moltke, helmuth JohAnneS luDwig, count von moltkenumerically, because he had his opponent at a psychological disadvantage before the battle, because he dared to take the initiative, and because the fruit of victory was the birth of Europe, from where most of the great generals of history were to come.�Historian George Bruce writes: eing greatly outnumbered, Miltiades altered the usual arrangement of the Greek line, so as to extend his wings across the whole width of the valley in which the battle was fought, and thus escape being outflanked. To effect that he was forced to weaken his center, which was repulsed, but both his wings drove back the invaders, and then fell upon and routed the victorious Persian center. The Persians fled in confusion to their ships, which they succeeded in launching, and escaped with a loss of 6,400 men. The Athenians lost 192 only, and inspired other Greek states to resist [Persian oppression].�Darius tried to invade Athens itself, but Miltiades and his forces rushed to the city and were able to ward off this secondary assault. According to Plutarch biography of Miltiades, the hero of Marathon was given fleet of threescore and ten gallies . . . to make war upon the Iles which had aided the Persians.�One of the islands he attacked, Paros, held out against his invasion, and when he went ashore to visit with Timo, a priestess on Paros, he was seriously wounded and taken back to Athens, where he was impeached by the Greek legislature for some unknown crime, found guilty, and ordered to pay a fine. Before he could do this, however, he succumbed to the wound he suffered on Paros, dying in either 488 or 489 b.c. His son Cimon paid the fine, and Miltiades�name was cleared. In modern histories, his role in defeating the Persians at Marathon and saving the concept of the Greek city-state, from which democracy sprang, is why this remarkable victory is always included in lists of the most important battles in world history. References: Plutarch, The Lives of Epaminondas, of Philip of Macedon, of Dionysius the Elder, and of Octavius Csar Augustus: Collected out of Good Authors . . . , translated by Sir Thomas North (London: Richard Field, 1603), 120�122; Nepos, Cornelius, The Lives of T. Pomponius Atticus, Miltiades, and Cimon . . . , translated by Richardson Pack (London: E. Curll, 1735); Nepos, Cornelius, Cornelius Nepos�Life of Miltiades, edited by M. Hughes (London: City of London Book Depot, 1901); Nepos, Cornelius, Lives of Miltiades and Epaminondas, edited by J. E. Melluish (London: Blackie & Son, 1901); Ward, George,A Close Translation of the Lives of Miltiades and Epaminondas (London: Ralph, Holland & Co., 1901); Laffin, John, northodoxy at Marathon,�in Links of Leadership: Thirty Centuries of Command (London: George G. Harrap & Co., Ltd., 1966), 35�0; Bruce, George, arathon,�in Collins Dictionary of Wars (Glasgow, Scotland: HarperCollins Publishers, 1995), 154.Mohammed Ibn Da2ud See alP-arslan. Moltke, Helmuth Johannes Ludwig, count von Moltke (1848�916) German generalBorn in Gersdorf, Mecklenburg, on 23 May 1848, Helmuth Johannes Ludwig Moltke was the nephew of Helmuth Karl Bernard moltke. He entered the officer corps in 1870, although he did not see service during his uncle successful campaign against France, which led to the consolidation of Prussia and other states into modern Germany. In 1902, Moltke was given the command of the 1st Division of the German Guards Corps, followed by his being named as quartermaster general in 1904 and chief of the general staff of the German army two years later, again following in his uncle footsteps. At the outbreak of the First World War in August 1914, Moltke, then chief of the General Staff, was in failing health. Despite this, he continued to direct the German strategic plan for the war. His fatal error was the change he made to the plans of his predecessor as chief of the General Staff, General Alfred von Schlieffen. Moltke uncle fear following German unification in 1871 was that the nation could face simultaneous attack from France to the west and Russia to the east. In evolving a strategy to deal with this situation, von Schlieffen devised the chlieffen Plan,�a lightning strike through neutral Belgium into Northern France, bypassing the immensely strong French fortresses at Metz and Verdun, to the south. If done quickly enough, Paris would fall, France would capitulate, and Germany could then turn to the east to fight Russia. However, as von Schlieffen successor, Moltke modified the plan, moving several divisions from the right wing, advancing (through Belgium) to shore up the left wing marching on Verdun. This modification undermined the entire plan, as an overwhelming right wing was needed to overcome any resistance before Paris was reached. Further, this allowed for less time to mobilize the troops to wheel back
