Erich von Falkenhayn Erich von Falkenhayn ( 11 September 1861 – 8 April 1922 ) was a German soldier and Chief of the General Staff during the first two years of World War I . He became a military writer after World War I . Early life . Born in Burg Belchau near Graudenz in the province of West Prussia , Falkenhayn became a career soldier . Between 1896 and 1903 he served in Qing China , and saw action during the Boxer Rebellion . Afterwards , the Army posted him to Brunswick , Metz , and Magdeburg , promoting him along the way . In 1913 , he became Prussian Minister of War , in which capacity he acted as one of the key players in the genesis of World War I when the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo took place . Like most German military leaders , he did not then count on an overall war , but he very soon embraced the idea and joined with others pushing for Kaiser Wilhelm II to declare war . Chief of Staff . Falkenhayn succeeded Moltke as Chief of the General Staff of the German Army after the Battle of the Marne on 14 September 1914 . Confronted with the failure of the Schlieffen Plan , he attempted to outflank the British and French in the " Race to the Sea " , a series of engagements throughout northern France and Belgium in which each side tried to turn the other ' s flank until they reached the coastline . The British and French eventually stopped the Germans at the First Battle of Ypres ( October – November 1914 ) . Falkenhayn preferred an offensive strategy on the Western Front while conducting a limited campaign in the east : he hoped that Russia would accept a separate armistice more easily if it had not been humiliated too much . This brought him into conflict with Hindenburg and Ludendorff , who favored massive offensives in the east . Eventually – either in the hope that a massive slaughter would lead Europe ' s political leaders to consider ending the war , or that losses would in the end be less harmful for Germany than for France – Falkenhayn staged a massive battle of attrition , as claimed in his post - war memoires , at Verdun in early 1916 . Although more than a quarter of a million soldiers eventually died – for which Falkenhayn was sometimes called " the Blood - Miller of Verdun " – neither side ' s resolve was lessened , because , contrary to Falkenhayn ' s assumptions , the Entente was able to replace their dead with fresh " human material " via the Noria system , which refers to French General Phillippe Pétain ' s practice of allowing a unit to remain for only a few days in an area of intense combat before it was replaced . Thus , troops were rotated between the front line and the rear , analogous to the operation of a " noria " , a type of water wheel that transports water . After the failure at Verdun , coupled with several reverses in the east and incessant lobbying by Hindenburg and Ludendorff , Falkenhayn was replaced as Chief of Staff by Hindenburg . Later career . Falkenhayn then assumed command of the Ninth Army in Transylvania , and in August launched a joint offensive against Romania with von Mackensen . Falkenhayn ' s forces captured the Romanian capital of Bucharest in less than four months . Following this success , Falkenhayn went to take military command in then - Turkish Palestine , where he eventually failed to prevent the British under General Edmund Allenby from conquering Jerusalem in December 1917 . In February 1918 , Falkenhayn became commander of the Tenth Army in Belarus , in which capacity he witnessed the end of the war . In 1919 , he retired from the Army and withdrew to his estate , where he wrote several books on war , strategy , and his autobiography . His war memoirs were translated into English as " " Critical decisions at General Headquarters " " . With the benefit of hindsight he remarked that the German declarations of war on Russia and France in 1914 were " . . . justifiable but over - hasty and unnecessary " . He died in 1922 at Schloss Lindstedt near Potsdam . Assessment . Falkenhayn in many ways typified the Prussian generals ; a militarist in the literal sense , he had undeniable political and military competence but showed contempt toward democracy and the representative Reichstag . For instance , he addressed the Reichstag in 1914 as follows : " Only through the fact that the Prussian army is removed by the constitution from the party struggle and the influence of ambitious party leaders has it become what it is : the secure defence of peace at home and abroad . " In a book on Falkenhayn ' s strategy , Foley ( 2005 ) argues that the Allies , who had larger resources , copied and successfully used Falkenhayn ' s " blood - mill " approach ; in that sense his method would , indirectly , have led to Germany losing World War I . Militarily , Falkenhayn had a mixed record . His offensive at Verdun proved a strategic failure , although Allied casualties were significantly higher than that of the Germans . His defence of Palestine in 1917 was also a failure - though it must be admitted that his forces ( which were overwhelmingly Ottoman in composition ) were both outnumbered and out - classed ; casualties were fairly equal in number , as well . On the other hand , his planning and subsequent conquest of Romania was a near perfect example of how to conduct an offensive against superior forces , considering additionally that he had little hand in planning the war effort . Winston Churchill considered him to be the ablest by far of the German generals in World War I . Dupuy also ranks him near the top of the German commanders , just below Paul von Hindenburg and Erich Ludendorff ( The Encyclopedia of Military History , p . 915 ) . All sources portray Falkenhayn as a loyal , honest , and punctilious friend and superior . His positive legacy is his conduct during the war in Palestine in 1917 . As his biographer Afflerbach claims , " An inhuman excess against the Jews in Palestine was only prevented by Falkenhayn ' s conduct , which against the background of the German history of the 20th century has a special meaning , and one that distinguishes Falkenhayn . " ( 1994 , 485 )