Brief biography of Paul Hindenburg. Biography of the Reich President of the Weimar Republic

15.12.2023

A typical representative of the Prussian Junkers, who, due to family tradition, linked his fate with the royal army. Paul von Hindenburg (more precisely, Paul Ludwig Hans Anton von Beneckendorf und von Hindenburg) received his initial military education in the cadet corps. As an 18-year-old lieutenant, he enlisted in the 3rd Guards Infantry Regiment, in whose ranks he took part in two victorious wars for Berlin: the Austro-Prussian 1866 and the Franco-Prussian 1870–1871.

Hindenburg then studied at the Military Academy and served in the General Staff of the Army Corps, as the 1st officer (chief of the operational department) of the division headquarters, and as a company commander of an infantry regiment. From 1885 - at the Great General Staff, three years later - at the headquarters of the army corps and then at the War Ministry as the head of the infantry department of the General Department. In all these positions, the Prussian officer, a participant in two wars, received good characteristics.

From 1893 to 1911, von Hindenburg successively held the positions of commander of an infantry regiment, chief of staff of an army corps, chief of a division and commander of the 4th Army Corps. With the rank of general of infantry (full general), Paul von Hindenburg retired after 45 years of service in officer and general positions.

The service record of General Paul von Hindenburg testifies to his successful military career and the extensive professional experience that he acquired by the beginning of the First World War. He knew infantry tactics, staff service, and, above all, operational work well. At the beginning of the First World War, in September 1914, Infantry General Hindenburg was appointed commander of the 8th German Army operating in East Prussia. Having under his command only about 240 thousand people against 540 thousand of the enemy, he managed to oust Russian troops from East Prussia, and the 2nd Russian Army of General A.V. Samsonova was defeated in the battle of Tannenberg. The victory was achieved thanks to the successful maneuvering of army troops along a dense network of railways and the inconsistency of the Russian command in actions. After, due to the mistakes of General H. von Moltke, the initial plan to defeat France in one military campaign failed, Hindenburg proposed to the German High Command to direct the main blow against Russia. The commander of the German 8th Army based his proposal on the experience of battles with Russian armies in East Prussia, which was his undoubted mistake.

In his memoirs, he wrote that the conquest of the world can only be approached through the defeated Russian land, and not through a decisive battle in the west. In his opinion, in the winter of 1914–1915, the Russians could arrange a number of French “Sedans”, for which the command of the Russian army provided the enemy in the person of Germany with the most “favorable preliminary conditions”.

However, such a “victorious” plan for waging war in Berlin was not adopted, since the then Chief of the Field General Staff, General E. von Falkenhayn, did not agree with it. In his high post, he knew better the actual state of affairs on the Eastern, Russian front and, in addition, the state of Germany and its potential capabilities in waging an armed struggle against the Entente on two fronts. In September 1914, General of the Infantry von Hindenburg was appointed commander of the 9th German Army with the simultaneous subordination of the 8th Army, and in October of the same year - commander-in-chief of Germany in the East (Eastern Front). By that time, Russian troops (about 20 corps) had moved into the bend of the Vistula River approximately between the cities of Wroclaw and Krakow and approached the borders of Silesia with the clear intention of advancing even further. In such a difficult situation for the German command, Hindenburg decided to take a risky step, which fully justified itself. He left only a “thin curtain” against the Russian corps in central Poland for strategic camouflage, and quickly transferred his main forces by rail to the south to the area of the Polish city of Krakow. The Austro-Hungarian allies also transferred part of their ground forces there. Thus, a powerful strike force was created for an offensive in the direction of the Polish city of Lodz, which had a huge superiority over the opposing Russian troops in artillery, especially heavy artillery.

The Lodz operation ended in victory for the Germans, and the offensive of the Russian armies in the Berlin direction was suspended. Soon, by decision of the Commander-in-Chief of Russia, Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich Jr., they went on the defensive. This was a strategic success for the Germans on the Eastern Front and a major miscalculation of the Russian Supreme Command. Germany was saved from the invasion of its territory by the enemy from the East.

Then the commander-in-chief of the Eastern Front, von Hindenburg, having received reinforcements from 4 army corps in February 1915, defeated the 10th Russian Army of General F.V. Sivers, surrounding and capturing part of it in the Augustov forests. However, the German commander was unable to develop this success by reaching the rear of the Russian troops due to a lack of forces and means and increased enemy resistance. The Russian front stabilized again, and a protracted positional struggle began.

