Alfred von Schlieffen (28 February 1833-4 January 1913) was a Field Marshal of the Imperial German Army who served as Chief of the Imperial German General Staff from 7 February 1891 to 1 January 1906, succeeding Alfred von Waldersee and preceding Helmuth von Moltke the Younger. He was most famous for his Schlieffen Plan, which was enacted both during World War I and World War II.
Biography[]
Alfred von Schlieffen was born in Berlin, Prussia on 28 February 1933, and he came from an old Prussian noble family. He enlisted in the Prussian Army in 1853 and was chosen as an officer candidate, launching a long military career. He graduated from the General War School in 1861 with high honors, and he served as a staff officer on the Prussian Cavalry Corps at the 1866 Battle of Koniggratz during the Austro-Prussian War. During the Franco-Prussian War, he held a small command in the Loire Valley, and he was promoted to Major-General on 4 December 1886, Lieutenant-General in 1888, and General of the Cavalry in 1893. In 1904, he supported the genocide against the Herero tribe of Namibia, but he was later forced to oppose the killing of unarmed and surrendering Hereros after Chancellor Bernhard von Bulow interceded. He retired in 1906 after being disabled when a companion's horse kicked him; however, he had just completed the "Schlieffen Plan", a deployment plan and operational guide for an offensive campaign against France. He died in 1913, and his plan was adopted a year later at the start of World War I; his plan would once again be employed in 1940 during World War II.