Hermann von Kuhl Dr . Hermann Josef von Kuhl ( 2 November 1856 – 4 November 1958 ) was a Prussian military officer , member of the German General Staff , and a " Generalleutnant " during World War I . One of the most competent commanders in the Imperial German Army , he retired in 1919 to write a number of critically acclaimed essays on the war . Hermann von Kuhl is one of only five recipients to be distinguished with both the " military class " and " peace class " of the Pour le Mérite , Prussia ' s and Germany ' s highest honor . Pre - war period . Hermann von Kuhl was born in Koblenz , Rheinpreußen ( Rhenish Prussia ) , the son of a high school teacher . He studied philosophy , classical philology , German studies and comparative linguistics at the Universities of Leipzig , Tübingen , Marburg and Berlin . In 1878 he received his D . Phil . with the dissertation " De Saliorum Carminibus . " During his studies , he was a member of the University of Leipzig ' s singing group " St . Pauli . " On 1 October 1878 he joined the " 5th Westphalian Infantry Regiment No . 53 – Köln " as a cadet . There he was promoted to " Leutnant " in 1879 and " Oberleutnant " in 1889 . After attending the Prussian Military Academy from 1889 to 1892 , he served in the " Royal Prussian District Command ( Bezirkskommando ) Wesel " and the " Grenadier Regiment " King Friedrich Wilhelm I " ( 2nd East Prussian ) No . 3 – Königsberg " , where he was a company commander . In 1897 he returned to the Prussian Military Academy in Berlin as an instructor and concurrently served as a Section Chief in the German General Staff . During his time on the General Staff von Kuhl was heavily influenced by " Feldmarschall " Alfred Graf von Schlieffen and the Schlieffen plan . Working well with the often - difficult Schlieffen , von Kuhl ' s career flourished . Schlieffen came to believe von Kuhl would become a " great captain of the future " and in 1899 promoted him to " Major " . During this period von Kuhl also served on the General Staff of the Imperial German Navy until the end of 1902 . His first major publication , " Bonaparte ' s Campaign of 1796 , the Starting Point of Modern Warfare , " also appeared in 1902 . On 4 June 1912 von Kuhl was promoted to " Generalmajor " . One year later , during the 25th anniversary of the reign of Kaiser Wilhelm II , he was knighted and thereafter named " von Kuhl " . At this time he received his first command , that of the " 25th Infantry Brigade Münster " , from 3 June 1913 to 2 August 1914 . His last position prior to the start of World War I was an appointment as Chief Quartermaster of the Army back at the General Staff headquarters in Berlin . World War I . At the outbreak of World War I on 2 August 1914 , von Kuhl became General Alexander von Kluck ' s 1st Army Chief of Staff on the Western Front and would prove an expert commander . He received a promotion to Lieutenant General on 18 April 1915 . On 22 September that same year , he became General Max von Fabeck ' s 12th Army Chief of Staff , and then served in the same capacity in the 6th Army after 24 November 1915 . For exemplary service during the Battle of the Somme , " Generalleutnant " von Kuhl received the Pour le Mérite on 28 August 1916 The end of August 1916 also saw von Kuhl ' s elevation to Chief of Staff of " Army Group Crown Prince Rupprecht " ( ) . There he served " Feldmarschall " Rupprecht , Crown Prince of Bavaria , one of four senior members of German royal families who were appointed army group commanders . As they had little military experience , their chiefs - of - staff exercised actual operational control . Von Kuhl was particularly able in this regard . During this time he saw action in the Ypres Salient and received the Kingdom of Bavaria ' s highest purely military honor , the Military Order of Max Joseph , on 13 December 1916 . After the Battle of Amiens on 11 August 1918 , Rupprecht and his staff recognized that Germany ' s position had become hopeless . The Army Group ' s command headquarters had moved to Tournai ( 24 April 1918 ) , to Mons ( 2 September 1918 ) and finally to Brussels ( 17 October 1918 ) , reflecting the long withdrawal from the Western Front and the final collapse of the German Army . At war ' s end , Rupprecht resigned his post on 11 November 1918 . During the march back to Germany , the Army Group was designated " A " ( ) and von Kuhl was made " General der Infanterie " to oversee its orderly demobilization . Following this final military assignment , Hermann von Kuhl retired . Post - war period . In retirement , von Kuhl published historical - critical books and numerous essays , articles and reviews about leadership problems on the Western Front during the war . He first revealed the existence of the Schlieffen Plan to the public in 1920 , in an article entitled " Why did the Marne Campaign Fail ? " This sparked a debate concerning German strategy that continued throughout the 1920s and early 1930s , and again in the 1950s . Perhaps his most popular book in its day was " The German General Staff in the Preparation and Conduct of the World War " ( 1920 ) , republished several times . He also wrote the objective essay " The World War in the Judgment of our Enemies " ( 1922 ) . In 1929 he published " Weltkrieg 1914 – 1918 " , two extensive volumes covering the entire war , which firmly established his reputation as a historian . In the 1920s von Kuhl was appointed to the " Historical Commission of the Reich Archives " and gave evidence to the Weimar Republic ' s Parliamentary inquiries on the reasons for the military collapse of 1918 . In his testimony , von Kuhl concluded : " The German offensive of spring 1918 had to battle with severe challenges . . . The mobility of the army was limited . Front - line units were gradually exhausted , while the enemy ' s combat power grew substantially through the arrival of the Americans and through the new means of combat – the tank . " This stands in contrast to General Erich von Ludendorff who spent his post - war years promoting a Far Right stab - in - the - back legend that blamed the German defeat without an honorable peace on Marxists and Republicans at home . Military historian Hans Meier - Welcker summed up von Kuhl this way : " For a deep historical understanding of the world war , even if not free of temporal apology , he performed a significant contribution " For his postwar work , von Kuhl was awarded the " Pour le Mérite für Wissenschaften und Künste " ( English : Order of Merit in the Sciences and Arts ) in 1924 , Germany ' s highest civilian decoration . Hermann von Kuhl spent his last few years living with his nephew in Frankfurt am Main . He died there on 4 November 1958 at the age of 102 .