After the Russian South-Eastern Front inflicted a complete defeat on the military forces of Austria-Hungary and its troops reached the crest of the Carpathian Mountains, the German high command turned its gaze from the West to the East. In the event of a further advance of the Russian armies through the Carpathian passes, they would have direct access to the Hungarian plain and the path to Budapest and Vienna. To save its ally in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Berlin hastily formed a strong army under General A. von Mackensen.

Paul von Hindenburg developed a plan to break through the Russian front near the Polish city of Gorlice in the Northern Carpathian region. Here, a powerful strike force of selected troops was created in advance. The peculiarity of this operation was that the Germans achieved complete superiority in heavy artillery at Gorlitsa, which was able to almost completely destroy the Russian defensive structures in the breakthrough area.

During the bloody Battle of Gorlice, the German and Austro-Hungarian armies managed to push through the enemy front on the Gorlice-Tarnoe line. The fighting withdrawal of Russian troops from the city of Gorlitsa and the Northern Carpathian region entailed the retreat of the entire Russian Front. Soon Russian troops were driven out of Galicia through battles; their position was greatly complicated by a shortage of shells and difficulties in transporting reserves.

The successful Gorlitsky operation and the subsequent retreat of the Russian armies from Galicia became the undoubted military success of Field Marshal Hindenburg. The map of the Eastern Front changed in favor of the armed forces of Germany and Austria-Hungary. The German command failed to develop the offensive further, and the Eastern Front stabilized on the line Chernivtsi - Pinsk - Dvinsk - Riga. In the East, as in the West, a protracted positional war began. The length of the front was 1300 kilometers. Enemy troops began to build continuous defensive lines of trenches and battery positions, protected by many rows of barbed wire and minefields. While intensively building their defenses, the opponents were simultaneously preparing for subsequent offensive actions.

As Commander-in-Chief of the Eastern Front, Field Marshal Hindenburg also became famous for the fact that at the beginning of 1916 he managed to disrupt the offensive of the Russian 10th Army at Lake Naroch. Here he counterattacked with large forces against the advancing Russians, who managed to break through two lines of German defense, taking advantage of the fact that German artillery had begun to relocate. At the end of August 1916, Berlin removed E. von Falkenhayn from the post of Chief of the Field General Staff and appointed Field Marshal Paul von Hindenburg to this post. General Ludendorff, with whom Hindenburg commanded the troops in the East, is appointed 1st Quartermaster General.

The new High Command of the German Armed Forces inherited a difficult legacy from its predecessors. The resources of the Central Bloc powers, both human and material, were at their limit. True, German troops occupied vast territories of their opponents in the West and East, in the Balkans, when they managed to capture only low-value German colonies and a few villages in Alsace.

However, Berlin could no longer count on a victorious and quick end to the war - it was becoming protracted, and Germany had little chance of winning it from its Entente allies. In such a difficult situation for Germany, much depended on its high military command, on the skillful leadership of the armed forces and the distribution of reserves.

The German offensive “strategy of destruction” of the enemy was no longer effective - both the Anglo-French armies and the Russians occupied well-fortified lines of positional defense. It was possible to break through them only at the cost of huge losses. Hindenburg and Ludendorff decided to reduce German losses by temporarily moving to the defensive on the Western Front.

The Chief of the Field General Staff was looking for new ways to achieve German military superiority. A plan was born to wage a merciless submarine war at sea while maintaining a lull on the land front. And although such a war in the Atlantic caused enormous damage to the British economy and significantly undermined the size of its merchant and military fleets, the “wolf packs” of German submarines in the vast Atlantic Ocean simply could not decide the outcome of the First World War.

Hindenburg believed that there should be no peace agreement with the Entente, and that one should only wait for an opportune moment for a successful breakthrough of the enemy’s positional defense either in the West or in the East. And he waited for this moment - after the conclusion of the Brest-Litovsk separate peace treaty with Soviet Russia, which was thereby withdrawing from the war, a huge number of German troops were released, which could be quickly transferred by rail to the Western Front.

In the spring of 1918, under the leadership of Field Marshal Hindenburg, military intervention against Soviet Russia began. German and Austro-Hungarian troops, without meeting adequate resistance from scattered Soviet troops, captured in a short time a significant territory of the former Russian Empire - Ukraine, Belarus, the Baltic states, and reached the Don and Pskov.

