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Richly illustrated throughout with drawings by Moltke, portraits and facsimile letters.
“THE nature of the subject of this volume rendered it impossible that the contents should appear as if cast in one mould. This circumstance might be regarded as a defect, but its justification will be found partly in the many-sided character of a long and eventful life, which showed a rich development and a mature perfection of every human faculty, and partly in the fact that for some periods of this life original authorities were lacking. The volume is therefore intended, as was inevitable, to produce its effect by the impression it makes as a whole. Our knowledge of the Field-Marshal must be supplemented from notes regarding his family and his own life, from journals of travels, and records of the many impulses, scientific and artistic, to which his travels gave rise; further, from an attempt in the region of Belles Lettres—the novel of “The Two Friends,” in which he, the man of eight-and-twenty, paints himself true to the life; finally, from the vigorous productions of his old age, with their strivings after the highest truth, which, under the title of “Consolatory Thoughts,” form the conclusion of the volume.”- Editor’s Note
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About the author
HELMUTH KARL BERNHARD GRAF VON MOLTKE (26 October 1800 - 24 April 1891, Berlin) was the chief of the Prussian and German General Staff for thirty years and the architect of the victories over Denmark (1864), Austria (1866), and France (1871). He is regarded as the creator of a new, more modern method of directing armies in the field. He was also a prolific writer and widely considered to be among the masters of 19th-century German prose.
Born the son of the Danish Generalleutnant Friedrich Philipp Victor von Moltke (1768-1845) in Parchim, Mecklenburg-Schwerin Moltke completed his education with the Royal Cadet Corps in Copenhagen and joined a Danish infantry regiment. He transferred to the Prussian Army in 1821 and became second lieutenant in the Prussian Life Guards in 1822. In 1832 Moltke joined the Prussian General Staff and was promoted to first lieutenant a year later.
In 1835 he was sent to Turkey to advise Sultan Mahmud II on the modernization of the Turkish Army and entered the Turkish service in 1836. He went to Armenia in 1838 and returned to Germany at the end of 1839, re-entering the Prussian service. In 1845 Moltke was appointed personal aide-de-camp to the invalid prince Henry of Prussia (1781-1846), then personal aide-de-camp to Prince Frederick William, the future king of Prussia and German emperor (Frederick III), in 1855.
In 1858 Moltke was confirmed as chief of the Prussian General Staff, and thus began the era of the great triumvirate—Otto von Bismarck (chancellor), Moltke, and Albrecht von Roon (1803-79; minister of war from 1859)—that within 13 years was to change the map of Europe.
On proclamation of a new German Empire on January 18, 1871, Moltke was created Graf (count) that October and appointed field marshal in June 1871, after the peace treaty. He was chief of the General Staff for 17 more years and, on resigning office in 1888, retired to Kreisau.
He died during a visit to Berlin in 1891.
