The German high command at war: Hindenburg and Ludendorff conduct World War I - Hardcover

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The moment in 1916 when Field Marshal Paul von Hindenburg teamed with General Erich Ludendorff to rescue Germany's failing war effort was a critical one for the world. Although the duo failed to stave off the final collapse, they made the Allies pay dearly and had a harsh effect upon Europe's postwar history. Veteran military writer Asprey ( Frederick the Great: The Magnificent Enigma , LJ 10/15/86) has few new insights into the relationship but provides a satisfying portrait of the two leaders and their milieu. He offers incisive personality profiles of the entire Central Powers leadership that counteract the historical myopia of those who think World War I involved only the Kaiser and the Western front. Recommended for public and university collections.
-Raymond L. Puffer, U.S. Air Force History Prog., Los Angeles
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Field Marshal Paul von Hindenburg is considered Germany's great military hero of WW I. Asprey ( War in the Shadows ) here confirms the theory that his chief of staff, Gen. Erich Ludendorff, was the brains behind Hindenburg's victories and largely responsible for German military policy in the war's latter years. The Duo, as the author calls them, became increasingly involved in political affairs, replacing imperial chancellor Theobald Hedwig (whom they regarded as a defeatist) with the unknown politician Georg Michaelis (whom they counted on to do their bidding) and imposing the harsh treaty of Brest-Litovsk on the Russians. Ludendorff later fled, in disguise, to Sweden, while Hindenburg led his troops home after the 1918 armistice, declaring that the German army had not been beaten but betrayed--the origin of the "stab in the back" concept that became Adolf Hitler's rallying cry. The double biography sheds new light on Germany's conduct in WW I and on the character of the legendary General Staff. Most interestingly, Asprey seeks to explain Germany's disastrous defeat as a result of "expanded military egos unchecked by civil authority." Photos.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.