Erich Ludendorff

forces in Germany kept the great nation from winning the war.
This theory made Ludendorff popular with the nationalists
(supporters of state power) who were coming to power in Germany
during the early 1920s. Ludendorff moved back to Germany
and participated in two attempts to unseat elected officials;
the second attempt, in 1923, was organized by a young
political agitator named Adolf Hitler (1889–1945). Ludendorff
soon joined Hitler’s National Socialist (or Nazi) Party, got
elected to parliament, and campaigned for president in 1925.
He was easily defeated by his former comrade—the man he
had accused of betraying him and the nation—Paul von Hindenburg.
Defeated in politics as he had been in war, Ludendorff
adopted strange and extreme beliefs. He subscribed to the mystical
teachings of his second wife, Motile von Kemnitz, and
began publishing a series of essays arguing that Jews and
Freemasons (members of a fraternal organization) were to
blame for keeping Germany from its rightful role as a world
leader. Eventually he became so extreme and erratic in his pronouncements
that even Hitler withdrew his support. Ludendorff
died quietly on December 20, 1937, unmourned by a
country that had once hailed him as a military hero.
For More Information
Books
Asprey, Robert B. The German High Command at War: Hindenburg and
Ludendorff Conduct World War I. New York: William Morrow, 1991.
Gilbert, Martin. The First World War: A Complete History. New York: Henry
Holt, 1994.
Ludendorff, Erich. Kriegfuhrung und Politik. Berlin: E. S. Mittler and Sohn,
1922.
Parkinson, Roger. Tormented Warrior: Ludendorff and the Supreme Command.
London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1978.
Reeder, Red. Bold Leaders of World War I. Boston: Little, Brown, 1974.
Stokesbury, James L. A Short History of World War I. New York: William
Morrow, 1981.
104 World War I: Biographies