Erich von Falkenhayn

Born

September 11, 1861

Died

April 8, 1922 (aged 60)

Known as

politician, military personnel, military attaché, soldier, military commander, World War I

Erich Georg Sebastian Anton von Falkenhayn was a German general and Ottoman Field Marshal who served as Prussian Minister of War and Chief of the German General Staff during the First World War. Falkenhayn replaced General Helmuth von Moltke the Younger in September 1914 after his invasion of France was stopped at the First Battle of the Marne and was in turn removed on 29 August 1916 after the failure of his offensive strategy in the west at the Battle of Verdun, the opening of the Battle of the Somme, the Brusilov Offensive and the Romanian entry into the war. Having planned to win the war before 1917, the German army was reduced to hanging on.

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