Helmut von Moltke

The Prussian field marshal Graf Helmuth Karl Bernhard von Moltke was chief of staff of the Prussian Army for thirty years during which he became known for his strategic genius and outstanding organizational skills. In 1835, he was requested by Sultan Mahmud II to help improve the army of the Ottoman Empire. Moltke accepted the offer and stayed in Constantinople for two years, during which he learned Turkish, surveyed the empire extensively and undertook multiple modernizations of the military. He was staff officer with the Ottoman army at first, and eventually took charge of the artillery until his return to Berlin after Mahmud II’s death in 1839. The Count was also the first to map out a plan to reorganize the entire city in 1839.

This 1837 portrait is one of several that German painter Franz Seraph Lenback made of Moltke. The painting’s dark color palette and its sitter’s posture and mimic convey austerity and severity. Moltke’s gaze seems to be directed towards the future and thus points to his fascination with modernization such as railways and their usage for military purposes.