Goltz was born in Züllichau, Brandenburg. A Major-General commanding the German infantry division of Guards on Foot in France, he was transferred to Finland in March 1918 to help the nationalist government in the civil war against the Finnish "Reds" and Soviet Russian troops. He commanded the German expedition unit ("Baltic Sea Division") which landed at Hanko, Finland, between 3 April and 5 April 1918, and then marched on the socialist-controlled capital Helsinki, which surrendered after the Battle of Helsinki on 13 April 1918. The German military intervention aided the nationalist government of Finland to gain control over most of the country by May 1918. Goltz stayed with his troops in Finland after the Civil War until December 1918 and was a major political influence in the country, described by the Quartermaster General of the White Army Hannes Ignatius as being the "true regent of Finland". In the summer of 1918, Goltz wanted to replace the Finnish White forces with a new Finnish conscript army, where all leadership positions were to be staffed by German officers and conscripts were to be trained according to German army standards. Finnish generals Ignatius, von Gerich and Theslöf resigned from the Finnish military staff in protest. The Germans wanted to use Finnish forces against the Allied units intervening in Murmansk and Arkhangelsk.