Moltke, Helmuth von

Moltke, Helmuth (Johannes Ludwig) von

(born May 25, 1848, Gersdorff, Mecklenburg—died June 18, 1916, Berlin, Ger.) German soldier. A nephew of Helmuth von Moltke, he rose rapidly in the German army and served as adjutant to his uncle from 1882. He was appointed quartermaster general in 1903 and chief of the German general staff in 1906. At the outbreak of World War I, he applied the Schlieffen Plan, devised by his predecessor, but his inability to revise the plan to cope with tactical and command errors contributed to the halt of the German offensive in the Battle of the Marne (1914). He was relieved of his command shortly after and died a broken man two years later.