Helmuth von Moltke the Elder was a Prussian field marshal who served as the chief of staff of the Prussian Army for 30 years. He is best known for devising modern ways of directing the armies on the field. He was born and raised into an aristocratic German family. He moved to Holstein with his family when he was 5. Around the same time, his family became impoverished when the French burned their country house and plundered their townhouse during the ‘War of the Fourth Coalition.’ Upon growing up, he became a page to the King of Denmark and joined the Danish Army. In his early 20s, he joined the Prussian Military Academy and graduated in 1826. In 1833, he became a lieutenant and in 1835, he was sent to Turkey to advise the Turkish general on how to modernise their armed forces. Known as a tactical genius, he led the Prussian army successfully in the ‘Austro-Prussian’ War and the ‘Franco-Prussian War.’ He was fascinated by the railway system and happened to be the first war general who used the railways for army. He is known as ‘Moltke the Elder’ to differentiate him from ‘Moltke the Younger,’ his nephew who served Germany during the ‘First World War.’