Count Helmuth von Moltke(1800-1891) provides a fine example of the way that Prussian militarism and the values of the Junkers from East Prussia were imposed on the new German Empire. As Chief of the General Staff from 1858 to 1888, first of Prussia and then of the newly unified German Empire (Reich), he modernized the army, making full use of railroads, telegraph, new weapons, and other products of the Industrial revolution.  In the 1860s and early 1870s he directed Prussia’s successful wars against Denmark, Austria, and France.  These victories gave him great prestige and helped popularize the intense militarism he represented.  His nephew, Helmuth von Moltke, was the German Chief of Staff when World War I broke out.

 Below are excerpts a letter in which Count Moltke expressed his views on the necessity of war: (Source: Harry Pross (ed.), Die Zerstörung der deutschen Politik: Dokumente 1871-1933 (Frankfurt, 1959), pp. 29-31. Translated by Richard S. Levy.)
 

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  You have kindly sent me the handbook published by the Institute for International Law and would like my acknowledgment of the same.

  First, I find the humanitarian striving to lessen the sufferings that come with war completely worthy.  Eternal peace is a dream --and not even a beautiful one.  War is part of God's world-order.  Within it unfold the noblest virtues of men, courage and renunciation, loyalty to duty and readiness for sacrifice--at the hazzard of one's life. Without war the world would sink into a swamp of materialism. Further, I wholly agree with the principle stated in the preface that the gradual progress in morality must also be reflected in the waging of war.  But I go farther and believe that [waging war] in and of itself--not a codification of the law of war--may attain this goal.

Every law requires an authority to oversee and administer its execution, and just this force is lacking for the observation of international agreements. What third state would take up arms because one or both of two warring powers had violated the law of war [loi de guerre]? An earthly judge is lacking. In this matter  success is to be expected only from the religious and moral education, the sense of honor and respect for law, of individual leaders who make the

law and act according to it, so far as this is generally possible to do in the abnormal conditions of war. Indisputably, humanity in the waging of war has in fact followed the general mitigation of morals. Only compare the savagery of the Thirty Years' War with the battles of the modern era.   In our day, an important step toward the attainment of the desired goal has been the introduction of universal military service, which has enlisted the educated classes in the

Eugen Adam, The Rasing of the German Flag over Fort  Vanves before Paris January 19, 1871 (1878)

  Two further and effective means lie in the hands of the governments to avoid the worst excesses: military discipline, established and managed in peacetime; and the carefully administered provisioning of troops in the field.  Without this precaution, discipline can be maintained in only limited fashion.  The soldier who suffers sorrow and deprivations, exertion and danger, can do so only in proportion to the resources of the nation (en proportion avec les ressources du pays); he must take all that is necessary for his existence. We cannot expect him to be superhuman.

  The greatest good deed in war is the speedy ending of the war, and every means to that end, so long as it is not reprehensible, must remain open.  In no way can I declare myself in agreement with the Declaration of St. Petersburg that the sole justifiable measure in war is "the weakening of the enemy's military power."  No, all the sources of support for the hostile government must be considered, its finances, railroads, foodstuffs, even its prestige.

With this sort of energy, and yet with greater moderation than ever before, the recent war in France was waged.  The campaign was decided after two months, and only after a revolutionary government continued the struggle for four more months, to the ruination of its own country, did the battle take on an embittered character. . . .
 

Most respectfully,

Count Moltke