Goltz, Colmar, Freiherr von der

Goltz, Colmar, Freiherr von der (kôl`mär frī`hĕr fən dər gôlts), 1843–1916, Prussian field marshal and military historian. A soldier, he served in the Austro-Prussian War (1866) and the Franco-Prussian War (1870–71). He later gained renown as a professor of military history. His writings include the much-celebrated Nation in Arms (1883, tr. 1913). In Ottoman service from 1883 to 1896, he reorganized the Ottoman army. He was (1914) governor-general of Belgium in World War I, but was soon transferred to the Turkish front, where he commanded the Turkish 1st Army in Mesopotamia until Apr., 1916, when he died, possibly of poison.