Hermann Müller Constantin Fehrenbach Joseph Wirth Wilhelm Cuno Wilhelm Marx Hans Luther
Preceded by
Walther Reinhardt
Succeeded by
Wilhelm Heye
1st Chief of the German Troop Office
Weimar Republic
In office 11 October 1919 – 26 March 1920
Preceded by
Position established
Succeeded by
Wilhelm Heye
Chief of the German General Staff
Imperial German Army
In office 7 July 1919 – 15 July 1919
Preceded by
Wilhelm Groener
Succeeded by
Position abolished
Personal details
Born
Johannes Friedrich Leopold von Seeckt
(1866-04-22)22 April 1866 Schleswig, Duchy of Schleswig, German Confederation
Died
27 December 1936(1936-12-27) (aged 70) Berlin, Nazi Germany
Resting place
Invalidenfriedhof
Nickname
'The Sphinx'
Military service
Allegiance
German Empire
German Republic
German Reich
Branch/service
Imperial German Army Reichsheer German Army
Years of service
1885–1926 1933–1935
Rank
Generaloberst
Commands
Eleventh Army
Battles/wars
World War I
Awards
Pour 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).
^Corum 1992, p. 79.
^Corum 1992, p. 34.
^Liedtke, Gregory (2016). enduring the whirlwind. Helion And Company. p. 3.
Johannes "Hans" Friedrich Leopold vonSeeckt (22 April 1866 – 27 December 1936) was a German military officer who served as Chief of Staff to August von Mackensen...
it had relied on until then to supplement the Reichswehr. General HansvonSeeckt thought that the Reichswehr no longer had enough men available to guard...
Paul Ludwig Hans Anton von Beneckendorff und von Hindenburg (pronounced [ˈpaʊl ˈluːtvɪç hans ˈantoːn fɔn ˈbɛnəkn̩dɔʁf ʔʊnt fɔn ˈhɪndn̩bʊʁk] ; abbreviated...
Reichenau, Dietrich von Saucken, Wilhelm Keitel, Dietrich von Choltiz, HansvonSeeckt, and Hugo Sperrle. Monocles were most prevalent in the late 19th century...
imposed a military state of emergency across Germany and told General HansvonSeeckt to do "whatever was necessary to secure the Reich". In spite of Bavaria's...
the triumvirate refused. General von Lossow was ordered by the Commander-in-Chief of the army, General HansvonSeeckt, to arrest the three men and to...
the Austro-Hungarian Fourth Army. As chief of staff, he was assigned HansvonSeeckt, who described Mackensen as an amiable, "hands-on commander with the...
appointed chief of staff of the Stuttgart Army Area. In 1925, General HansvonSeeckt appointed him chief of army training. By 1927, Blomberg was a major-general...
very experienced officer, he worked with the Army High Command under HansvonSeeckt and in the Ministry of the Reichswehr, before retiring in 1929 due...
leading protégé of General HansvonSeeckt, who often gave Schleicher sensitive assignments. In the spring of 1921, Seeckt created a secret group within...
staff were elucidated by a successful practitioner of both roles, HansvonSeeckt The decision is taken in private, and when the two men come out, there...
which was the "underground" equivalent of the General Staff formed by HansvonSeeckt. He was promoted to Major in 1924, to Lieutenant Colonel on 1 April...
Hindenburg (29 August 1916 – 3 July 1919) Wilhelm Groener (3–7 July 1919) HansvonSeeckt (7–15 July 1919) The Kaiser had full control of the armed forces but...
wrote a letter to Joachim von Stülpnagel [de] where he expressed his hatred of democracy and his hope that General HansvonSeeckt would carry out a putsch...
transferred to Gustav Ritter von Kahr as state commissioner general. The Reichswehr under the Chief of Army Command, General HansvonSeeckt, who had his own governmental...
with Hitler. James Corum writes in his book The Roots of Blitzkrieg: HansvonSeeckt and German Military Reform that Guderian was an excellent general,...
form. In late 1919, soon after the treaty was signed, Major General HansvonSeeckt, head of the military expert group adjunct to the German delegation...
Soldatentums; Köln: Du Mont Schauberg, 1941. HansvonSeeckt. Aus seinem Leben 1866-1917. HansvonSeeckt. Aus seinem Leben 1918-1936. From Liste der auszusondernden...
part of the Eastern Front. Major General HansvonSeeckt, who was serving as the chief of staff under August von Mackensen, was transferred in the summer...
the Reichswehrministerium. He also supported a senior position for HansvonSeeckt. On 30 September, Groener resigned from the army, against the wishes...
including Berlin, Hamburg, Munich, and Cologne, among others. General HansvonSeeckt has been compared to Scharnhorst, mainly for his part in preparing...
Heeresleitung (Supreme Army Command). After the end of the war, he assisted HansvonSeeckt in organising the new Reichswehr, serving as the second Chief of the...
commander in chief, HansvonSeeckt, argued that there had been an excessive focus on encirclement and emphasised speed instead. Seeckt inspired a revision...
Global Information
Imperial German Army
Reichsheer
German Army
