Hindenburg, Paul Ludwig Hans Anton von Beneckendorff und von 1847-1934
German soldier and statesman

Born in Posen of a Prussian Junker family, he was educated at the cadet schools at Wahlstatt and Berlin, fought at the battle of K�niggr�tz (1866), and in the Franco-Prussian War (1870-71) rose to the rank of general (1903), retiring in 1911. Recalled at the outbreak of World War I, he and General Ludendorff won decisive victories over the Russians at Tannenberg (1914) and at the Masurian Lakes (1915). His successes against the Russians were not, however, repeated on the Western Front, and in the summer of 1918 he was obliged to supervise the retreat of the German armies (to the 'Hindenburg line'). A national hero and father figure, he was the second President of the German Republic (1925-34). He did not oppose Gustav Stresemann's enlightened foreign policy, but neither did he oppose the rise of Hitler, whom he defeated in the presidential election (1932) and who became Chancellor in 1933. But such was his influence that Hitler was unable to overthrow constitutional government until his death.

Bibliography: John W Wheeler-Bennett, Wooden Titan: Hindenburg in Twenty Years of German History, 1914-1934 (1936)