Helmuth Von Moltke The Elder - Final Years

Final Years

In October 1870, Moltke was made a Graf (Count) as a reward for his services. In June 1871, he was further rewarded by a promotion to the rank of field marshal and a large monetary grant. He served in the Diet of the North German Confederation from 1867–71, and from 1871-91 he was a member of the Reichstag, the German parliament of the time. For the "Verdienste um das zur Einheit wiedergeborene Deutsche Vaterland" (merit of the unification of the reborn German fatherland), he was named an honorary citizen of Hamburg.

After the Franco-Prussian War, Moltke superintended the preparation of its history, which was published between 1874 and 1881 by the great general staff.

In 1888 Moltke retired as Chief of the General Staff and was succeeded by Graf von Waldersee. His nephew, Helmuth Johann Ludwig von Moltke, was Chief from 1906-14.

Moltke officially retired from active service on August 9, 1888 and died in Berlin on April 24, 1891.

In 1889, Moltke made two audio recordings with Adelbert Theodor Wangemann, a German native who worked with Thomas Edison and had been sent to Europe with Edison's newly invented cylinder phonograph. Moltke recorded excerpts from Shakespeare and Goethe on two cylinders, recordings which were first lost until 1957 and were unidentified decades after. On January 30, 2012, they were part of a trove of recordings revealed by the Thomas Edison National Historical Park. The two cylinders made by Moltke are the only known voice recordings of anyone born in 1800, that is, in the 18th century.