Before the start of the First World War, the German high command did not even plan such a military success. After this, German troops began to plunder the captured Russian territory and export valuables to their country. The massive export of food supplies helped Germany and its allies avoid famine. The Chief of the German Field General Staff led the development of this operation, which was far from military in nature.

Then Germany went all in on the Western Front, launching an offensive there. But this time too, the attacking German armies encountered deeply layered defenses of French and British troops, to whose aid the American Expeditionary Army arrived. The Allies had strong artillery, which did not need shells. The Germans initially had a tactical success, which they were unable to develop due to heavy losses.

However, here we must pay tribute to Field Marshal Hindenburg - in that last German offensive on the Western Front there was a moment when the Allied front was ready to break through and in this case a direct path to the French capital Paris and the seaside city of Calais opened. But the high military command of the French and British armies, represented by Marshal Foch, rose to the occasion and was able to fend off the enemy’s attack. After this, the Entente troops launched a counteroffensive and restored the situation on the Western Front.

The First World War ended with the complete defeat of the Central Bloc countries. The Versailles Peace Treaty was concluded on unheard of difficult conditions for Germany. She lost all her colonial possessions and suffered great territorial and material losses in Europe. The Entente countries sharply reduced its army and navy to a level that was safe for them. Moral defeat for the Germans meant no less than military defeat.

In pursuance of the terms of the Versailles Peace Treaty, Field Marshal Paul von Hindenburg had to lead the evacuation of the already decaying German army to his territory, reducing its numbers and weapons. After this, he briefly served as commander-in-chief on the Eastern Frontier.

Germany's defeat in World War I also affected its internal affairs. In November 1918, a revolution broke out in the country. Field Marshal von Hindenburg became one of the organizers of the armed suppression of revolutionary uprisings in the German cities of Kiel, Berlin, and Bavaria. Largely thanks to Hindenburg, the backbone of the German army, especially its cadre of officers, was preserved for the future revival of the military power of the defeated power.

In June 1919, Hindenburg retired and settled in the city of Hanover. German propaganda created an aura around him as an outstanding commander of the First World War. The military and industrial circles of the country, not without reason, pinned great hopes on Hindenburg for the revival of Germany as a world power.

In 1925 and 1932, the retired field marshal general was elected from the bloc of right-wing parties as president of the Weimar Republic. As head of state, Hindenburg contributed in every possible way to the revival of Germany's military-economic potential, the growth of its armed forces, and the strengthening of the revanchist spirit among the country's population. He strove to throw off the “shackles” of the Treaty of Versailles, which was shameful for the German nation, as quickly as possible. He was the honorary chairman of the militaristic union “Steel Helmet” and supported other paramilitary organizations.

In his memoirs, From My Life, translated into many languages, Hindenburg showed his role during the First World War on both the Eastern and Western fronts, in its largest operations. The book was a great success among the military.

As the German president, Paul von Hindenburg also went down in history by the fact that in January 1933 he instructed the leader of German fascism, Adolf Hitler, to form a government. This is how the Nazis officially came to power in Germany, which just six years later unleashed World War II. Preparations for it began during Hindenburg's presidency.

HINDENBURG PAUL VON

German military and statesman. Field Marshal General.

A typical representative of the Prussian Junkers, who, due to family tradition, linked his fate with the royal army. Paul von Hindenburg (more precisely, Paul Ludwig Hans Anton von Beneckendorf und von Hindenburg) received his initial military education in the cadet corps. As an 18-year-old lieutenant, he enlisted in the 3rd Guards Infantry Regiment, in whose ranks he took part in two victorious wars for Berlin: the Austro-Prussian 1866 and the Franco-Prussian 1870-1871.

At the beginning of the First World War, in September 1914, Infantry General Hindenburg was appointed commander of the 8th German Army operating in East Prussia. Having under his command only about 240 thousand people against 540 thousand of the enemy, he managed to oust Russian troops from East Prussia, and the 2nd Russian Army of General A.V. Samsonova was defeated in the battle of Tannenberg. The victory was achieved thanks to the successful maneuvering of army troops along a dense network of railways and the inconsistency of the Russian command in actions. After, due to the mistakes of General H. von Moltke, the initial plan to defeat France in one military campaign failed, Hindenburg proposed to the German High Command to direct the main blow against Russia. The commander of the German 8th Army based his proposal on the experience of battles with Russian armies in East Prussia, which was his undoubted mistake.

