General von Ludendorff

The Tendencies to Monarchism in Germany

T. J. C. MARTYN

AS THE Germans say, or ought to say, if General von Ludendorff did not exist it would be necessary to create him. Perhaps some farsighted Junker of the penultimate generation deliberately paved the way for his thundering advent. At all events, it is comparatively easy to imagine England muddling through without her Lloyd Georges, but a Germany without her Ludendorff would be as exciting as a Chinese cracker without a bang.

Relatively little is known about his early days. He was born in a place which had a liberal supply of consonants, a fact which undoubtedly made him a singularly difficult man to understand. It was at Kruszczewnia in 1865 that the recorder of births, marriages and deaths noted the arrival of a son to Herr and Frau Ludendorff, the former of whom was a highly successful merchant of Posen. The baby was christened Erich and his babyhood was uneventful, except for a patriotic attack of German measles.

Arriving at the age of five, he became highly excited and not a little awestruck at the sight of the magnificently bedecked soldiers who passed through Posen on their way to fight France. Thereafter no toys gave him so much pleasure as tin soldiers, tin cannons and pop guns. He played with these by the hour, and being taciturn and head-strong by nature, refused to share his military joys with other children, even though they might offer willingly to die by his tin sword.

As the years rolled by his interest in soldiers and other matters military grew and grew. He plagued his father to let him be a soldier, and by soldier little Erich meant officer. This, of course, flattered the bourgeois parent, but his mother, who was Swedish, held out against the idea. In the long run, Erich won and at the age of 1 2 entered the Cadet School at Plon. At school he did not prove himself a genius, but he won a modest distinction by his plodding devotion to history and eventually he passed an examination in Prussian history with high marks. With the other boys he was unpopular. This can be accounted for in part by the fact that his family for at least two generations, had been merchants in Pomerania, not then considered a gentleman's occupation, and in part by his unsociabilitv and boorishness. He repelled almost instinctively any friendly advances made to him and liked nothing better than to ramble over the fields with only his thoughts for company.

Five years at Plon and he was gazetted a junior-lieutenant. This was the initial step on a military career that was to last for the better part of a quarter of a century. His first promotion was as lieutenant in the Marine Corps, after which he went to the War Academy at Berlin and left that establishment at the age of thirty, a captain. The declaration of war in 1914 found him 49 years of age and in command of a brigade at Strasburg. No one could then call him a distinguished soldier, but in the space of a few months he had leaped into prominence and was within a feumore months dominating Germany and the All Highest Emperor.

Ludendorff is a man of distinct traits. His component characteristics might be made of a mixture of one pait Frederick the Great, one part Bismarck, three parts Hindenburg, one part Cagliastro and a dash of Machiavelli. Greatness does not always mix well and in Ludendorff it left much to be desired. Possibly the strongest distinguishing feature of his character was an indomitable will that was often nothing more than sheer stubbornness. But it will perhaps be better to delve further into his characteristics.

From Frederick the Great, Ludendorff gets his cynicism and bitterness. Like the Prussian king, he is a firm believer in force and order, the order of his force being always designed to assure the force of his orders. He immediately becomes cynical of any military or political system that does not lest basically on this methodical ideal. And if this ideal fails, as it did in the war, then Ludendorff has a grievance. He has not ceased to rail at the civil authorities for the "stab in the back" which he acridly declares lost Germany the war. By that he means that the breakdown of civil force and order was responsible for Germany's fate. None the less, it is these two qualities that have combined to give him a high place in the roll of German military men.

The dose of Bismarck seems to have mixed well with the Frederick attributes. From the Iron Chancellor Ludendorff gets his tenacity of purpose, his contempt for parliamentarianism, and his habit of treading on toes, even royal toes. It is sure that lie has not coined any great phrases, but doubtless future German historians will be able to remedy this defect. But the phrases he has used have always been uttered with that striking contempt for persons and that inconsideration of feelings that made the great Bismarck the famous champion of might against right.

I he large splash of Hindenburg is the result of hero-worship. It might be described as local color. For example, his moustache has been brushed for years a la Hindenburg and, if it has not grown to the same length, it is Providence or hair tonic that must be blamed, not Ludendorff. Then, his hair. If lie had more of it, it would certainly stand upright in the best possible imitation of the Hindenburg shock. I he physical resemblance of the two men, while not very striking goes further and is apparently tlue to the same subtle effects which environment has on a chameleon. Hindenburg is Ludendorff's religion. He can walk, talk and gesticulate with his large hands in almost the same way as the great Field Marshal. Their minds, while chasing each other along the same groove, differ fundamentally in the way they function. Ludendorff is quicker and more brilliant, but lacks the restraint, the sense of proportion and the small degree of modesty which characterizes Hindenburg.

