Wilhelm Keitel, (Helmscherode, 1882 – Nuremberg, 1946), was a field marshal and head of the High Command of the German Armed Forces during World War II. As one of Adolf Hitler's closest and most loyal lieutenants, he helped plan and direct most of the Wehrmacht's military campaigns throughout the conflict.

In World War I he served as a staff officer and with the Weimar Republic he held various administrative positions. In 1935 he became chief of staff of the Wehrmachtamt (Office of the Armed Forces), dependent on the Ministry of War, and in 1938 he became head of the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (High Command of the Armed Forces) that Hitler had created as the center coordination of the German military effort until the end of the war in 1945. After the Nuremberg Trials, he was sentenced to death by hanging.