In his memoirs, he wrote that the conquest of the world can only be approached through the defeated Russian land, and not through a decisive battle in the west. In his opinion, in the winter of 1914-1915, the Russians could arrange a number of French “Sedans”, for which the command of the Russian army provided the enemy in the person of Germany with the most “favorable preliminary conditions”.

In September 1914, General of the Infantry von Hindenburg was appointed commander of the 9th German Army with the simultaneous subordination of the 8th Army, and in October of the same year - commander-in-chief of Germany in the East (Eastern Front). By that time, Russian troops (about 20 corps) had moved into the bend of the Vistula River approximately between the cities of Wroclaw and Krakow and approached the borders of Silesia with the clear intention of advancing even further. In such a difficult situation for the German command, Hindenburg decided to take a risky step, which fully justified itself. He left only a “thin curtain” against the Russian corps in central Poland for strategic camouflage, and quickly transferred his main forces by rail to the south to the area of the Polish city of Krakow. The Austro-Hungarian allies also transferred part of their ground forces there. Thus, a powerful strike force was created to attack in the direction of the Polish city of Lodz, which had a huge superiority over the opposing Russian troops in artillery, especially heavy artillery.

Then the commander-in-chief of the Eastern Front, von Hindenburg, having received reinforcements from 4 army corps in February 1915, defeated the 10th Russian Army of General F.V. Sievers, surrounding and capturing part of it in the August forests. However, the German commander was unable to develop this success by reaching the rear of the Russian troops due to a lack of forces and means and increased enemy resistance. The Russian front stabilized again, and a protracted positional struggle began.

The German command failed to develop the offensive further, and the Eastern Front stabilized on the line Chernivtsi - Pinsk - Dvinsk - Riga. In the East, as in the West, a protracted positional war began. The length of the front was 1300 kilometers. Enemy troops began to build continuous defensive lines of trenches and battery positions, protected by many rows of barbed wire and minefields. While intensively building their defenses, the opponents were simultaneously preparing for subsequent offensive actions.

At the end of August 1916, Berlin removed E. von Falkenhayn from the post of Chief of the Field General Staff and appointed Field Marshal Paul von Hindenburg to this post. General Ludendorff, with whom Hindenburg commanded the troops in the East, is appointed 1st Quartermaster General.

The Chief of the Field General Staff was looking for new ways to achieve German military superiority. A plan was born to wage a merciless submarine war at sea while maintaining a lull on the land front. And although such a war in the Atlantic caused enormous harm to the British economy and significantly undermined the size of its merchant and military fleets, the “wolf packs” of German submarines in the vast Atlantic Ocean simply could not decide the outcome of the First World War.

The First World War ended with the complete defeat of the Central Bloc countries. The Treaty of Versailles was concluded on unheard of difficult conditions for Germany. She lost all her colonial possessions and suffered great territorial and material losses in Europe. The Entente countries sharply reduced its army and navy to a level that was safe for them. Moral defeat for the Germans meant no less than military defeat.

Germany's defeat in World War I also affected its internal affairs. In November 1918, a revolution broke out in the country. Field Marshal von Hindenburg became one of the organizers of the armed suppression of revolutionary uprisings in the German cities of Kiel, Berlin, and Bavaria. Largely thanks to Hindenburg, the backbone of the German army, primarily its cadre of officers, was preserved for the future revival of the military power of the defeated power.

In 1925 and 1932, the retired field marshal general was elected from the bloc of right-wing parties as president of the Weimar Republic.

As head of state, Hindenburg contributed in every possible way to the revival of Germany's military-economic potential, the growth of its armed forces, and the strengthening of the revanchist spirit among the country's population. He strove to throw off the “shackles” of the Treaty of Versailles, which was shameful for the German nation, as quickly as possible. He was the honorary chairman of the militaristic Steel Helmet union and supported other paramilitary organizations.

In his memoirs "From My Life", translated into many languages, Hindenburg showed his role during the First World War on both the Eastern and Western fronts, in its largest operations. The book was a great success among the military.

