/FWWmoltkeP.jpg)
Freepedia
is a series of free encyclopaedias. We currently specialize in history
but we intend to branch out into other areas. This section is about
Helmuth von Moltke.
Helmuth
von Moltke was born in 1848. His uncle, Moltke the Elder, was a famous
Prussian General famed for important military victories in 1866 and
1870.
In 1906 Moltke replaced Alfred von Schlieffen
as German Army Chief of Staff. Though he maintained his predecessor's
war plan, he adapted it to the French military build up in the south.
After the outbreak of the First World War Moltke
was able to convince a doubtful Kaiser Wilhelm
II to follow the Schlieffen Plan.
Moltke proved to be indecisive during the invasion of France. Failure
to give clear orders during the Battle of the
Marne resulted in field commanders ordering a retreat. Wilhelm
II was unimpressed with Moltke's performance and he was retired
and replaced as German Army Chief of Staff by Erich
von Falkenhayn. Helmuth von Moltke died in 1916.
Helmuth
von Moltke
Helmuth
von Moltke: Wikipedia
Helmuth
von Moltke:
Spartacus Biography
Forum
Debates
War
Propaganda Bureau
Military
Commanders and the First World War
Battle
of the Somme
Helmuth
von Moltke
(1)
Helmuth von Moltke, memorandum sent to Theobald
von Bethmann-Hollweg (July 1914)
Unless Germany means to break her word and
allow her ally to succumb to Russian superior strength, she must also
mobilize. That will lead to the mobilization of the remaining Russian
military districts. Russia will then be able to say, "I am being
attacked by Germany" and that will make her sure of the support
of France who is bound by treaty to go to war if her ally Russia is
attacked. The Franco-Russian agreement, so often praised as a purely
defensive alliance brought about only to meet German plans of aggression,
comes thereby into operation and the civilized states of Europe will
begin to tear one another to pieces.
Germany does not
want to bring about this terrible war. But the German Government knows
that it would fatally wound the deeply rooted sentiment of allied loyalty,
one of the finest traits of the German spirit, and place itself at variance
with all the feelings of its people, if it were unwilling to go the
help of its ally at a moment which must decide that ally's fate, Germany
therefore, if the clash between Austria and Russia is inevitable, must
mobilize and prepare to wage war on two fronts.
