Hans von Seeckt

Hans von Seeckt
2nd Chief of the German Army Command
In office
26 March 1920 – 9 October 1926
PresidentFriedrich Ebert
Paul von Hindenburg
ChancellorHermann Müller
Constantin Fehrenbach
Joseph Wirth
Wilhelm Cuno
Wilhelm Marx
Hans Luther
Preceded byWalther Reinhardt
Succeeded byWilhelm Heye
1st Chief of the German Troop Office
In office
11 October 1919 – 26 March 1920
Preceded byPosition established
Succeeded byWilhelm Heye
Chief of the German General Staff
In office
7 July 1919 – 15 July 1919
Preceded byWilhelm Groener
Succeeded byPosition abolished
Personal details
Born
Johannes Friedrich Leopold von Seeckt

(1866-04-22)22 April 1866
Schleswig, Duchy of Schleswig, German Confederation
Died27 December 1936(1936-12-27) (aged 70)
Berlin, Nazi Germany
Resting placeInvalidenfriedhof
Nickname'The Sphinx'
Military service
Allegiance
Branch/service Imperial German Army
 Reichsheer
 German Army
Years of service1885–1926
1933–1935
RankGeneraloberst
CommandsEleventh Army
Battles/warsWorld War I
AwardsPour le Mérite
Military Order of Max Joseph

Johannes "Hans" Friedrich Leopold von Seeckt (22 April 1866 – 27 December 1936) was a German military officer who served as Chief of Staff to August von Mackensen and was a central figure in planning the victories Mackensen achieved for Germany in the east during the First World War.

During the years of the Weimar Republic he was chief of staff for the Reichswehr from 1919 to 1920 and commander in chief of the German Army from 1920 until he resigned in October 1926.[N 1] During this period he engaged in the reorganization of the army and laid the foundation for the doctrine, tactics, organization, and training of the German army.[1] By the time Seeckt left the German Army in 1926 the Reichswehr had a clear, standardized operational doctrine, as well as a precise theory on the future methods of combat which greatly influenced the military campaigns fought by the Wehrmacht during the first half of the Second World War.[2] While Seeckt undertook multiple programs to get around the military limitations imposed by the Treaty of Versailles which formally ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers after World War I, he has been criticized for failing to expand the reserves of officers and trained men available to the army, the main obstacle to rearmament during the Republic.[3]

Seeckt served as a member of parliament from 1930 to 1932. From 1933 to 1935 he was repeatedly in China as a military consultant to Chiang Kai-shek in his war against the Chinese Communists and was directly responsible for devising the encirclement campaigns, that resulted in a string of victories against the Chinese Red Army and forced Mao Zedong into a 9,000 km retreat, also known as the Long March.

A large military barracks in Celle was built in 1935 and named after von Seeckt. After the Second World War it was renamed Trenchard Barracks by BAOR as part of the Bergen-Hohne Garrison.


Cite error: There are <ref group=N> tags on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=N}} template (see the help page).

  1. ^ Corum 1992, p. 79.
  2. ^ Corum 1992, p. 34.
  3. ^ Liedtke, Gregory (2016). enduring the whirlwind. Helion And Company. p. 3.