Nonprofit Pr Lessons From Helmuth Von Moltke The Elder
Helmuth Karl Bernhard Graf von Moltke (October 26, 1800 – April 24, 1891), was a German general. The chief of staff of the Prussian army for 30 years, he is regarded as one of the great strategists of the 1800s.
Moltke’s main thesis was that military strategy had to be understood as a system of options, because only the beginning of a military operation could be planned with any degree of clarity. He considered the main task of military leaders to consist in the extensive preparation of all possible outcomes. In his view it was wrong to envision one scenario for achieving victory, since this negates the fact that the opponent will have plans of his own that you cannot know in advance. His thesis is summed up by one famous statement: “No battle plan survives contact with the enemy.”
