Son of a Prussian Army officer, he initially trained for law but opted for a tour with the 2nd Guard Uhlans Regiment in 1853. Served on Prince Albrecht's general staff during the Six-Weeks War (1866) and saw action at the Battle of Königgrätz. Schlieffen served on the staff of Friedrich II. of Mecklenburg-Schwerin's XIII. Army Corps during the Franco-Prussian War. Later he headed the military history section of the Great General Staff (1884). 

     Count von Schlieffen succeeded von Waldersee as Chief of General Staff from 1891 to 1906, during which time he was promoted to general of cavalry. His primary achievement was to devise a plan dealing with a two-front war:  France to the west and Russia to the east. His famous Schlieffen Plan initially concentrated seven-eighths of the army against France for a swift encirclement of Paris, followed by a transfer of forces eastward to deal with the slowly deployed Russian armies. Von Schlieffen became cold, distant and sarcastic following his wife's death in 1872. He was a brilliant scientific strategist who paid little attention to moral considerations of war.