Wilhelm Groener | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Groener in 1928 | |
| Reich Minister of Defence Weimar Republic | |
| In office 20 January 1928 – 13 May 1932 | |
| Chancellor | Wilhelm Marx Hermann Müller Heinrich Brüning |
| Preceded by | Otto Gessler |
| Succeeded by | Kurt von Schleicher |
| Reich Minister of the Interior Weimar Republic | |
| In office 9 October 1931 – 1 June 1932 | |
| Chancellor | Heinrich Brüning |
| Preceded by | Joseph Wirth |
| Succeeded by | Wilhelm von Gayl |
| Reich Minister of Transport Weimar Republic | |
| In office 25 June 1920 – 12 August 1923 | |
| Chancellor | Constantin Fehrenbach Joseph Wirth Wilhelm Cuno |
| Preceded by | Gustav Bauer |
| Succeeded by | Rudolf Oeser |
| Chief of the German General Staff German Empire | |
| In office 3 July 1919 – 7 July 1919 | |
| Preceded by | Paul von Hindenburg |
| Succeeded by | Hans von Seeckt |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Karl Eduard Wilhelm Groener (1867-11-22)22 November 1867 |
| Died | 3 May 1939(1939-05-03) (aged 71) |
| Nationality | German |
| Party | Independent |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |  German Empire |
| Branch/service |  German Army |
| Years of service | 1884–1919 |
| Rank | Generalleutnant |
| Battles/wars | World War I |
Karl Eduard Wilhelm Groener (German pronunciation:[ˈvɪlhɛlmˈɡʁøːnɐ]ⓘ; 22 November 1867 – 3 May 1939) was a Württemberg–German general and politician, who served as the finalChief of the Great General Staff andReich Minister of Transport,Defence and theInterior.
After a confrontation withErich Ludendorff theQuartermaster general (Erster Generalquartiermeister) of theGerman Army, Groener was reassigned to a field command. When Ludendorff was dismissed in October 1918, Groener succeeded him. Groener worked with the newSocial Democratic presidentFriedrich Ebert to foil a left-wing take-over during theGerman 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 theWeimar Republic. He was pushed out of the government in 1932 byKurt von Schleicher, who was working on a pact with theNazis.
Wilhelm Groener was born inLudwigsburg in theKingdom of Württemberg as the son of Karl Eduard Groener (1837–1893), regimental paymaster, and his wife Auguste (née Boleg, 1825–1907) on 22 November 1867.[1] After attendinggymnasium atUlm and Ludwigsburg, where his father had been stationed, Groener entered the3. Württembergische Infanterie Regiment Nummer 121 of theWürttemberg Army in 1884.[1] In 1890, he was promoted toBataillonsadjutant and from 1893 to 1896 attended the War Academy at Berlin, where he finished top of his class.[1] In 1899, Groener married Helene Geyer (1864–1926) inSchwäbisch Gmünd.[1][2] They had a daughter, Dorothea Groener-Geyer (b.1900).[2]
As a captain, he won appointment to theGeneral Staff in 1899 and was attached to the railway section, where he worked for the next 17 years.[1] This was only interrupted for the usual assignments to other locations, from 1902 to 1904 he wasKompaniechef of Infantry Regiment 98 atMetz, from 1908 to 1910 he was with the XIII Army Corps and in 1910 he became a battalion commander in Infantry Regiment 125 atStuttgart. In 1912, as a lieutenant-colonel, Groener became head of the railway section at the General Staff. His plans for the extension of the railway network and for deployment routes were based on thedeployment plans ofAlfred von Schlieffen, the Chief of the General Staff of theGerman Army from 1891 to 1906.[2]
The deployment of millions of troops to the frontier by rail boosted Groener's reputation and he received numerous decorations in 1914. In June 1915, he was promoted toGeneralmajor. Due to his organisational ability, in December 1915 Groener was put in charge of food deliveries fromRomania. In May 1916, he joined the leadership of the newly createdKriegsernährungsministerium (War Food Ministry). In November 1916, as aGeneralleutnant he became head of theKriegsamt (War Office) the department that managed the war economy and deputy of thePrussian Minister of War.[1][2]
WithErich Ludendorff, Groener worked on the draft for theHilfsdienstgesetz (Auxiliary Services Act, 1916), which laid down the conscription of men (Arbeitszwang) for the war economy. Groener negotiated with the civilian bureaucracy, unions and representatives of the employers. Despite his efforts to appear neutral to maximise output, he became the target of criticism. Factory owners resented him for accepting the unions as partners. Revolutionary groups used his strict admonishments against those who went on strike while soldiers died at the front to undermine his standing with the workers. The negotiations made the limits of Germany military power obvious to Groener and he began to doubt that Germany could win the war. This caused confrontations with the thirdOberste Heeresleitung (OHL, the supreme command of the German army), led byPaul Hindenburg and Ludendorff. During the change at theReichskanzlei in July 1917, whenGeorg Michaelis replacedTheobald von Bethmann Hollweg as Chancellor, Groener suggested that the state should intervene to limit corporate profits and the wage growth that resulted from booming war-related public demand.[1] On 16 August 1917 he was recalled from his post and reassigned to an operational command. This was seen by the public as a response to his views on social policy.[1]
Groener served for six months at the western front first as the commander of the33rd Division, and then of theXXV Reserve Corps, where he was able to observe trench warfare and the mood of the troops.[1] In March 1918, he commanded theI Corps during the occupation ofUkraine. On 28 March, he was appointedchief of staff of thearmy groupHeeresgruppe Eichhorn-Kiew.[1][2] This task required him to deal with organisational and political challenges, in particular confrontations with the army high command ofAustria-Hungary and supervising, then reshuffling, the Ukrainian government which needed help against Bolshevik revolutionaries.[1]
