Helmuth Johannes Ludwig von Moltke was Chief of the Great German General Staff from 1906 to 1914, and was responsible for the attack plan that launched the Reich's armies into France, Belgium, and the Netherlands in 1914. He has long been blamed for the failure of that offensive, not only from a planning perspective but also from the standpoint of execution.
Background
Helmuth von Moltke was born on May 25, 1848, in Biendorf, Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (now in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany). He was the nephew of the renowned Prussian general Moltke the Elder, famous for important military victories against Austria in 1866 and during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71.
Education
Moltke attended the Imperial War College between 1875 and 1878.
Career
Helmuth Johannes Ludwig von Moltke started his military career in 1869 and with the 7th Grenadier Regiment took part in the Franco-Prussian War between 1870-71. In 1880 he joined the General Staff and two years later he became personal adjutant to his uncle, Helmuth Karl Bernhard von Moltke, who was then Chief of the General Staff.
From 1891 on, Moltke was aide-de-camp of Wilhelm II, German Emperor. In 1898 he became commander of the 1st Guards Infantry Brigade and in 1902, being promoted to Lieutenant General, received command of the 1st Guards Infantry Division. In 1904, after commanding a brigade and a division in the Berlin area, von Moltke took on the role as Germany's Quartermaster-General, in effect, Deputy Chief of the General Staff. He succeeded Count Alfred von Schlieffen as Chief of the General Staff of the army in Berlin in early January 1906, upon the wish of the Kaiser.
Moltke took over Schlieffen's idea of conducting a rapid campaign against France in order to avoid a long two-front war against Germany's old rival in the west and its ally in the east, Russia. The General Staff of the army based its plans on force strengths that in some cases existed only on paper. In the crisis-ridden years before 1914, Moltke made a great effort to achieve a massive increase in the strength of the army, but was only partially successful in asserting his will at the war ministry. At the same time, he repeatedly advocated a preventive war when he spoke to the imperial government.
The increased fear of a British blockade, the "Russian steamroller" in the east and a possible French offensive in Lorraine, prompted Moltke to change important details of the Schlieffen Plan. For example, he reinforced the southern wing of the German western army and avoided the march through the neutral Netherlands in August 1914 in order to secure a logistic "windpipe" for the German Empire. Operationally, this required a surprise raid to be mounted on the Belgian fortress of Liège, a move that put the German operations under considerable time pressure and left no room for political solutions. In the east, a region which Schlieffen had largely neglected due to Russia's defeat against Japan in 1905, an army was to conduct an active defense.
The retreat at the Marne in September 1914 ended the illusion that Germany would achieve a quick victory. A key cause of the failure was the completely inadequate communication between Moltke, who was far away in the Supreme Headquarters, and his headstrong commanding generals at the front. The lack of army group headquarters as a crucial hierarchy level between Moltke and the seven armies was another key factor. Moltke had trusted his generals to be cooperative, but this was to no avail, and unlike Joseph Joffre, his great antagonist, he did not take sufficiently resolute action in the decisive phases of the campaign.
The failure of the German attack at the Marne resulted in the ailing Moltke being replaced by War Minister Erich von Falkenhayn on 14 September 1914. "Neutralized" as his deputy in Berlin, Moltke took an active part in the schemes of Paul von Hindenburg and Erich Ludendorff to remove his successor from office in the winter of 1914-1915.
Views
Moltke was a supporter of the famous Schlieffen Plan which to be used during the war to quickly defeat France in the west by means of a rapid, overwhelmingly powerful flank attack through Belgium and Holland, whilst a small army kept Russia at bay in the east. Moltke retained Schlieffen's plan but modified it progressively to take account of French military build up in the south immediately prior to the war. Whilst Moltke is often blamed for the ineffectual implementation of the Schlieffen Plan, he himself persuaded the Kaiser, Wilhelm II, who was doubtful of its merits. Moltke insisted that once the Schlieffen Plan was set in motion it could not be stopped.
Most historians agree that Moltke proved indecisive at the critical moment during the invasion of France. Fear of Russian attack in the east, as well as the opportunity to capture an unplanned victory against the French in Lorraine, distracted Moltke. Failure to give clear orders during the Battle of the Marne in early September, as his forces neared Paris, resulted in field commanders ordering a retreat. Stalemate followed with trench warfare.
Moltke was a follower of theosophy and was heavily influenced by Social Darwinism.
Quotations:
"It is dreadful to be condemned to inactivity in this war which I prepared and initiated."
Personality
While often assertive in manner Moltke's character was assessed by the historian Barbara W. Tuchman as being essentially that of a self-doubting introvert. He was fond of painting and literature, as well as of playing the cello.
Physical Characteristics:
Understanding that he was responsible for the failure on the Western Front, became a blow for Moltke that would eventually cost him both the career and the health. His health deteriorated rapidly even at the outset of the war and the 66-year-old suffered a mental breakdown. Two years after, Helmuth von Moltke died of a stroke.
Quotes from others about the person
Churchill: "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".