Wilhelm Groener

Wilhelm Groener
Groener in 1928
Reich Minister of Defence
Weimar Republic
In office
20 January 1928 – 13 May 1932
ChancellorWilhelm Marx
Hermann Müller
Heinrich Brüning
Preceded byOtto Gessler
Succeeded byKurt von Schleicher
Reich Minister of the Interior
Weimar Republic
In office
9 October 1931 – 1 June 1932
ChancellorHeinrich Brüning
Preceded byJoseph Wirth
Succeeded byWilhelm von Gayl
Reich Minister of Transport
 Weimar Republic
In office
25 June 1920 – 12 August 1923
ChancellorConstantin Fehrenbach
Joseph Wirth
Wilhelm Cuno
Preceded byGustav Bauer
Succeeded byRudolf Oeser
Chief of the German General Staff
German Empire
In office
3 July 1919 – 7 July 1919
Preceded byPaul von Hindenburg
Succeeded byHans von Seeckt
Personal details
Born
Karl Eduard Wilhelm Groener

(1867-11-22)22 November 1867
Ludwigsburg, Neckar District, Württemberg
Died3 May 1939(1939-05-03) (aged 71)
Potsdam-Bornstedt, Brandenburg, Nazi Germany
NationalityGerman
Political partyIndependent
Military service
Allegiance German Empire
Branch/service German Army
Years of service1884–1919
RankGeneralleutnant
Battles/warsWorld War I

Karl Eduard Wilhelm Groener (German pronunciation: [ˈvɪlhɛlm ˈɡʁøːnɐ] ; 22 November 1867 – 3 May 1939) was a German general and politician. His organisational and logistical abilities resulted in a successful military career before and during World War I.

After a confrontation with Erich Ludendorff the Quartermaster general (Erster Generalquartiermeister) of the German Army, Groener was reassigned to a field command. When Ludendorff was dismissed in October 1918, Groener succeeded him. Groener worked with the new Social Democratic president Friedrich Ebert to foil a left-wing take-over during the German Revolution of 1918–19. Under his command, the army bloodily suppressed popular uprisings throughout Germany.

Groener tried to integrate the military, which was dominated by an aristocratic and monarchistic officer corps, into the new republic. After resigning from the army in the summer of 1919, Groener served in several governments of the Weimar Republic as minister of transportation, interior and defence. He was pushed out of the government in 1932 by Kurt von Schleicher, who was working on a pact with the Nazis.