Erich (Georg Anton Sebastian) von Falkenhayn - Early Life, Chief of Staff, Later Career, Assessment

German soldier, born near Grudziadz, NC Poland. He served as an adviser with the Chinese army, and with the international force in the Boxer Rebellion (1900). He was Prussian war minister in 1913 and succeeded Moltke as chief of general staff in September 1914, but was dismissed after the failure of his offensive strategy in 1916. He commanded in the invasion of Romania (1916–17), and was then transferred to Palestine. His last command was in Lithuania in 1918.

Erich von Falkenhayn (11 November 1861 - 8 April 1922) was a German soldier and Chief of the General Staff during World War I.

Early Life

Falkenhayn was a career soldier.

Chief of Staff

Falkenhayn succeeded Moltke as Chief of Staff after the Battle of the Marne on 14 September 1914. Confronted with the failure of the Schlieffen Plan, Falkenhayn attempted to outflank the British and French in what has been called the "Race to the Sea", a series of engagements throughout northern France and Belgium with the aim to reach the North Sea coast.

Falkenhayn preferred an offensive strategy on the Western Front while conducting a limited campaign in the east in the hope that Russia would accept a separate armistice much easily if it had not been humiliated too much. Eventually, either in the hope that a massive slaughter would lead Europe's political leaders to consider ending the war, or that losses would in the end be less harmful for Germany than for France, Falkenhayn staged a massive battle of attrition at Verdun in early 1916. Although more than a quarter of a million soldiers eventually died — for which Falkenhayn was sometimes called "the Blood-Miller of Verdun" — neither side's resolve was lessened, because, contrary to Falkenhayn's assumptions, the Entente was able to replace their dead with fresh "human material" (the term comes from that time). After the failure at Verdun, coupled with several reverses in the east and incessant lobbying by Hindenburg and Ludendorff, Falkenhayn was replaced as Chief of Staff by Hindenburg.

Later Career

Falkenhayn then assumed command of the Ninth Army in Transylvania, and in August launched a joint offensive with Mackensen against Romania.

Falkenhayn's forces captured the Romanian capital of Bucharest in less than four months. Following this success, Falkenhayn went to take military command in then-Turkish Palestine, where he eventually failed to prevent the British under General Edmund Allenby from conquering Jerusalem in December of 1917.

While he was in command in Palestine, he was able to prevent Turkish plans to evict all Jews from Palestine, especially Jerusalem.

In February 1918, Falkenhayn became commander of the Tenth Army in Belarus, in which capacity he witnessed the end of the war.

Assessment

Falkenhayn was in many ways a representative of the Prussian generals; in that sense, Falkenhayn's method would, indirectly, have led to Germany losing the war.

Militarily, Falkenhayn had a mixed record.

All sources indicate that Falkenhayn was a loyal, honest, and punctilious friend and superior. As his biographer Afflerbach claims, "An inhuman excess against the Jews in Palestine was only prevented by Falkenhayn's conduct, which against the background of the German history of the 20th century has a special meaning, and one that distinguishes Falkenhayn."