Paul von Hindenburg

Who was Paul von Hindenburg?

Paul Ludwig Hans Anton von Beneckendorff und von Hindenburg, known universally as Paul von Hindenburg was a Prussian-German field marshal, statesman, and politician, and served as the second President of Germany from 1925 to 1934.

Hindenburg enjoyed a long career in the Prussian Army, retiring in 1911. He was recalled at the outbreak of World War I, and first came to national attention, at the age of 66, as the victor of the decisive Battle of Tannenberg in August 1914. As Germany's Chief of the General Staff from 1916, he and his deputy, Erich Ludendorff, rose greatly in the German public's esteem. Together with Ludendorff they pushed forward the idea of Lebensraum which after the war would be adopted by Hitler's Nazi party. Hindenburg retired again in 1919, but returned to public life in 1925 to be elected as the second President of Germany. Hindenburg, as German President, appointed Nazi Party leader Adolf Hitler as Chancellor of Germany. Hindenburg personally despised Hitler, condescendingly referring to him as that "Bohemian corporal", confusing Hitler's birthplace of Braunau, Austria, with Braunau in Bohemia.