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Paul von Hindenburg

1847 CE – 1934 CE

Retrace Paul von Hindenburg's life across the map — 20 events in chronological order, from a cinematic flythrough to a full timeline.

Life journey

1. Battle of the Vistula River1914 CE
   The Battle of the Vistula River, also known as the Battle of Warsaw and Ivangorod, was a major Russian victory against Germany and Austria-Hungary on the Eastern Front during the First World War.
2. Battle of Augustów1914 CE
   The Battle of Augustów, also known as the First Augustow Operation, was a conflict on the Eastern Front during the First World War. It took place between the Russian Empire and the German Empire in September 1914.
3. Russian invasion of East Prussia1914 CE
   The Russian invasion of East Prussia occurred during World War I, lasting from August to September 1914. As well as being the natural course for the Russian Empire to take upon the declaration of war on the German Empire, it was also an attempt to focus the Imperial German Army on the Eastern Front, as opposed to the Western Front as part of the alliance and to force Germany to fight a two front war. Despite superiority over the Germans in numbers, the invading Imperial Russian Army spread its forces thin and was defeated in the battles of Tannenberg and the Masurian Lakes, resulting in a complete strategic collapse of the Russian plan of war. The Germans also seemed to have weak cooperation among the troops and disagreements in the generals. The victory in East Prussia inspired too much self-confidence, which led to defeats at Warsaw and Lodz.
4. Battle of Bzurą 19141914 CE
   The Battle of the Four Rivers or Battles on the Bzura, Rawka, Pilica and Nida was a key battle between German and Russian forces in the First World War in 1914, in which the Germans unsuccessfully tried to break through and take Warsaw. The battle was the first positional battle on the eastern front, and was one of the bloodiest battles in 1914.
5. Battle of Tannenberg1914 CE
   The Battle of Tannenberg, also known as the Second Battle of Tannenberg, was fought between Russia and Germany between 26 and 30 August 1914, the first month of World War I. The battle resulted in the encirclement and the almost complete destruction of the Russian 2nd Army by the German 8th Army and the suicide of its commanding general, Alexander Samsonov. A series of follow-up battles led to the ousting of the Russian 1st Army from East Prussia.
6. Battle of Łódź1914 CE
   The Battle of Łódź or Lodz operation took place from 11 November to 6 December 1914, near the city of Łódź in Poland. Battles were fought between German units of the 8th Army, 9th Army, Austrian 1st Army, and the Russian 1st, 2nd, and 5th Armies, in harsh winter conditions. The Germans redeployed their 9th Army around Thorn, so as to threaten the Russian northern flank, following German reversals after the Battle of the Vistula River. The German objective was to prevent an invasion of Germany, by encircling and destroying the Russians; instead, the Germans were surrounded and lost two corps; still, the invasion of Germany was prevented. The battle had a strong impact on both the Western and Eastern fronts. It ended with the tactical victory of the Russian troops, although the Russians eventually withdrew and the pressure on the Austrians eased, as reinforcements that could have gone to Przemyśl went instead to Łódź; implying a strategic victory for Germany.
7. Silesian Offensive1914 CE
   The Battle of Łódź or Lodz operation took place from 11 November to 6 December 1914, near the city of Łódź in Poland. Battles were fought between German units of the 8th Army, 9th Army, Austrian 1st Army, and the Russian 1st, 2nd, and 5th Armies, in harsh winter conditions. The Germans redeployed their 9th Army around Thorn, so as to threaten the Russian northern flank, following German reversals after the Battle of the Vistula River. The German objective was to prevent an invasion of Germany, by encircling and destroying the Russians; instead, the Germans were surrounded and lost two corps; still, the invasion of Germany was prevented. The battle had a strong impact on both the Western and Eastern fronts. It ended with the tactical victory of the Russian troops, although the Russians eventually withdrew and the pressure on the Austrians eased, as reinforcements that could have gone to Przemyśl went instead to Łódź; implying a strategic victory for Germany.
8. First Battle of the Masurian Lakes1914 CE
   The First Battle of the Masurian Lakes was a German offensive in the Eastern Front 2–16 September 1914, during the Russian invasion of East Prussia. It took place only days after the Battle of Tannenberg where the German 8th Army encircled and destroyed the Russian 2nd Army. Using the rapid movements aided by the East Prussian railway network, the 8th Army reformed in front of the spread-out Russian 1st Army and pushed it back across its entire front, eventually ejecting it from Germany. Further progress was hampered by the arrival of the Russian 10th Army on the Germans' right flank.
9. Sventiany Offensive1915 CE
   The Battle of Vilnius or the Vilnius operation took place in the autumn of 1915 between the cities of Vilnius and Daugavpils. It was strategic withdrawal by Russian forces on the Eastern Front of World War I, after a successful summer German offensive. The German armies were under the command of Supreme Commander of All German Forces in the East, Field Marshal Paul von Hindenburg. Although weakened by the transfer of 12 divisions to France and the Balkans, as part of taking a defense, Hindenburg had his forces conduct several secondary offensive operations. Half of the Russian forces and the main German forces on the Eastern Front took part in the battle. However, the numerical superiority of the Russians did not allow Hindenburg to achieve a lasting success. Further actions for the Germans were unsuccessful as they suffered losses without achieving their goal of taking Daugavpils.
10. Great Retreat1915 CE
    The Great Retreat was a strategic withdrawal and evacuation on the Eastern Front of World War I in 1915. The Imperial Russian Army gave up the salient in Galicia and Congress Poland. The Russian Empire's critically under-equipped military suffered great losses in the Central Powers' July–September summer offensive operations, which led to the Stavka ordering a withdrawal to shorten the front lines and avoid the potential encirclement of large Russian forces in the salient. While the withdrawal itself was relatively well-conducted, it was a severe blow to Russian morale.
