Erich+Ludendorff

Erich Ludendorff By: Kaela **__ Erich Ludendorff __** · Erich Ludendorff was born in Kruszewnia, near Posenon, on April 9, 1865. · He was the third child of six children in his family. · He went to school at the Cadet School at Plon. · His father, August Ludendorff, was a land owner. · He was a very smart kid and was placed two years ahead of his normal age group. · He went into the army at the age of 18. · In 1885, Ludendorff was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the 57th Infantry Regiment. · The 57th Infantry Regiment was a unit in the Philippine Scouts. · He later served with the 2nd Marine Battalion and the 8th Grenadier Guards. · In 1893, he attended the War Academy and the following year was appointed to the General Staffof the German Army. · In 1911, he was promoted to the role of a colonel. · Ludendorff worked with another man General Alfred von Schlieffenon what became known as the Schlieffen Plan. · This plan argued that if war took place, it was important that France was speedily defeated. · If this happened, Britain and Russia would be unwilling to continue fighting. · The Schlieffen Plan figured that it would take Russia six weeks to organize its large army for an attack on Germany. · It was extremely important to force France to surrender before Russia was ready to use all its forces. · The Plan went into place in 1914, but the Plan wasn’t as successful as they thought. · After Hindenburg became supreme military commander in 1916, Ludendorff also involved himself in civilian rule. · In 1917, he forced Chancellor Bthmann-Hollweg to resign. · Both Ludendorff and Hindenburg took his place as chancellor. · German military offense was defeated and several days later Ludendorff was dismissed the army. · Ludendorff eventually returned to Germany where he participated in both the Kapp Putschin March of 1920 and the Munich Putschin November of 1923. · The following year he became one of the first supporters of the Nazi Partyin the Reichstag. · Ludendorff was the right-wing Nationalist candidate in the 1925 Presidential Elections but won less than 1 per cent of the vote. · In 1928, Ludendorff retired and said the world’s problems were a result of the Christians, Jews and Freemasons. · In 1935, he rejected Hitler’s offer to make him a Field Marshall. · Ludendorff died on December 20, 1937 and such was his stature in Germany that Hitler attended his funeral. __ [] [] __