101499 | GERMANY. Generalstabschef Erich von Falkenhayn silver Medal.

101499 | GERMANY. Generalstabschef Erich von Falkenhayn silver Medal. Issued 1915. Commemorating the first year of the Great War (34mm, 16.06 g, 12h). By F. Eue & R. Ball in Berlin.

 

• GENERAL von • • FALKENHAYN •, uniformed facing bust / 1914 / 1915, eagle crouching left on rocky outcropping above the clouds. Edge: SILBER 008 (800 inverted).

 

Zetzmann 2144. Choice Mint State. Highly mirrored and prooflike, with a light tone scattered about.

 

A lifetime military man, von Falkenhayn spent most of his career serving the German Empire, with a brief stint under the Ottoman Empire at the end. He was in China at the turn of the century and saw action during the Boxer Rebellion in 1900. In the prelude to World War I, he became Prussian Minister of War just a few weeks before the pivotal assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie in Sarajevo. Though holding a high post early in the war, he was removed following the loss at the Battle of Verdun. Later, he fell further out of favor for the belief that Germany could not win the war with a decisive victory alone and that an end would ultimately come only through a peaceful compromise.

 

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