Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)/Kluck, Alexander von

KLUCK, ALEXANDER VON, a German general. Born at Münster in 1846; he enlisted in the Prussian army in time to serve in the seven weeks' war against Austria in 1866. In the Franco-Prussian War he served with great gallantry being twice wounded. He was made a general of infantry in 1906. At the opening of the World War he was given command of a group of Army Corps composing the extreme right wing of the German Army invading France. Apparently with irresistible force he swept the English and French forces in front of him until he was considerably S. W. of Paris. The check given the other German armies on the Marne left von Kluck almost surrounded, a position from which he extricated himself by hard fighting and superior strategy. When the French and English attacked him in his intrenched positions on the Aisne they received a severe check. His later career in the Army was relatively unimportant.