Erich Ludendorff

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Erich Friedrich Wilhelm Ludendorff (Kruszewnia, Prussia, April 9, 1865-Munich, December 20, 1937) was a German general during the First World War, winner of the Battle of Liège and the Battle of Tannenberg, both in 1914. From August 1916 he became, along with Field Marshal Paul von Hindenburg, leader of Germany's war effort during the conflict until his resignation in October 1918, just before the end of the war. hostilities.

After the Great War, Ludendorff became a prominent nationalist leader and promoter of the legend of the stab in the back, who wanted to explain the German defeat by the betrayal of Marxists, Bolsheviks and Jews, whom he also believed responsible for Germany's disadvantageous position in the negotiation of the Treaty of Versailles. He participated in the failed Kapp Putsch in 1920 and in Adolf Hitler's Munich Putsch in 1923. In 1925, Ludendorff was a candidate for president of Germany against his former superior Hindenburg, whom he accused of having taken credit for his actions. victories against the Russians, although in reality the German strategist in the Tannenberg victory was Max Hoffmann.

From 1924 to 1928 he represented the far-right German People's Freedom Party in the German parliament. After the war Ludendorff developed a purely military line of thought, total war, about which he published Der totale Krieg in 1935. In this book he argued that it was necessary to mobilize all the human and moral resources of a nation because in his opinion peace was only an interval between wars. For his military achievements, Ludendorff was awarded the most prestigious German decorations, the Grand Cross of the Iron Cross and the Pour le Mérite medal.

Early years

Ludendorff was born in Kruszewnia, Posen province, Prussia (now Poznań, Poland). Although he was not a Junker, Ludendorff was closely linked to the privileged class through his mother, Klara von Tempelhoff. He grew up on a small family farm and a maternal aunt taught him his first letters. He was accepted as a cadet at the Plön school thanks to his excellent level of mathematics and the extraordinary work ethic he had throughout his life. Many of the best German officers emerged from this military school.

Military career

Ludendorff (der.) and Paul von Hindenburg.

Appointed as an officer at the age of 18, his military career was excellent. He was part of the German General Staff since 1894, being mainly responsible for the deployment section since 1908, and took part in the preparation of the strategy to carry out the invasion of France, the so-called Schlieffen Plan. Already at this time he was a convinced militarist and liked to say that peace was nothing more than the interval of time that passed between two wars.

First World War

During World War I he was appointed Deputy Chief of Staff of the Second German Army under Karl von Bülow, responsible for the capture of the fortress of Liège, which was vital to the success of the Schlieffen Plan. After successfully accomplishing this mission, Ludendorff was sent to East Prussia where he worked with Paul von Hindenburg. Hindenburg relied heavily on Ludendorff and Hoffmann to achieve his victories at the Battle of Tannenberg (1914) and the Masurian Lakes.

In August 1916, when Erich von Falkenhayn resigned as Chief of the General Staff, Paul von Hindenburg took his place with Ludendorff as Deputy (Generalquartiermeister). The real power was exercised by Ludendorff, who decided to fight against British superiority at sea using submarines indiscriminately, which led to the entry of the United States into the war.

When Russia withdrew from the war in 1917, Ludendorff played an essential role in the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk of March 1918, which was very favorable to German interests. De facto highest authority on the Eastern Front during 1918, Ludendorff planned a series of offensives that were not able to collapse the Entente forces. The entry of the US into the war made the German position untenable and Ludendorff returned his powers to the Reichstag on September 29. Before going into exile in Sweden, he asked that peace be achieved as quickly as possible.

Postwar

Ludendorff (center) with Adolf Hitler and other Nazis in 1924.

In exile he wrote numerous articles in which he defended the conduct of the German Army during the war, asserting that it had been invincible on the battlefield and that the defeat was due to having been stabbed in the back by German politicians. left. Ludendorff returned to Germany in 1920 and later took part in the Munich Putsch of 1923 alongside Hitler. Hitler used Ludendorff to attract the Reichswehr to the National Socialist cause. In 1924 he was elected representative of the National Socialist Freedom Movement (NSFB), a coalition between the Deutschvölkische Freiheitspartei (DVFP, the party of which he was leader) and the Nazi Party, to the Reichstag, holding the seat until 1928. In 1925 he ran for the Presidency of the Weimar Republic for the DVFP, but in the second round he withdrew in favor of his former superior Paul von Hindenburg.

Before the Nazis came to power, the Weimar Republic planned to send him and other generals, such as von Mackensen, to reform the National Revolutionary Army of the Republic of China, but the idea was scrapped due to limitations. imposed by the Treaty of Versailles and the image problems of presenting prestigious German generals as mercenaries.

In 1927 he had a confrontation with Adolf Hitler, who accused him of being a Freemason. In 1928, Ludendorff retired. In later years he founded with his second wife, Mathilde, the 'Bund für Gotteserkenntnis'. (Society for the Knowledge of God), which is an obscure esoteric society that still exists today. On January 30, 1933, when Hitler was appointed Chancellor, he sent a letter to Hindenburg in which he said: "I solemnly warn you that this fanatic will lead our Fatherland to perdition and plunge the country into the most terrible the miseries. Future generations will curse you in his grave for what you have done. In 1935 he rejected Hitler's offer to become Field Marshal. He died in 1937 and received a state funeral which Hitler attended, against Ludendorff's own explicit wishes.

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