Wilhelm Groener
Wilhelm Groener (1867-1939) was a German general in the First World War, first heading transportation and logistics, and then having a major role in the German economy. He rose to Minister of Defense in the Weimar Republic, and was deeply involved in the politics from 1929 to 1933.
Rivalry with Ludendorff
When Helmuth von Moltke the Younger became Chief of Staff in 1905, he thought long about assignments for the two officers he consider the brightest in the Army, Groener and Erich Ludendorff. Eventually, he picked Ludendorff, who had better family connections, to head operations, and sent Groener to logistics. [1]
Minister of Defense
Groening was able to gain the trust of Chancellor Heinrich Bruening, and Bruening also believed that Groening had managed to improve the relationship between Bruening and President Paul von Hindenburg. In a discussion on 26 December 1930, Bruening told Gruening that he had previously blamed Groening for the 1918 capitulation of Germany, but increasingly believed that Hindenburg was more the problem. Hindenburg had left it to Groening to tell Kaiser Wilhelm II that he no longer had the support of the Army.[2]
References
- ↑ Groener, Wilhelm, The Great War Primary Documents Archive
- ↑ William L. Patch (2006), Heinrich Brüning and the Dissolution of the Weimar Republic, Cambridge University Presspp. 61-62