On 19 July 1908 after training in a cadet school, von Hanneken joined the Königin Augusta Garde Grenadier Regiment No.

On 15 August 1918 von Hanneken was transferred into the Operations-Department of the Supreme Army Command, where he would stay until 24 September 1918.

After the outbreak of World War II a supply crisis in the iron and steel division caused him problems, and only Hans Kehrl [de] could save him.

Delivery time had increased dramatically because over a period of two years von Hanneken had approved supplies that exceeded the amount of iron and steel that could be delivered.

Kehrl wrote in his memoirs that von Hanneken was not sufficiently decisive and was afraid of conflict.

So on 6 June 1941 he raised at the 11th meeting in Generalrat der Wirtschaft [de] the problem that the demand for coal in the last four years had risen faster than supply.

In March / April 1942, von Hanneken was denied responsibility for the distribution of iron and steel, which were transferred to the so-called central planning.

He was responsible for defending the invasion and took a tougher line against the Danish resistance movement, which brought him into conflict with Werner Best.

von Hanneken was made aware of but was not otherwise involved in the action against the Danish Jews in early October 1943 led by Günther Pancke.

He was, however, pardoned by Adolf Hitler, who thought that they could not afford the luxury of letting von Hanneken sit in jail.