11. Battle of Bolimów1915 CE
    The Battle of Humin-Bolimów was an inconclusive battle of World War I fought between January 14 and February 28, 1915 between the Imperial German Army and Russia. The battle is considered a preliminary to the Second Battle of the Masurian Lakes.
12. Battles of Przasnysz1915 CE
    The First Battle of Przasnysz was fought between the Imperial German Army and the Imperial Russian troops. It took place between 7 and 28 February 1915, on the Eastern Front during World War I.
13. Second Battle of the Masurian Lakes1915 CE
    The Second Battle of the Masurian Lakes or Winter Battle of the Masurian Lakes, known in Germany as the Winter Battle in Masuria and in Russia as the Battle of Augustowo, was the northern part of the Central Powers' offensive on the Eastern Front in the winter of 1915 during World War I. The offensive was intended to advance beyond the Vistula River and potentially knock Russia out of the war. It was the last major battle fought on German soil during World War I.
14. Narew Offensive1915 CE
    The Bug–Narew offensive from July 13 to August 27, 1915 was a major German victory during World War I on the Eastern Front. The Imperial German Army broke through 4 heavily fortified positions, inflicted defeats on superior enemy forces and pushed the Russian Army 300 km to the east, capturing 215,000 prisoners. But the German army also suffered relatively heavy casualties, about 30,000 killed and missing.
15. Brusilov Offensive1916 CE
    The Brusilov offensive, also known as the June advance, or Battle of Galicia-Volhynia, of June to September 1916 was the Russian Empire's greatest feat of arms during World War I and among the most lethal offensives in world history. The historian Graydon Tunstall called the Brusilov offensive the worst crisis of World War I for Austria-Hungary and the Triple Entente's greatest victory, but it came at a tremendous loss of life. The victory contributed to a morale upsurge among the Russian troops. The offensive's success led Russia's allies to reconsider their positions on postwar territorial concessions, including the status of Anatolia and the Bosphorus Strait.
16. Battle of the Somme1916 CE
    The Battle of the Somme, also known as the Somme offensive, was a battle of the First World War fought by the armies of the British Empire and the French Republic against the German Empire. It took place between 1 July and 18 November 1916 on both sides of the upper reaches of the river Somme in France. The battle was intended to hasten a victory for the Allies. More than three million men fought in the battle, of whom more than one million were either wounded or killed, making it one of the deadliest battles in human history.
17. Battle of Verdun1916 CE
    The Battle of Verdun was fought from 21 February to 18 December 1916 on the Western Front in France. The battle was the longest of the First World War and took place on the hills north of Verdun. The German 5th Army attacked the defences of the Fortified Region of Verdun and those of the French Second Army on the right (east) bank of the Meuse. Using the experience of the Second Battle of Champagne in 1915, the Germans planned to capture the Meuse Heights, an excellent defensive position, with good observation for artillery-fire on Verdun. The Germans hoped that the French would commit their strategic reserve to recapture the position and suffer catastrophic losses at little cost to the German infantry.
18. Battle of Amiens1918 CE
    The Battle of Amiens, also known as the Third Battle of Picardy was the opening phase of the Allied offensive which began on 8 August 1918, later known as the Hundred Days Offensive, which ultimately led to the end of World War I. Allied forces advanced over 11 kilometres (7 mi) on the first day, one of the greatest advances of the war, with Gen Henry Rawlinson's British Fourth Army, with nine of its 19 divisions supplied by the fast-moving Australian Corps of Lt General John Monash and Canadian Corps of Lt General Arthur Currie, and Gen Marie Eugène Debeney's French First Army playing a decisive role. The battle is also notable for its effects on both sides' morale and the large number of surrendering German forces. This led Erich Ludendorff to later describe the first day of the battle as "the black day of the German Army". Amiens was one of the first major battles involving armoured warfare.
19. Meuse-Argonne Offensive1918 CE
    The Meuse–Argonne offensive was a major part of the final Allied offensive of World War I that stretched along the entire Western Front. It was fought from September 26, 1918, until the Armistice of November 11, 1918, a total of 47 days. The Meuse–Argonne offensive was the largest in United States military history, involving 1.2 million American soldiers, sailors and marines, along with 800,000 French and 850 Siamese personnel. It is also the deadliest campaign in the history of the United States Army, resulting in over 350,000 casualties, including 28,000 German lives, 26,277 American lives and about 35,000 French lives. American losses were worsened by the inexperience of many of the troops, the tactics used during the early phases of the operation, and the widespread onset of the Spanish flu.
20. German Revolution of 1918–19191918 CE
    The German revolution of 1918–1919, also known as the November Revolution, was an uprising started by workers, sailors and soldiers in the final days of World War I. It quickly and almost bloodlessly brought down the German Empire. In its more violent second stage, the supporters of a parliamentary republic were victorious over those who wanted a Soviet-style council republic. The defeat of the forces of the far left cleared the way for the establishment of the Weimar Republic. The key factors leading to the revolution were the extreme burdens suffered by the German people during the war, the economic and psychological impacts of the Empire's defeat, and the social tensions between the general populace and the aristocratic and bourgeois elite.

Event data from Wikipedia/Wikidata (CC-BY-SA). Spotted a mistake? Email [email protected].