Helmuth von Moltke the Younger

Helmuth Johannes Ludwig von Moltke was born on 25 May 1848, nephew to the elder Moltke whose name hung over Prussian military glory like a shadow he could never escape. On 1 January 1906 he became Chief of the Great German General Staff, inheriting the institution his uncle had built into Europe's most formidable planning apparatus. When war came in August 1914, Moltke led the German Army through the opening moves: the thrust through Belgium, the wheel toward Paris, the long march that faltered at the First Battle of the Marne in September. Fourteen days into that month, on the 14th, he was relieved of command. He died on 18 June 1916, his name forever tied to the question of whether the war could have been won - or avoided - under different hands.