Edited sentence: As a war strategist Moltke was sometimes great, sometimes just good.However, one of his more famous remarks described the US Civil War as "A collision of two armed mobs" which in retrospect seems to have some validity.In other areas, Moltke's genius is unquestioned.It is also important to remember that in the run up to the Franco Prussian war, France was widely expected to to be the victor so perhaps Dupuy's comments do benefit more than a little from hindsight.It is certainly true that Moltke was given a great army to work with thanks to the efforts of war minister Albrecht von Roon, and he was given nearly ideal situations to fight in, thanks to the brilliant diplomacy of Otto von Bismarck.It was Moltke's job to win the wars with what he was given, and in this he succeeded completely.On the other hand Dupuy writes:.While it is doubtful whether he can be convicted of any strategic errors, it seems beyond doubt that he never had to face a situation which placed any strain on his powers, for in the campaigns of 1866 and 1870 his decisions seemed to be made without the slightest effort, and he was never at a loss