MOLTKE, HELMUTH JOHANNES LUDWIG VON (1848-1916), German soldier, born in Gersdorf, Mecklenburg, May 23, 1848, was nephew of the famous Count von Moltke. Becoming an officer in 187o, in 1902 he commanded the 1st Di vision of the Guards Corps, in 1904 became quartermaster-general, and two years later was appointed chief of the general staff of the army. At the outbreak of the World War, although already old and in failing health, he became principal director of the German operations. His strategy, based partly on the plans bequeathed to him by Gen. von Schlieffen (q.v.), whose pupil he had been, was devised to meet the problem of a war on two fronts. It in volved a concentration of forces on the right flank, which, pivot ing on Metz, and driving forward against the line Dunkirk-Verdun, was to force the French army to give battle on a reversed front. In the West, the left flank was to be held back, the troops in Alsace were to withdraw behind the Rhine, while a minimum defence was to face Russia. Bold and simple as was this plan, it neither allowed for the swift mobilization of the Russians, nor for the problem of a shifting front. Forced by circumstances
to introduce modification into the original plan, Moltke appears to have been unwise in his alterations. He withdrew six divisions from the main army to send to the Russian front, failed to con centrate on the north-east, and planned an offensive in place of a defensive in Lorraine. Thus the plans of von Schlieffen were prevented from bearing full fruit. For failing to co-ordinate the position of the German forces on the eve of battle, and for issuing confusing orders, Moltke has been charged with causing the Ger man defeat at the battle of the Marne. He has also been blamed for placing Billow, who was already in command of Kluck's sec ond army, at the head of the first.
On Nov. 3, 1914, his health being seriously impaired, he was relieved of his post to make way for Falkenhayn, and was ap pointed chief of the home general staff in Berlin. He died on June 18, 1916. The following works by him were published after his death: Erinnerungen, Briefe, Dokumente, 1877-1916 (1922), Aufzeichnungen, Briefe, Schriften, Reden (1923).