MOLTKE, HELMUTH VON

born Oct. 26, 1800, Parchim, Mecklenburg died April 24, 1891, Berlin, Ger. in full Helmuth Karl Bernhard, Count (graf) Von Moltke chief of the Prussian and German General Staff (185888) and the architect of the victories over Denmark (1864), Austria (1866), and France (1871). Additional reading F.E. Whitton, Moltke (1921, reprinted 1972), is a biography. Walter Grlitz, The German General Staff: Its History and Structure, 16571945 (1953; also published as History of the German General Staff, 16571945, 1953, reprinted 1985), provides a rather good background, explaining Moltke's part in both the development and the implementation in war of the general staff system.