Colmar Freiherr von der Goltz

Colmar von der Goltz
Colmar von der Goltz
Born	(1843-08-12)12 August 1843 Adlig Bielkenfeld, Province of East Prussia, Kingdom of Prussia today Ivanovka, Kaliningrad Oblast, Russian Federation
Died	19 April 1916(1916-04-19) (aged 72) Baghdad, Ottoman Empire
Allegiance	Prussia  German Empire  Ottoman Empire
Service/branch	Prussian Army
Years of service	1861–1911 1914–1916
Rank	Generalfeldmarschall Pasha
Battles/wars	Austro-Prussian War Franco-Prussian War World War I

FreiherrWilhelm Leopold Colmar von der Goltz (12 August 1843 – 19 April 1916), also known as Goltz Pasha, was a Prussian Field Marshal and military writer.

Goltz was born in Adlig Bielkenfeld (), East Prussia (later renamed Goltzhausen; now Ivanovka, in Polessky District, Kaliningrad Oblast), into an impoverished noble family. He grew up at the manor house of Fabiansfelde near Preußisch Eylau, which had been bought by his father in 1844. His father spent some nineteen years in the Prussian Army without rising above the rank of lieutenant, and his efforts at farming were similarly unfruitful, and he eventually succumbed to cholera while on a trip to Danzig (now Gdańsk) when Colmar was six years old.

Goltz entered the Prussian infantry in 1861 as a second lieutenant with the 5th East Prussian Infantry Regiment Number 41, in Königsberg (now Kaliningrad). During 1864 he was on border duty at Thorn (Toruń), after which he entered the Berlin Military Academy, but was temporarily withdrawn in 1866 to serve in the Austro-Prussian War, in which he was wounded at Trautenau. In 1867 he joined the topographical section of the general staff, and at the beginning of the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71 was attached to the staff of Prince Frederick Charles, commanding general of the Prussian Second Army. He took part in the battles of Vionville and Gravelotte and in the siege of Metz. After its fall he served under Prince Friedrich Karl of Prussia in the campaign of the Loire, including the battles of Orleans and Le Mans.