Germany
Alexander von Kluck
1846–1934 Commander, German First Army, 1914–1915
Born in Münster in 1846, Alexander von Kluck rose through the Prussian army without attending the War Academy or serving on the General Staff, a career the Neue Deutsche Biographie calls unusual for imperial Germany. He fought in 1866 and 1870–71 and became a general of infantry in 1906. In August 1914 he led the First Army on the German right wing, fighting the British at Mons and Le Cateau. He turned southeast past Paris, exposing his flank to Maunoury's Sixth Army. During the First Battle of the Marne he retreated to the Aisne on 9 September at the order of Lieutenant Colonel Hentsch. The historian Ian Senior calls the claim that Kluck might have won that day a myth. Wounded in March 1915, he retired in October 1916.