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HINDENBURG (Hindenburg) Paul von (1847 1934), President of Germany from 1925, Field Marshal General (1914). During World War I, from November 1914, he commanded the troops of the Eastern Front; from August 1916, he was the Chief of the General Staff, and in fact the Commander-in-Chief. thirty… … encyclopedic Dictionary

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the site publishes a short biography and photographs of Paul von Hindenburg, a German military and political figure.

Paul von Hindenburg was born into the family of a Prussian officer in Poznan. Graduated from the cadet corps. Participant in the Austro-Prussian War of 1866 and the Franco-Prussian War of 1870−71. During World War I, from the end of August 1914, Hindenburg commanded the 8th German Army in East Prussia, and from November - the troops of the entire Eastern Front.

In young age

Postcard

From August 1916, he became the Chief of the General Staff, in fact the Commander-in-Chief, receiving the status of a national hero and the nickname “Iron Hindenburg.” After the death of the first president of the Weimar Republic, Friedrich Ebert, on February 28, 1925, Hindenburg, with the support of a bloc of right-wing parties, agreed to run for the presidency. On April 26, 1925, having received 14.6 million votes, Hindenburg was elected president.

Hindenburg with his wife, 1917

Postdam Day

Officially declaring that he intended to strictly adhere to the Weimar Constitution and the terms of the Versailles Treaty of 1919, he nevertheless began to support military-monarchist and Nazi organizations. Hindenburg was the honorary chairman of the military organization "Steel Helmet". Hindenburg's policy contributed to the revival of German military potential and the restoration of German military power.

Field Marshal Paul von Hindenburg (future president of the country), Kaiser Wilhelm II (expelled from Germany by the revolution) and General Erich Ludendorff (Hitler's comrade-in-arms in the Beer Hall Putsch)

On April 10, 1932, with the help of right-wing Social Democratic leaders, he was re-elected president, receiving 53% of the votes (19,359,650; Hitler - 13,418,011; Thälmann - 3,706,655 votes). On May 30, 1932, Hindenburg removed Chancellor Heinrich Brüning from power and replaced him with Franz von Papen, who represented the interests of the Reichswehr and heavy industry magnates. After the National Socialist Workers' Party of Germany received widespread support in the Reichstag elections in July and November 1932 and became the strongest party in the country, Hindenburg was faced with the question of appointing a coalition government that would include Hitler and the Nazis. On January 30, 1933, Hindenburg transferred power to the Nazis, instructing Hitler to form a government. From this point on, Hindenburg's political activity and influence began to decline.

Paul von Hindenberg and Adolf Hitler

Cartoon “German Field Marshal Paul von Hindenburg pushes millions of soldiers to their death”«

Field Marshal Paul von Hindenburg (left) and General Erich Ludendorff (right)

After the bloody events of the “Night of the Long Knives,” Hindenburg signed a congratulatory telegram to Hitler, prepared by the Fuhrer himself: “Based on the reports just received, I am convinced that thanks to your determination and your personal courage you managed to nip the machinations of the traitors in the bud. I express to you with this telegram my deep gratitude and sincere gratitude. Please accept the assurances of my best feelings.” Von Hindenburg died on August 2, 1934 at his family estate Neudecke. On August 12, i.e. a week and a half after the death of the marshal, his will was published. No one had any doubt that the document was falsified; several phrases indicated that they were clearly written under the dictation of Hitler, since they exactly coincided with the views of the Fuhrer.

Front row: Adolf Hitler, Paul von Hindenburg, Hermann Goering, Franz von Papen

August von Mackensen and Paul von Hindenburg

The will ended with the following words: “My Chancellor Adolf Hitler and his movement enabled the German people to take a historic decisive step towards internal unity, rising above all class divisions and differences in social conditions. I leave my German people with the firm hope that my aspirations, which were formed in 1919 and gradually matured until January 30, 1933, will develop to the full and final realization of the historical mission of our people. Firmly believing in the future of our homeland, I can calmly close my eyes.”

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Start here
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I turn once again to this rather interesting person. The President of Prussian Germany, Paul Hindenburg, was not only a relative of the Beneckendorff clan, who settled in the Caucasus, but also a commander in the Battle of Tannenberg. The battle in this place played a special role for both sides.

Hindenburg received the castle as a gift after his victory in 1914 over the Russian Army.
In addition, on his father’s side he was a descendant of the illegitimate daughter of Henry IV, Count of Waldeck.

...

