Page:Men of the Time, eleventh edition.djvu/812

 MOMMSEN.

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ie descended from a well-known Mecklenburg family, and was born at Parchim, Oct. 26, 1800, in the neighbourhood of which place his father, a former officer of the Mol- lendoif regiment, possessed the estate of Chiewitz. Soon after Hellmuth's birth his parents settled down in Holstein; and thus the boy, in his twelfth year, went to Copenhagen, in order to devote himself, in the barracks there, to the military profession. In 1822 he entered the Prussian service, as a lieutenant in the 8th infantry regiment, and studied in the Mili- tary Academy. The war had nearly ruined his parents, and the young officer was thrown entirely on his own resources. After having spent some time in the School of Division of Prankfort-on-the-Oder, Moltke was entered into the General Staff. In 1835 he undertook a tour in Turkey, which brought him imder the notice of the Sultan Mahmoud, who advised with the young Prus- sian officer on the reorganization of the Turkish army. Moltke re- mained several years in Turkey, and in 1839 took part in the cam- paign of the Turks in Syria against the Viceroy Mehemed Ali of Egypt and his adopted son Ibrahim Pasha. In 1845, having returned to Prussia, and published an account of his Turkish experiences, he became adjutant to Prince Henry of Prus- sia, then resident in Bome, and after his death, in 1847, was en- gaged in connection with the general command on the Bhine, becoming, in 1848, a member of the Ghrand General Staff, and, in 1849, Chief of the Staff of the 4th Army Corps, in Magdeberg. In 1858 he was advanced to the rank of Chief of the Grand General Staff of the Prussian Army, and in 1859 became a lieutenant - general. In the Austro • Italian war Moltke was present in the Austrian head-quar- ters. After the conclusion of peace, he spared no pains that he might fully develop tiie capacities of the |

Prussian General Staff and the Prussian Army. When the war of 1864 against Denmark broke out Moltke sketched the plan of the campaign, and assisted in its execu- tion, acting similarly in the case of the war of 1866. The whole plan of the Bohemian campaign was due to the Lieutenant-General, who was personally present in the battle of Kdniggrfttz, which he led, and in like manner arranged the bold advance of the Prussian columns against Olmutz and Vienna, and negotiated the armistice and the preliminaries of peace. For these services he received the Order of the Black Eagle, and a national dotation. To "Father Moltke" (Vater Moltke), as he is familiarly termed in the German army, and his brilliant strategy are ascribed the splendid victories of the Ger- man arms in th^ Franco-German war. He was the Commander-in- Chief. The whole plan of the campaign was due to him. In recognition of his unrivalled services, Moltke, who was already a baron, was created a count (Oct. 28, 1870), made the Chief Marshal of the German Empire (Sept., 1871), and again received a national dotation, llie illustrious Marshal, who is generally regarded as the first strategist of the day, received from the Czar the Order of St. George, the highest military decoration of Bussia, in Oct., 1870 ; and from his own sovereign the 6h:und Cross of the Order of the Iron Cross, March 22, 1871. An English translation of his " Observations on the Influ- ence that Arms of Precision have on Modern Tactics," was published at London in 1871.

MOMMSEN, THBODbR, born at Garding, in Schleswig, Nov. 30, 1817, studied at i;hfe University of Kiel, and travelled from 1844 till 1847. On his return he wrote numerous articles for the Schleswig-HoUtein Journal, which he conducted, and was made Professor of Law at Leipsic. Having been dismissed on