for the allied (German) forces. He and
Friedrich Graf von Wrangel planned landing on Als or Funen. On June 29, battalions (part of
Herwarth von Bittenfeld's army corps) crossed to Als in boats, landed while under fire from the Danish batteries, and quickly seized the whole island as far as the
Kekenis peninsula. Days later,
Eduard Vogel von Falckenstein's corps crossed the
Limfjord and occupied the remaining parts of
Jutland while the Austrians seized the various islands. The Danish government, dejected by the course of the war, ended the war in defeat by signing the
Treaty of Vienna.
Moltke's theory of war , Moltke's birthplace '', 1869 In contrast to
Antoine-Henri Jomini, who expounded a system of rules, Moltke was a disciple of
Carl von Clausewitz and regarded strategy as a practical art of adapting means to ends. He had developed the methods of
Napoleon in accordance with altered conditions of his age, was the first to realize the great defensive power of modern firearms, and realized that an enveloping attack had become more formidable than an attempt to pierce an enemy's front. He developed the idea of Clausewitz and said "The purpose of war is to carry out the policy of the government with arms". He emphasized the autonomy of war. This brought conflicts with
Otto von Bismarck. After the Prussian armies marched into Saxony, the Saxon army retreated into
Bohemia. Moltke had two Prussian armies about apart. The problem was how to bring them together to catch the Austrian army between them like the French at Waterloo between
Wellington and
Blücher. He determined to bring his two armies together by directing each of them to advance towards
Gitschin. On June 22, 1866, Moltke told the two princes that Gitschin was the desirable point for the juncture of the two armies. He foresaw that the march of the Crown Prince would probably bring him into collision with a portion of the Austrian army. Prince Friedrich Karl sent the
3rd Division to Gitschin; but the Crown Prince had 100,000 men, and it was not likely that the Austrians could have a stronger force. When Friedrich Karl ordered further attacks, straining his own supply lines, Moltke inferred that the prince was trying to take
Prague by himself. on a black horse with his suite, Bismarck, Moltke, Roon, and others, watching the
Battle of Königgrätz The Austrians, under
Ludwig von Benedek, marched faster than Moltke expected, and might have opposed Prince Frederick Charles (the Red Prince) with four or five corps; but Benedek's attention was centred on Crown Prince Frederick William, and his four corps, not under a common command, were beaten in detail. On 1 July Benedek collected his shaken forces into a defensive position in front of
Königgrätz. Moltke's two armies were now within a short march of one another and of the enemy. On 3 July they were brought into action, the first army against the Austrian forces and the second against the Austrian right flank. The Austrian army was completely defeated and the campaign and war were won. Moltke was not quite satisfied with the Battle of Königgrätz. He tried to have the Prussian Army of the Elbe brought up above Königgrätz, so as to prevent the Austrian retreat, but its commanding officer failed to get there in time. He also tried to prevent the Prussian First Army from pushing its attack too hard, hoping in that way to keep the Austrians in their position until their retreat should be cut off by the Crown Prince's army, but this also did not happen. During the negotiations,
Otto von Bismarck opposed the king's wish to annex the
Kingdom of Saxony and other territory beyond what was actually taken; he feared the active intervention of France. Moltke, however, was confident of beating both the French and Austrians if the French should intervene, and he submitted to Bismarck his plans in case a war against both France and Austria proved necessary. After the peace, the Prussian government voted Moltke the sum of 30,000 marks (equivalent to approximately 225,000 US$ in 2016), with which he bought a 500-hectare estate in
Creisau (present-day Krzyżowa), near
Schweidnitz (present-day Świdnica) in the
Province of Silesia. In 1867,
The Campaign of 1866 in Germany was published. This history was produced under Moltke's supervision and was regarded as quite accurate at the time. In the same year Moltke became a member of
Reichstag as a member of the
Conservative Party. He frequently spoke on military issues. On 24 December 1868 Moltke's wife died at Berlin. Her remains were buried in a small chapel erected by Moltke as a mausoleum in the park at
Creisau. After the war, Bismarck assessed him as a reliable soldier.