It often happens in life that a single, but major and unforgivable mistake cancels out all a person’s previous merits and achievements. But it doesn’t happen very often that a person makes the main mistake of his life at a very old age, literally standing on the edge of the grave. This is exactly what happened to Field Marshal Paul von Hindenburg (1847-1934), the second and last president of the Weimar Republic.

The act with which the elderly president forever inscribed his name in history - the appointment of Adolf Hitler as Chancellor of Germany - was committed by Hindenburg when he was 85. A year and a half later, on August 2, 1934, the field marshal passed away, and he already had all the tragic consequences of the main mistake of his life. I didn't see it. However, the life path of Paul von Hindenburg suggests that perhaps his catastrophic blunder was not at all accidental.

Late takeoff

The future field marshal came from the noble Prussian family of von Benckendorff and Hindenburg and adopted many of the traits characteristic of the Prussian landowner stratum - the Junkers: class arrogance, conservative beliefs and militarism. Military service was a natural choice for the scion of the Prussian aristocracy. Young Hindenburg fought as part of the victorious Prussian troops against Austria (1866) and France (1870).
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Hindenburg's military career was successful, but not very bright. He commanded a regiment, then a division, then a corps, and by the age of 60 had risen to the rank of colonel general. Hindenburg was a serviceable servant, but was not distinguished by any special talents. He was moderately pious, adhered to strong conservative-monarchist convictions in politics, loved hunting, and was a good family man. His wife was Gertrud von Sperling, who also belonged to a noble family, they had three children - two daughters and a son, Oscar, his father’s favorite, who was later to play a prominent political role. But in 1910, when Paul von Hindenburg retired, no one could have imagined that the main events in the life of this already middle-aged man were ahead. He had a good reputation in German military circles, but if Hindenburg had died before the outbreak of the First World War, today his name would only appear in very detailed military encyclopedias.

However, in August 1914, war broke out, and Hindenburg’s comfortable life on the family estate was interrupted: he was appointed to command the 8th Army, which was being squeezed Russian troops* who invaded East Prussia. The Russian offensive* took the former commander, General von Prittwitz, by surprise, and the General Staff decided that Hindenburg, with his phlegmatic character, would be the best replacement for the panicked general. The chief of staff of the new commander was a man whose fate was connected with Hindenburg for all four years of the war - Erich von Ludendorff. This general, who had a repulsive appearance and an even more disgusting character, was an outstanding military talent, perhaps the best staff officer in Europe at that time. He became the brain of the 8th Army, while Hindenburg became its symbol. Things quickly improved for the tandem: in August-September 1914, in the battles of Tannenberg and the Masurian Lakes, the Germans inflicted devastating defeats on two Russian armies and drove them out of East Prussia. Military historians recognize Ludendorff's decisive contribution to the organization of these resounding victories. A national hero, however, was Hindenburg, who received the rank of field marshal and was soon appointed commander-in-chief of all German troops on the Eastern Front.
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*By “Russians” we must understand the Army of Angels Carus. We are talking about the last battles for a single civilization, about the capitulation of Prussia, which replaced the civilization of the Army of Angels in the mid-19th century and proclaimed itself a monarchy for the whole world. Later they will also call themselves ENGLAND - a parody of the Army of Angels, who will be turned into biblical archangels, seraphim, angels and other crap.
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"Silent Dictatorship"

The war dragged on. The Germans and their allies were doing better in the east than in the west, and Hindenburg's reputation grew as a result. However, most military historians do not consider the field marshal a gifted commander. He undoubtedly knew how to give orders, monitor their implementation, reward the best and punish the careless. Hindenburg also had a “sniff” for good assistants - having appreciated Ludendorff’s abilities in the 8th Army, he took him with him as a deputy to all subsequent positions. The field marshal was an ideal symbolic figure - his bearing, menacing appearance and ability to remain significantly silent gave him weight. But wasn’t there a completely ordinary and even weak nature hidden behind this shell?

