Ludendorff, Erich (redirected from General Ludendorff)

Ludendorff, Erich (ā`rĭkh l`dəndôrf), 1865–1937, German general. A disciple of Schlieffen, he served in World War I as chief of staff to Field Marshal Hindenburg and was largely responsible for German military decisions. After Hindenburg became supreme military commander in 1916, Ludendorff also intervened in civilian rule. In 1917 he forced Chancellor Bethmann-Hollweg to resign; his successors were subordinate to the military leaders. When the German military offensive collapsed (Aug., 1918), Ludendorff demanded an armistice (Sept. 29, 1918). Several days later he was dismissed by the new government of Maximilian, prince of Baden and fled to Sweden. Returning in 1919, he took part in the ultranationalist Kapp putsch (1920) and in the "beer-hall putsch" (1923) of Adolf Hitler. He was acquitted in the subsequent trial, was a National Socialist member of the Reichstag (1924–28), and ran unsuccessfully for president in 1925. Meanwhile, he and his second wife, Mathilde, were proponents of a new "Aryan" racist religion. Ludendorff wrote pamphlets accusing the pope, the Jesuits, the Jews, and the Freemasons of a common plot against Aryans. Later he became alienated from Hitler. His writings include Ludendorff's Own Story (tr. 1919) and The General Staff and Its Problems (tr. 1920).

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Ludendorff, Erich

Erich Ludendorff, c. 1930.

(credit: Archiv für Kunst und Geschichte)

(born April 9, 1865, Kruszewnia, near Poznan, Prussian Poland—died Dec. 20, 1937, Munich, Ger.) German general. In 1908 he joined the German army general staff and worked under Helmuth von Moltke in revising the Schlieffen Plan. In World War I he was appointed chief of staff to Paul von Hindenburg, and the two won a spectacular victory at the Battle of Tannenberg. In 1916 the two generals were given supreme military control. They tried to conduct a total war by mobilizing the entire forces of the home front, and in 1917 Ludendorff approved unrestricted submarine warfare against the British, which led to the U.S. entry into the war. In 1918, after his offensive on the Western Front failed, he demanded an armistice, but then he insisted the war continue when he realized the severity of the Armistice conditions. Political leaders opposed him, and he resigned his post. Ludendorff insisted he had been betrayed, and for the next 20 years he led a bizarre life, becoming a leader of reactionary political movements and taking part in the Kapp Putsch (1920) and Beer Hall Putsch (1923). He served in Parliament as a National Socialist (1924–28) and developed a belief that “supernational powers”—Jewry, Christianity, Freemasonry—had deprived him and Germany of victory in World War I.

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Ludendorff, Erich 

Born Apr. 9, 1865, in Kruszevnia, near Poznańi;; died Dec. 20, 1937, in Tutzing, Bavaria. German military and political figure; general of the infantry (1916). Son of a landholder.

Ludendorff graduated from a cadet corps in 1881. He began serving on the General Staff in 1894 and was chief of the operations department of the General Staff from 1908 to 1912. He was chief quartermaster of the Second Army at the beginning of World War I (1914-18). Ludendorff served as chief of staff of the Eighth Army from Aug. 23 to November 1914, chief of staff of the Eastern Front from November 1914, and first quartermaster general on the staff of the supreme command from August 1916.

In his capacity as General P. Hindenburg’s immediate assistant, Ludendorff virtually directed the military operations on the Eastern Front from August 1914 and the operations of Germany’s entire armed forces from August 1916. He was active in setting up a military dictatorship in the country. Between March and July 1918 he tried unsuccessfully, by launching repeated offensives, to break the resistance of the Anglo-French troops on the Western Front. Ludendorff retired on Oct. 26, 1918, and emigrated to Sweden in November 1918 after the conclusion of the cease-fire.

Ludendorff returned to Germany in the spring of 1919, became the leader of the most extreme counterrevolutionary circles, and took an active part in the Kapp putsch of 1920. Having moved very close to the National Socialists, Ludendorff headed, jointly with A. Hitler, the unsuccessful Munich putsch of November 1923. He won election to the Reichstag in 1924 on the National Socialist Party ticket. He was an advocate of the doctrine of “total war” and the ruthless suppression of the toiling masses. Ludendorff was the author of memoirs and several works on military theory.

WORKS

Kriegsfiihrung und Politik, 3rd ed. Berlin, 1923.
Der totale Krieg. Munich, 1936.
In Russian translation:
Moi vospominaniia o voine 1914-1918, vols. 1-2. Moscow, 1923-24.