Later career Franco-Prussian War 1888–1946). The statue was torn down after the
communists took power. Moltke again planned and led the Prussian armies in the
Franco-Prussian War (1870–71), which paved the way for the creation of the Prussian-led
German Empire in 1871. The aspects of such a war had occupied Moltke's attention almost continuously since 1857; documents published after his death show the many times he considered such a war and the best arrangement of the Prussian or German forces for such a campaign. The arrangements for the transport of the army by railway were revised annually to suit the changes in his plans brought about by political conditions and by the growth of the army, as well as by the improvement of the Prussian system of railways. The successes of 1866 had strengthened Moltke's position, so that when, on 5 July 1870, the order for the mobilization of the Prussian and South German forces was issued, his plans were adopted without dispute. Five days later he was appointed Chief of Staff of the Army for the duration of the war. This gave Moltke the right to issue orders which were equivalent to royal commands. Moltke's plan was to assemble the whole army south of
Mainz, this being one district in which a single army could secure the defence of the whole frontier. If the French disregarded the neutrality of Belgium and
Luxembourg, and advanced towards
Cologne (or any other point on the
Lower Rhine), the German army would be able to strike at their flank. At the same time the Rhine itself, with the fortresses of
Koblenz, Cologne and
Wesel, would be a serious obstacle in their path. If the French should attempt to invade south Germany, an advance by the Germans up the Rhine river would threaten their communications. Moltke expected that the French would be compelled by the direction of their railways to collect the greater part of their army near
Metz, and a smaller portion near
Strasbourg. The German forces were grouped into three armies: the First of 60,000 men under
Von Steinmetz, on the
Moselle below
Trier; the Second of 130,000 men, under
Prince Friedrich Karl of Prussia, around
Homburg (with a reserve of 60,000 men behind them); and the Third of 130,000 men under the Crown Prince Frederick William, at
Landau. Three army corps were held back in north-Eastern Germany, in case
Austria-Hungary should make common cause with France. He reported this to the King on 17 April 1870. Moltke's plan was that the three armies, while advancing, should make a right wheel, so that the First Army on the right would reach the bank of the Moselle opposite Metz, while the Second and Third Armies should push forward, the Third Army to defeat the French force near Strasbourg, and the Second to strike the Moselle near
Pont-à-Mousson. If the French army should be found in front of the Second Army, it would be attacked in front by the Second Army and in flank by the First or the Third (or both). If it should be found on or north of the line from
Saarburg to
Lunéville, it could still be attacked from two sides by the Second and Third Armies in co-operation. The intention of the great right wheel was to attack the principal French army in such a direction as to drive it north and cut its communications with Paris. The fortress of Metz was to be only monitored, and the main German forces, after defeating the chief French army, would then march against Paris. This plan was carried out in its broad outlines. The
Battle of Wörth was brought on prematurely, and therefore led, not to the capture of
MacMahon's army, which was intended, but only to its defeat and hasty retreat as far as Châlons. The
Battle of Spicheren was not intended by Moltke, who wished to keep
Bazaine's army on the
Saar until he could attack it with the Second Army in front and the First Army on its left flank. But these unexpected victories did not disconcert Moltke, who carried out his intended advance to Pont-Mousson, crossed the Moselle with the First and Second Armies, then faced north and wheeled round, so that the effect of the battle of Gravelotte was to drive Bazaine into the fortress of Metz and cut him off from Paris. Nothing shows Moltke's insight and strength of purpose in a clearer light than his determination to attack on 18 August, at the
Battle of Gravelotte, when other strategists would have thought that, the strategic victory having been gained, a tactical victory was unnecessary. He has been blamed for the last attack at Gravelotte, which incurred heavy loss for no gain. But it is now known that this attack was ordered by the king and that Moltke blamed himself for not having used his influence to prevent it. During the night following the battle Moltke left one army to invest
Bazaine at Metz and set out with the two others to march towards Paris, the more southerly one leading, so that when MacMahon's army should be found the main blow might be delivered from the south and MacMahon driven to the north. On 25 August it was found that MacMahon was moving north-east for the relief of Bazaine. The moment Moltke was satisfied of the accuracy of his information, he ordered the German columns to turn their faces north instead of west. MacMahon's right wing was attacked at
Beaumont while attempting to cross the
Meuse, his advance necessarily abandoned, and his army with difficulty collected at Sedan. At the
Battle of Sedan, the two German armies surrounded the French army, which on 1 September was attacked from multiple sides and compelled to surrender. Moltke then resumed the advance on Paris, which was also surrounded. From this time Moltke's strategy is remarkable for its judicious economy of force, for he was wise enough never to attempt more than was practicable with the means at his disposal. The surrender of Metz and of Paris was just a question of time, and the problem was, while maintaining the sieges, to be able to ward off the attacks of the new French armies levied for the purpose of raising the
Siege of Paris. The
Siege of Metz ended with its surrender on 27 October. On 28 January 1871,
an armistice was concluded at Versailles by which the garrison became virtual prisoners and the war was ended.
Later life Final years and death , in 2005 . Bronze medal by August Schabel,
Munich in 1889 (left to right):
Rudolph Wichmann,
Otto von Seydewitz, Helmuth Karl Bernhard von Moltke,
Graf Konrad von Kleist-Schmenzin,
Otto von Helldorff,
Karl Gustav Ackermann In October 1870, Moltke was made a
Graf (count) as a reward for his services during the Franco-Prussian War and victory at the Battle of Sedan. In June 1871, he was further rewarded 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 (federal parliament). He received a state funeral where his body lay in state surrounded by military honours and thousands paid their respects, including
Kaiser Wilhelm II; Bismarck did not attend. Thousands of troops, led by the Kaiser, escorted his casket to Berlin's Lehrter Railroad Station, from which it was transported to Silesia. Moltke's remains were interred in the family mausoleum on the Creisau estate, which however was plundered in the last months of
World War II, most probably by
Red Army. No trace of his remains is known to exist. The Creisau estate (later Kreisau) remained the Moltke family seat until 1945, when Moltke's great-grandnephew
Helmuth James Graf von Moltke was executed for headquartering the eponymous
Kreisau Circle at the manor. Surviving dedications to Moltke the Elder at the manor include two stairway
frescos painted on his 100th birthday in 1900;
The Shame, depicting the
fall of Lübeck in 1806, and
The Revenge, depicting the victorious capture of Paris in 1871. ==Personal life==