Erich von Falkenhayn

Chief of Germany's General Staff during the first two years of the First World War (1861-1922)

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Lived 1861–1922, aged 61

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Era
1861–1922
Aged 61

Summary

Updated 2026-05-29

German general who commanded the war effort after the Marne stalled, then lost his job after Verdun proved his strategy of bleeding France dry didn't quite work out. Lasted two years before the attrition he planned caught up with him instead.

Biography

About

Erich Georg Sebastian Anton von Falkenhayn was a German general and Ottoman Field Marshal who served as Prussian Minister of War and Chief of the German General Staff during the First World War. Falkenhayn replaced General Helmuth von Moltke the Younger in September 1914 after his invasion of France was stopped at the First Battle of the Marne and was in turn removed on 29 August 1916 after the failure of his offensive strategy in the west at the Battle of Verdun, the opening of the Battle of the Somme, the Brusilov Offensive and the Romanian entry into the war. Having planned to win the war b…

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