Hindenburg, Paul Von
Hindenburg, Paul Von (1847–1934), German field marshal and president.Member of an aristocratic Prussian family, Hindenburg saw action as a junior officer in 1866 and 1870–71 and retired in 1922 as a corps commander. After the victory at Tannenberg in August 1914, Hindenburg became a national symbol. The mystique of the “wooden titan” increased during 1915 and 1916, less for his own achievements than through the continued discrediting of rival symbols: Chief of Staff Erich von Falkenhayn, Chancellor Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg, and not least Kaiser Wilhelm himself.
Appointed chief of the General Staff in August 1916, Hindenburg was over his head as the supreme commander of a total war effort in a state already stumbling from exhaustion. He lent his name and prestige to a series of fumbling, even disastrous, policies. He supported the increasingly unrealistic war aims of the militarists and nationalists. Yet, at the end, he...
[The entire page is 297 words long]
Join eNotes
Over 3,500 study guides, question and answer forums, literature criticism, reference content, and much more!
Oxford University Press Titles
