The Prussian soldier Count Helmuth Karl Bernard von Moltke (1800-1891) was the military architect of the wars of German unification. He served as chief of the Prussian general staff from 1857 to 1888.

Helmuth von Moltke was born on Oct. 26, 1800, in Parchim, Mecklenburg, to German-Danish parents impoverished by the Napoleonic Wars. Educated in the Copenhagen Royal Cadet Corps (1811-1817), Moltke began Danish service in 1819 but in 1822 transferred to Prussia as an infantry lieutenant. He did little regimental duty, attending the Berlin Kriegsakademie from 1823 to 1826 and working in the general staff's topographical office from 1828 to 1831. Moltke wrote technical studies, histories, translations, and fiction in attempts to advance his career, which in 1829 he diagnosed as suffering from his own weakness of character. In 1833 he became a first lieutenant in the general staff and in 1835 a captain.

In September 1835 Moltke became an adviser to the Turkish army, which he joined for the calamitous...