In 1916, hardly anyone in Germany asked such a question. Hindenburg's fame grew as German troops advanced deeper into Russia and Romania, and the appointment of the field marshal as chief of the general staff was greeted with great enthusiasm by the public. In fact, Hindenburg became the commander-in-chief of all the armies of the German Empire - Kaiser Wilhelm II, who formally held this position, turned out to be unsuitable for it. The real leader of German military policy was Ludendorff, for whom the title of “first Quartermaster General” was invented. Together with Hindenburg, they not only completely pushed the Kaiser into the background, but also began to openly interfere in the foreign and domestic policies of the country. A de facto military dictatorship was established in Germany, nicknamed “silent” - not so much because of Hindenburg’s taciturnity, but because few German politicians then dared to openly state how things were in the country.
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Hindenburg und Adenauer
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Ludendorff, with the tacit consent of Hindenburg, made a number of major military and political miscalculations. Thus, in 1917, he insisted on starting an all-out submarine war in the Atlantic, which led to the entry of the United States into the war. The scales on the Western Front began to tip in favor of the Entente, although in the east Germany and its allies, thanks to the revolution in Russia, achieved victory, secured by the “obscene” Treaty of Brest-Litovsk and the similar Bucharest Agreement with Romania. But the fate of the war was decided in the West. In the summer of 1918, Germany threw almost all its reserves into the final offensive. In Paris, the cannonade of German cannons was already heard, but in the end the “Ludendorff attack” foundered.

In August, the pendulum swung in the other direction: the Allies broke through the German front in several places. In Germany itself, hunger and discontent reigned. Ludendorff, who was the first to realize that the war was lost, had a nervous breakdown, but there was nowhere to go - he had to report to Hindenburg, the Kaiser and the government about the need to ask the enemy for a truce. Later, both the field marshal and his former deputy would in every possible way deny blame for the defeat, blaming it on civilian politicians and subversive elements who started the revolution in Germany. The “silent dictatorship” came to an end, and with it the Hohenzollern monarchy fell.

Reluctant Republican

The abdication of Wilhelm II was almost a greater blow for Hindenburg than defeat in the war. At the same time, the field marshal’s monarchism was not without contradictions. He respected William as the bearer of monarchical power, but could not help but see the obvious shortcomings of this monarch - moreover, the field marshal himself de facto contributed to the weakening of his power. In November 1918, Hindenburg, as always, with significant silence supported his new deputy, General Groener (Ludendorff, who had now become an object of universal hatred, was sent out of harm's way), who was trying to persuade the Kaiser to abdicate. Later, the field marshal was tormented by remorse about this.

During the turbulent early months of the republican regime, Hindenburg was the supreme commander of the German army, which was subject to demobilization. The field marshal accepted the Treaty of Versailles with indignation, but again did not express it openly. He very evasively answered the direct question of the Republican government: will the remnants of the German army resist the inevitable invasion of the Entente if it, the government, refuses to sign the most difficult peace conditions? The civilians he despised had to sort out the mess, in the preparation of which the field marshal actively participated.

By and large, Hindenburg really did not like responsibility and in critical situations avoided certain decisions until the last. This trait was noticed by General Groener, who wrote about the field marshal: “He rarely actively participated in decision-making. He was informed about everything - and he waited to see how events would develop.” It is not surprising that after Germany, with gnashing of teeth, accepted the terms of the Versailles Peace, 73-year-old Hindenburg, not without pleasure, again retired to his estate, where he began writing memoirs.

But this resignation was not final. In 1925, the first president of the Weimar Republic, Social Democrat Friedrich Ebert, died. There were no clear favorites in the presidential race that had just begun. It was expected that the single candidate of the Social Democrats and centrists, Wilhelm Marx, would win the second round. For German conservatives it was already too much - to have a second Reich President in a row nominated by the left, and even with the name Marx! An entire delegation of military men and aristocrats was sent to the provincial wilderness to persuade Hindenburg to persuade the generally apolitical field marshal to run for the presidency. Persuaded. (What is typical is that in January 1933 he was also persuaded to appoint Hitler as chancellor; this national hero, this iron field marshal was somehow surprisingly pliable in decisive moments.) Hindenburg won over to his side the votes of some centrists and even leftists from among the First World War veterans and on May 12, 1925, he became president of the republic, which he did not respect and, in his heart of hearts, considered a purely temporary phenomenon.
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Nevertheless, as Reich President, Hindenburg for a long time seemed an ideal figure. Until the early 30s, he did not actively interfere in politics, but with his authority he supported the stability of the republic in its few prosperous years (1925-1931). The field marshal remained a convinced monarchist, but - again this dislike for decisive action - he did not try to overthrow the republic. However, a clique of young (compared to the elderly president) officers, diplomats and aristocrats gradually formed around him, dreaming of the fall of the unstable Weimar democracy and its replacement by a more authoritarian and conservative regime. One of the key figures in this “camarilla,” as the newspapers called it, was the president’s son, the narrow-minded but ambitious Major Oscar von Hindenburg.

