Helmuth Von Moltke

This detailed and comprehensive book offers the first modern biography of Helmuth Von Moltke, a major progenitor of the processes modern great powers use to engage in large-scale warfare.

Drawing upon the author’s own previously published works, Moltke, Schlieffen and Prussian War Planning and Moltke and the German Wars, 1864-1871, it also contains original research. The volume suggests that the General Staff was a pioneer of what became known in the twentieth century as ‘operations research’, establishing some of the framework for the modern economics of transportation. However, Moltke was much more than just a Prussian soldier and strategist. He was a best-selling author (travel writings, love letters), pioneer cartographer (Asia Minor, Rome, Silesia), dedicated lover and devoted husband, legislator, linguist, family leader, music lover, and spa devotee.

Helmuth Von Moltke will appeal to students of military history and strategy, as well as historians of nineteenth century Germany.