Helmuth von Moltke the Younger Quotes

Helmuth Johannes Ludwig Graf von Moltke , also known as Moltke the Younger, was a German general who served as the Chief of the German General Staff from 1906 to 1914. He was a nephew of Generalfeldmarschall Helmuth Karl Bernhard von Moltke who is commonly called "Moltke the Elder" to differentiate the two.

✵ 25. May 1848 – 18. June 1916
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Famous Helmuth von Moltke the Younger Quotes

“It is dreadful to be condemned to inactivity in this war which I prepared and initiated.”

Helmuth von Moltke the Younger

Letter to Field Marshal Colmar Freiherr von der Goltz (14 June 1915), quoted in John C. G. Röhl, 'Germany', in Keith Wilson (ed.), Decisions for War 1914 (London: University College London Press, 1995), p. 27

“Revolution in India and Egypt, and also in the Caucuses…is of the highest importance. The treaty with Turkey will make it possible for the Foreign Office to realise this idea and to awaken the fanaticism of Islam.”

Helmuth von Moltke the Younger

Memorandum (5 August 1914), quoted in Fritz Fischer, Germany's Aims in the First World War (New York: W. W. Norton & Co, 1967), p. 126

“If we again slink out of this affair with our tail between our legs, if we cannot pull ourselves together to present demands which we are prepared to enforce by the sword, then I despair of the future of the German Reich.”

Helmuth von Moltke the Younger

Letter to his wife during the Agadir Crisis (1911), quoted in L. C. F. Turner, 'The Significance of the Schlieffen Plan', in Paul Kennedy (ed.), The War Plans of the Great Powers, 1880-1914 (Boston: Allen & Unwin, 1985), p. 211

“The moment Russia mobilizes, Germany also will mobilize, and will unquestionably mobilize her whole army.”

Helmuth von Moltke the Younger

Remark to the Austrian Chief of Staff Conrad von Hotzndorf (21 January 1909) during the Bosnian crisis, quoted in L. C. F. Turner, 'The Significance of the Schlieffen Plan', in Paul Kennedy (ed.), The War Plans of the Great Powers, 1880-1914 (Boston: Allen & Unwin, 1985), p. 214

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