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Helmuth von Moltke, (born October 26, 1800, Parchim, Mecklenburg [Germany]—died April 24, 1891, Berlin, Germany), chief of the Prussian and German General Staff (1858–88) and the architect of the victories over Denmark (1864), Austria (1866), and France (1871).

Field Marshal Helmuth Karl Bernhard Graf von Moltke ( 26 October 1800 – 24 April 1891) was Chief of Staff of the Prussian General Staff from 1857 to 1871 and then of the Great General Staff (GGS) from 1871 to 1888. He was an architect of Germany's Wars of Unification (1864–71).

Helmuth von Moltke, chief of the German General Staff at the outbreak of World War I. His modification of the German attack plan in the west and his inability to retain control of his rapidly advancing armies significantly contributed to the halt of the German offensive on the Marne in September.

Moltke was the grandnephew of Helmuth von Moltke the Younger and the great-grandnephew of Helmuth von Moltke the Elder, the victorious commander in the Austro-Prussian and Franco-Prussian Wars, from whom he inherited the Kreisau estate in Prussian Silesia, now Krzyżowa in Poland.

Helmuth Johannes Ludwig Graf von Moltke (German: [ˈhɛlmuːt fɔn ˈmɔltkə]; 25 May 1848 – 18 June 1916), also known as Moltke the Younger, was a German general and Chief of the Great German General Staff, a member of the House of Moltke.

Helmuth Karl Bernhard Graf von Moltke(German:[ˈhɛlmuːt fɔn ˈmɔltkə]; 26 October 1800 –24 April 1891) was a Prussianfield marshal.[1] The chief of staff of the Prussian Armyfor thirty years, he is regarded as the creator of a new, more modern method of directing armies in the field and one of the finest military minds of his generation.

Born October 26, 1800, in Parchim, Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Helmuth von Moltke was the son of an aristocratic German family. Moving to Holstein at age five, Moltke's family became impoverished during the War of the Fourth Coalition (1806-1807) when their properties were burned and plundered by French troops.

Helmuth von Moltke, the Elder was of Danish birth and might, therefore, have played only a limited role in history had he not decided as a youth to forego a career in the military of his native kingdom and to seek instead preferment in the much larger and more significant Prussian army.