Generalfeldmarschall Paul von Hindenburg

Paul Ludwig Hans Anton von Beneckendorff und von Hindenburg, a German Generalfeldmarschall (general field marshal) during WW I and the German president during the Weimar Republic, was born on October 2, 1847 in Posen, Prussia (present-day Poznan, Poland), into an aristocratic family tracing back to the era of the Teutonic Knights.

Hindenburg entered the Prussian cadet corps school at Wahlstatt in 1858 and transferred to Berlin 5 years later. At 18 he served as a page to the widow of King Frederick William IV of Prussia. During the Austro-Prussian War (1866) he fought as a lieutenant at the important Battle of Sadowa and was severely wounded during the battle at Königgrätz. When the Franco-Prussian War (1870–1871) broke out, he was battalion adjutant and later became regimental adjutant. Hindenburg was awarded the Iron Cross for bravery and represented his regiment at the signing of the Treaty of Versailles (1871).

In 1873, he entered the Kriegsakademie in Berlin and three years later; he was appointed to the Prussian general staff. In 1878, Hindenburg was promoted to captain and assigned to the staff of the Second Army Corps. He was transferred to the Great General Staff in 1885 and was promoted to major. He also taught tactics at the Kriegsakademie. In 1849, he moved to the War Ministry. Hindenburg became a lieutenant-colonel in 1891 and two years later was promoted to colonel commanding an infantry regiment. He became chief of staff of the Eighth Army Corps in 1896.

In 1897, he was given command of a division as major-general and 3 years later promoted to lieutenant general. In 1905, he became the commander of the Fourth Army Corps based in Magdeburg as a General of the Infantry. After 46 years in the army, Hindenburg retired at 64 in 1911 and went to Hanover.

When World War I broke out in 1914, Hindenburg was selected by the War Cabinet and the Oberste Heeresleitung (German high command) to command the Eighth Army in East Prussia, defending East Prussia against the invasion of two Russian armies.

Hindenburg teamed with Erich von Ludendorff, his chief of staff. The two were a remarkable military duo. Hindenburg was cautious and methodical, while Ludendorff was lightning-quick and sometimes rash. The two men masterminded brilliant victories over the Russians at Tannenberg and the Masurian Lakes.

By 1915, Hindenburg was a field marshal and commander-in-chief on the German eastern front. He won another impressive victory at Lodz, and in August 1916, he replaced Erich von Falkenhayn as chief of the Prussian general staff. Von Hindenburg and Ludendorff joined forces again. Kaiser Wilhelm II became something of a figurehead as the two military men masterminded Germany's moves from 1916 to 1918. While their military skills were brilliant, their political actions left a lot to be desired. Their controversial decision to use unrestricted submarine warfare, for example, caused the United States to join WW I and finally resulted in Germany’s downfall.

When the tide went against Germany in 1918, Ludendorff, exhausted and near a breakdown, resigned, leaving Hindenburg in authority. Hindenburg presided quietly over losing the war in 1919 and had to give his consent to the for Germany crippling Versailles Treaty of 1919 as the winning allied forces threatened to invade Germany if the Germans didn’t sign and the German army wasn’t prepared to continue the war.

Among the many provisions in the treaty, Germany had to assume full responsibility for causing all the loss and damage during the war. It was forced to disarm, make substantial territorial concessions and pay enormous reparations (132 billion Marks, about US$31.4 billion, which equals today US$442 billion). Some already back then warned that the conditions of the treaty, especially the reparations, were excessive and counter-productive. German conservatives, nationalists and ex-military leaders condemned the treaty and saw in it a humiliating insult. German supporters of the treaty, mainly socialists, communists, and Jews, were viewed with suspicion.

Hindenburg stayed out of this and retired for the second time to his estate, still valued by the German people. He published his memoirs “Mein Leben” (My life) which became a bestseller.

During the early years of the Weimar Republic, Germany went downhill. The post-war German economy lay in ashes, national resources were drained by reparation payments, inflation sped up, savings were wiped out, unemployment, poverty and discontent were on the rise. In these unsteady times Adolf Hitler, leader of the National Socialist German Workers' Party (NSDAP), tried to seize power in Munich during the Beer Hall Putsch for the first time, but the coup was bloodily suppressed.

In 1925, Hindenburg accepted an effort to draft his services and ran for president of the Weimar Republic. He was elected and served as a moderate and judicious, so weak and old-fashioned head of state from 1926 to 1934.

With the Dawes Plan, which re-regulated the German reparation payments and which provided a large capital influx to the German industry through international credits and bonds, Germany entered a period of economic recovery and consolidation, as well as increasing foreign recognition and appreciation. Politically, however, the Weimar Republic was an unstable system. Many political parties in parliament with extremely different positions resulted in no clear majorities to actually rule the country. Dissents, disputes, and coups were the order of the day. From the end of WW I in 1919 until Adolf Hitler took over in 1933, Germany had 14 Reichskanzler (chancellors). It seemed that the Germans weren’t ready for democracy.

The Wall Street Crash of 1929 had a tremendous impact on Germany’s economy, as especially US, but also other international investors withdrew the influx of money. The increasing shortage of funds resulted in a collapse of the domestic market in Germany, and German exports decreased dramatically because of protectionist measures against imports. The following austerity and deflation policy of the German government, initially with support of Hindenburg, further aggravated the situation. Mass unemployment, countless bankrupt companies, the collapse of the social security system, poverty, hunger and hopelessness among the German population were the result. Germans longed to return to the “good old” German Empire and for a powerful leader, which Hindenburg clearly wasn’t, taking them through these tumultuous times; a void that Adolf Hitler increasingly filled within his NSDAP party.

With political dissension and rivalry among German parties and on the verge of civil war, Hindenburg ran again for the presidency in the 1932 elections, as he was considered the only candidate who could stop Hitler. Although 84 years old and in poor health, he made it and won against Hitler, but, depending on the source and interpretation, he either saw no other way to calm down the situation in Germany, was literally forced or convinced that he and Hitler shared similar values, and so he made Hitler Germany’s new chancellor.

After Hitler’s seizure of power, he ran the nation during the last year of Hindenburg's life. He used Hindenburg's name and reputation to lend credence to the Nazi movement, acting as if the old Prussian values espoused by men such as Hindenburg stood behind the Nazi regime. In fact, they did not, but Hindenburg had nothing left in him to oppose and signed off various constitutional amendments such as the Reichstag Fire Decree, which suspended various civil liberties, and the Enabling Act of 1933, which gave Hitler's regime arbitrary powers.

Hindenburg died on August 2, 1934 at 86, after which Hitler declared himself Führer (supreme leader), which replaced the democratic positions of German president and chancellor.