“Bohemian Corporal” and the collapse of political technologies

Since 1930, after the collapse of the coalition of Social Democrats and Centrists, Germany has been governed by "presidential governments". The Camarilla took advantage of a number of articles of the Constitution that allowed the president to dissolve the Reichstag and rule by decree for a certain time, keeping the government he liked in power, even if it did not rely on a parliamentary majority. If the economic situation in the country had been stable, the gradual drift planned by the “camarilla” towards a conservative dictatorship (or even the restoration of the monarchy) might have been successful. But the Great Depression plunged Germany into poverty and indeed widespread depression, to which for many Germans was added the lingering sense of national humiliation generated by Versailles.

Under these conditions, each dissolution of the Reichstag, which meant “another snap” election, played into the hands of two radical parties - the Nazis and the Communists. If the near-presidential “camarilla” could not have anything in common with the latter, then Hitler and his NSDAP had to be reckoned with - in the summer of 1932 it became the largest parliamentary party in Germany. Hindenburg, however, treated the Nazi leader with open contempt, called him a “Bohemian corporal” (confusing Hitler’s homeland - the Austrian Braunau am Inn with a Czech town with a similar name) and swore that he would not give him a position more significant than the Minister of Posts . Neither the president's son Oscar, nor the president's two closest advisers - diplomat Franz von Papen and General Kurt von Schleicher - trusted Hitler. But they all underestimated him.

In addition, there was no unity within the “camarilla” itself. Papen and Schleicher desperately intrigued against each other, both managed to serve briefly as chancellors in 1932, but after new parliamentary elections it became clear that it was no longer possible to continue to rule a country mired in crisis without relying on a parliamentary majority. This meant one thing: we needed to come to an agreement with the Nazis. The result of the combination, the soul of which was the cunning Papen, was the appointment of Hitler as Reich Chancellor on January 30, 1933, and Papen himself as his deputy. In the cabinet, besides Hitler himself, there were only two Nazis - Wilhelm Frick as Minister of the Interior and Hermann Goering as Minister without Portfolio (he, however, soon took the key post of Prime Minister of Prussia). Papen and the younger Hindenburg were firmly convinced that the Nazis had become hostages and puppets of their conservative coalition partners. What the 85-year-old Reich President thought at that moment is not known exactly. Perhaps he just wanted to be left alone: the “camarilla” was very actively working on the field marshal, achieving the decisions it needed.

What happens next is well known. Hitler's populist drive and messianic obsession turned out to be stronger than the political technologies of the "camarilla". Within a few months, the Nazis, alternating provocations with intimidation and propaganda, crushed Germany under their control. Not only Hindenburg's entourage suffered defeat, but also parliamentary politicians, whose disbelief in the flabby Weimar democracy and unwillingness to defend it led to a powerless capitulation to the browns. Meanwhile, the Reich President was gradually sinking into the swamp of senile insanity. Only a couple of times did he resist the dictatorship of the Nazis. Thus, the field marshal defended the rights of those German Jews who fought on the fronts of the First World War: at the insistence of Hindenburg, they should not have been subject to Hitler’s law on the dismissal of Jews from public service. From the second half of 1933, the Reich President almost stopped appearing in public. He still managed to find out - but it is not known whether he understood what was happening - about the “night of the long knives” in June 1934, when Hitler dealt with a large group of his potential opponents (General Schleicher and his wife were among those killed).
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The day before his death, Hitler came to the dying field marshal. Not liking Hindenburg, whom he called a “reactionary,” the Fuhrer always respected him in public. But the old man no longer understood who was in front of him: it seemed to him that Kaiser Wilhelm II himself had visited him, and he addressed Hitler only as “Your Majesty.” In a sense, Hindenburg turned out to be right: after his death, the Nazi leader combined the posts of Reich President and Reich Chancellor and took them himself, concentrating in his hands a power that would be the envy of any emperor. The field marshal was buried with all due honors not far from Tannenberg, the site of his main victory. (In 1945, when Soviet troops entered East Prussia, Hindenburg’s remains were transported to Marburg in western Germany.) A granite monument was erected in his honor. But the description given to the field marshal by one of his biographers, who called him a “wooden titan”, seems much more accurate.