[2] Ultimately, he and his deputy, General Erich Ludendorff, exploited Emperor Wilhelm II's immense delegation of power to the Supreme Army Command to establish a de facto military dictatorship.

He was his regiment's elected representative at the Palace of Versailles when the German Empire was proclaimed on 18 January 1871; at 1.98m (6 feet 6 inches) tall with a muscular frame and striking blue eyes, he was an impressive figure.

[21] On the day of the battle, Hindenburg reportedly watched from a hilltop as his forces' weak center gradually gave ground until the sudden roar of German guns to his right heralded the surprise attack on the Russians' flanks.

[citation needed] Following his return, Ludendorff provided Hindenburg with a depressing evaluation of their allies' army, which already had lost many of their professional officers[33] and had been driven out of much of the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria, their part of what once had been Poland.

As Field Marshal August von Mackensen broke through Russian lines between Gorlice and Tarnów, Hindenburg's Ninth and Tenth Army launched diversionary attacks that threatened Riga in the north.

On 5 August his forces were consolidated into Army Group Hindenburg, which took the city of Grodno after bitter street fighting but could not trap the retreating defenders because the rail lines lacked the capacity to bring up the needed men.

The troops built fortifications on the eastern border while Ludendorff "with his ruthless energy"[40] headed the civil government, using forced labor to repair the war damages and to dispatch useful products, like hogs, to Germany.

"[56] Under Field Marshal Hindenburg's leadership, the German Supreme Army Command issued a Textbook of Defensive Warfare that recommended fewer defenders in the front line relying on light machine guns.

[citation needed] On the Western Front, the Third OHL deduced the German Army's huge salient between the valley of the Somme and Laon obviously was vulnerable to a pincer attack, which indeed the French were planning.

In the battle's aftermath, the Third OHL discovered one reason behind the British attack's success was that the Sixth Army commander, Ludwig von Falkenhausen, had failed to properly apply their instructions for a defense in depth by keeping reserve troops too far back from the front lines.

[79] On 19 July, the Reichstag passed the resolution calling for a peace of understanding without "territorial acquisitions achieved by force and violations of political, economic or financial integrity",[80] which the new chancellor, Georg Michaelis, agreed to "interpret".

[citation needed] In the negotiations with Soviet Russia, Hindenburg wanted to retain control of all Russian territory that the Central Powers occupied, with German grand dukes ruling Courland and Lithuania, as well as a large slice of Poland.

The strike collapsed when its leaders were arrested, the labor press suppressed, strikers in the reserve called for active duty, and seven great industrial concern taken under military control, which put their workers under martial law.

[citation needed] Most of their conferences were in private, but on 26 July 1918 the chief of staff of the Seventh Army, Fritz von Lossberg traveled to OHL to request permission to withdraw to a better position [131] Without knocking I entered Ludendorff's office and found him loudly arguing with the field marshal.

[citation needed] However, military skill is only one component of the record: "... in general, the maladroit politics of Hindenburg and Ludendorff led directly to the collapse of 1918...."[132] Germany had not been allowed to take part in the negotiations that produced the Treaty of Versailles and received the terms as an accomplished fact on 7 May 1919.

)[137] Aus meinem Leben was dismissed by many military historians and critics as a boring apologia that skipped over the controversial issues, but it painted for the German public precisely the image he sought.

He testified that the German Army had been on the verge of winning the war in the autumn of 1918 and that the defeat had been precipitated by a stab in the back from disloyal elements on the home front and unpatriotic politicians, quoting a dinner conversation that Ludendorff had had with Sir Neill Malcolm.

His testimony gave additional weight to the stab-in-the-back myth, which was being adopted by nationalist and conservative politicians who sought to blame the socialist founders of the Weimar Republic for losing the war.

Marx's government resigned after it was revealed that the Reichswehr, in violation of the Treaty of Versailles, was cooperating with the Red Army in producing poison gas and building a military aircraft factory in Soviet Russia.

[169] On 18 September 1927 Hindenburg spoke at the dedication of the massive memorial at Tannenberg, outraging international opinion by denying Germany's responsibility for starting World War I as indicated in Article 231 of the Treaty of Versailles.

He was delighted with Papen, a rich, smooth aristocrat who had been a famous equestrian and a general staff officer; he soon became a Hindenburg family friend (Schleicher was no longer welcomed because he had quarreled with Oskar).

[citation needed] To add enough votes to gain a parliamentary mandate, Schleicher tried to persuade some of the Nazi leaders, like the war hero Hermann Göring, to defect and to take a position in his government.

Before a new government could be formed Hindenburg called General Werner von Blomberg, an opponent of Schleicher, back from a disarmament conference and appointed him Reichswehr minister, perhaps unaware that he was a Nazi sympathizer.

[citation needed] To break the stalemate, Hindenburg proposed Hitler as chancellor, Papen as vice-chancellor and Reich commissioner of Prussia, and Göring as Prussian interior minister (who controlled the police).

Göring as Prussian Interior Minister had enlisted thousands of Sturmabteilung (SA) men as auxiliary policemen, who attacked political opponents of the Nazis, with Communists and Social Democrats being singled out for particular abuse.

The opening of the new Reichstag was celebrated with a Nazi extravaganza: Hindenburg descended into the crypt of the old garrison church in Potsdam to commune with the spirit of Frederick the Great at his grave, attended by Hitler who saluted the president as "the custodian of the new rise of our people.

[213][214] Hindenburg visited most days, often staying for hours, which his staff attributed to ego, having no inkling that he and his wife collected paintings of the Virgin[215] nor that he was an amateur artist nor that he liked to discuss books—Schiller was his favorite author.

The striking polyvalence of the narrative—it extolled not only right-wing notions of authoritarian leadership but also more bi-partisan national values, such as salvaging something positive from war and defeat and self-affirmation in the face of crisis—meant that Hindenburg's myth could be deployed by different groups, at different times, and for different purposes.

[citation needed] The famed zeppelin Hindenburg that was destroyed by fire in 1937 was named in his honor, as was the Hindenburgdamm, a causeway joining the island of Sylt to mainland Schleswig-Holstein that was built during his time in office.

[citation needed] Historian Christopher Clark has criticized Hindenburg in his role as head of state for: withdrawing his solemn constitutional oaths of 1925 and 1932 to make common cause with the sworn enemies of the Republic.