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As to the Cagliastro contribution, that is wholly mental, or perhaps extra-mental. Suffice it to say that it has curdled the temperamental mixture. Ludendorff is as much of an international shark in the day of H. G. Wells and Bernard Shaw as was C'agliastro in the days of William Blake and Tobias Smollet. He has impressed a number of military critics, including Colonel Dewar, author of Sir Douglas Haig's Command. In Germany of today lie impresses many impressionable people and they number not a few. In France his name is anathema and he remains distinguished as a German who has not thought of lecturing in America. Despite his ability and intelligence, the view of Ludendorff as a great soldier and a greater politician is difficult to understand. Apart from being the spoiled child of Germany, he is in reality very little more than a super-haughty bungler with the manner of a certain quadruped, or say, a German duke. In this respect he is a swindle. A lamb in lion's clothing. He did more to lose the war, so certain of his critics say, than any ten German generals; anti when he naively puts the blame for this disaster on the "home front", he expects the world to be equally naive in believing him. Perhaps this is buffoonery. Tnquestionably grave difficulties existed in the turbulent social and political condition of war-time Germany; but that they proved a greater danger to the prosecution of the war than did his singular inability to grasp the importance of, say, the Macedonian front is indeed questionable. Ludendorff is also quite unable to grasp that the same home troubles gave the Allied commanders a great deal of concern. On this point he should address himself to Lord Haig or Marshal Petain.

In the last October of the war, when Ludendorff had changed his mind about peace and had thought it practicable to continue the struggle, the influence of the First Quartermaster General—a position created for Ludendorff to give him equal responsibility in conducting operations with Field Marshal Hindenburg— suddenly crumbled. Prince Max von Baden, the Chancellor, distrusted his opinions and went over his head to hear what some other generals'had to say about the military position. This was no small affront to a man of Ludendorff's calibre and he has never forgotten the insult.

He wrote out his resignation, but was persuaded by Hindenburg lo "carry on". Immediately after this both men were summoned to Potsdam for an interview with the Kaiser. Ludendorff was himself again. He told the Kaiser that the army could fight on and, in backing up his opinion, disagreed violently with his monarch on some military detail, of the projected defensive. The Kaiser proved equally spirited and in the middle of the altercation Ludendorff straightened his back and sharply criticized the Government, the civil authorities in general and Prince Max in particular. The Kaiser replied that he, General Ludendorff, was certainly not responsible for the internal conditions of the country. Whereupon Ludendorff made a statement that implied or seemed to imply a challenge to the roval authority. In an excited voice he demanded to know if he had lost the Kaiser's confidence and if this were so he should know how to act. To his amazement the Kaiser instantly dismissed him, and since the former did not even mention Ludendorff in his Memoirs, presumably the First Quartermaster General has never been forgiven. Ludendorff returned home, his military career at an end. A few days later he sailed for Sweden and remained there until the royalist reaction set in.

The German people, exhausted and defeated, had gladly overthrown the Imperial regime; for by so doing they had hoped to benefit immeasurably from the celebrated Fourteen Points posed by President Wilson. They threw themselves enthusiastically in building a republican regime and revelled in their newfound democracy. It would be unkind to say that they had done this solely in order to escape the punishments of losing a war. Some had, others remained faithful to republicanism, still others had always been republicans. But when the peace terms were published and proved to be more severe than ever they had imagined, they believed themselves tricked into signing a shameful peace and virtually forced into establishing a republic. Quite naturally they revolted against their betrayers and found their supposed freedom only an expression of slavery; from that moment the royalist reaction was born and back came General Ludendorff from Sweden.

His book, published in America a? Ludendorff's Own Story, had just been published and was considered by countless thousands of Germans as a literary and political tour de force. Ludendorff told these people that the army had never been defeated. He extolled the various military leaders and did not forget to emphasize the Crown Prince, while, as he was bound to, politely referred to the Kaiser without emphasis. No harsh words could be harsh enough for his condemnation of the civil authorities who, he said, had enslaved the nation. He attacked the Catholics— Prince Max von Baden was a Catholic—and he attacked the Jews.

He took up his residence, bravely enough, in Catholic Bavaria and it was at Munich that I saw him for the first (and the last) time. He appeared to be the same arrogant man. He carried himself very well, spoke roughly, almost rudely and never smiled. For all the world his features were those of a sulky bulldog.