[QUOTE = "von Marwitz, post: 2053021, member: 23351"]
I should translate for the non-German speaking readers.
Commissar1969 remarked upon my signature of Field Marshall Helmuth von Moltke the older:
Not exactly on topic, but the citation of Field Marshall von Moltke sound surprisingly modern! I associate such thoughts with the postwar period (the second half of the 20th century).
My signature reads:
"Every war, even the victorious one, is a misfortune for one's own people, because no land acquisition, no billions can replace human lives and outweigh the grief of families."
This translates:
"Any war, even the victorious one, is a calamity for one's people, for no gain of land, no billions can make up for the loss of human life and compensate the grief of the families."
Strictly speaking the citation is timless in its truth.
This is the reason why I have selected it for my signature.
I am delighted that some one here took note of this citation.
Helmuth von Moltke the older was ahead of his time in his military thinking, for example in his understanding of the importance of railroads for purposes of mobilization, deployment, and war, which had decisive impact on the German-French war of 1870/71. Yet, he was not a perfect genius in the way in which is sometimes portrayed.
By the way, another remarkable member of the family at later times was
Helmuth James von Moltke .
from Marwitz
[/ QUOTE]
Is somebody or someone auto-translating your submissions? Your signature was formerly in German, now it is in English (at least as presented to this English-speaker). You are even, in the message I copied here, shown as providing a English translation of a sentence which is already in English.