Paul von Hindenburg

Paul von Hindenburg was a German field marshal and statesman who served as the second President of Germany from 1925 until his death. Born in Posen to an aristocratic Prussian Junker family, he joined the Prussian Army as a young cadet, seeing combat in the Austro-Prussian War (1866) and the Franco-Prussian War (1870–1871), where he attended the proclamation of the German Empire at Versailles.

Tannenberg and the Third Supreme Command

Recalled from retirement in August 1914, Hindenburg was appointed commander of the Eighth Army defending East Prussia. Partnered with Chief of Staff Erich Ludendorff, he executed a brilliant encirclement at the Battle of Tannenberg, annihilating the Russian Second Army. The triumph catapulted Hindenburg to mythic status as the savior of the Fatherland. In August 1916, he was named Chief of the Imperial General Staff, establishing a virtual military dictatorship overseeing the German total war economy.

President of the Weimar Republic

Despite masterminding massive offensives on the Western Front, Germany was exhausted by Allied blockades and American troop arrivals, compelling Hindenburg to advise the Kaiser to seek an armistice in November 1918. Reentering public life in 1925, he was elected President of the Weimar Republic. Fragile health and deep economic turmoil eventually led him to appoint Adolf Hitler as Chancellor in January 1933, months before his death in 1934.