After the dismissal of Erich Ludendorff on 26 October 1918, Groener was recalled and on 29 October appointed as Ludendorff's successor as First Quartermaster General (Deputy Chief of the General Staff) under Hindenburg.[3] The military situation was becoming untenable and social unrest and rebellion in the German armed forces and the civilian population threatened to break out intorevolution. Groener started to prepare the withdrawal and demobilisation of the army.[2][4]: 51 [3] As the revolution spread through Germany in early November, Groener began to see the Emperor,Wilhelm II, as an impediment to saving the monarchy and the integrity of the army. Privately, he felt the Kaiser should sacrifice himself in a hero's death at the front.[4]: 75
On 6 November, Groener reacted indignantly when theSocial DemocratFriedrich Ebert suggested that the Kaiser shouldabdicate. On 9 November, when the Kaiser suggested using the army to crush the revolution at home, Groener advised him to abdicate, because he had lost the confidence of the armed forces.[4]: 76, 82 [3] Groener's goal was to preserve the monarchy, but under a different ruler.[2] He was also in favour of accepting the armistice conditions put to the German government, despite their severe nature.[2]
On the evening of 10 November, Groener contacted the new chancellor, Friedrich Ebert, and concluded theEbert-Groener pact, which was to remain secret for a number of years. Ebert agreed to suppress the Bolshevik revolutionaries and to maintain the traditional role of the armed forces as a pillar of the German state; Groener promised that the army would support the new government.[5][3] For this act, Groener earned the enmity of many other military leaders, many of whom sought the retention of the monarchy.
Groener oversaw the retreat and demobilisation of the defeated German army after the signing of thearmistice on 11 November 1918. Despite a very tight schedule, the withdrawal was effected without problems.[1][3] Groener organised the defence of the eastern borders of theReich until a peace treaty could be signed.[3] The headquarters of OHL, atSchloss Wilhelmshöhe from 14 November 1918 to 13 February 1919, was moved toKolberg.[1] Groener also planned for and expected the German peacetime army to be built up to 300,000 in the coming years, a plan that would be ruined by theTreaty of Versailles.[3]
On 23 June 1919, Ebert asked OHL for an opinion on whether theReich should sign the Treaty of Versailles. Groener supported signing as he was worried that the unity of theReich would be in danger if fighting was resumed, contradicting the officer corps and the views ofWalther Reinhardt, the Prussian Minister of War.[3] Hindenburg followed Groener on this issue and when Hindenburg resigned, Groener succeeded him. Groener, who expected to be made a scapegoat, began cooperating in this process to save Hindenburg's reputation, something Ebert immediately noticed.[3] OHL was dissolved as a condition of the treaty, and Groener temporarily took over command at Kolberg. He started to organise the establishment of the new peacetime (Reichswehr), arguing in favour of a high share of former general staff officers among the new leadership, including in theReichswehrministerium. He also supported a senior position forHans von Seeckt.[1] On 30 September, Groener resigned from the army, against the wishes of Ebert; Groener felt that his pact with the Social Democrats had cost him the trust of many of his fellow officers.[2]
After his resignation from the army, Groener moved in and out of retirement during the 1920s. Not a member of any party, at Ebert's request he served asMinister of Transport between 1920 and 1923. His main achievement was the rebuilding of theReichsbahn. In 1923, when theCuno government resigned, Groener left politics and wrote military and political treatises, such asDas Testament des Grafen Schlieffen (1927).[1][2]
Hindenburg, Ebert's successor asReichspräsident, appointed Groener as the successor ofOtto Geßler asMinister of Defence on 20 January 1928, a post he held until 1932.[1] Besides expanding theReichswehr, Groener made an effort to integrate it into the society of the Weimar Republic.[2] In 1930, Groener married Ruth Naeher-Glück (born 1894) in Berlin and had a son. This second marriage and the early birth date of his son undermined Groener's relationship with the conservative Hindenburg.[2]
On 8 October 1931 Groener becameacting Interior Minister in the government ofHeinrich Brüning and favoured the banning of theNaziSturmabteilung (SA storm troops).[1] As Interior Minister he was asked to outlaw the SA, whilst his goal as Defence Minister was to integrate it into a national, non-partisan paramilitary force.[1] In April 1932, under pressure from several German states, Groener outlawed the SA andSchutzstaffel (SS).Kurt von Schleicher, his subordinate at theReichswehrministerium wanted to cooperate with the two groups, and worked on Hindenburg to have Groener dismissed. Von Schleicher also allied himself with the Nazi Party. After a rhetorical defeat in theReichstag, Groener resigned on 13 May as Defence Minister, urged by Schleicher who told Groener that he had lost the trust of theReichswehr.[1] When the Brüning government fell on 30 May, Groener also lost his position asInnenminister and left politics for good.[1][2]
HistorianFelix Gilbert expressed to historianPeter Gay his opinion that Groener was "the most overrated man in the Weimar Republic," a view about which Gay wrote in 1968 "It is time that such an opinion is publicly recorded."[6]
Groener moved toPotsdam-Bornstedt in 1934, where he wrote his memoirs,Lebenserinnerungen.[2] Groener died of natural causes in Bornstedt on 3 May 1939. He is buried in theStahnsdorf South-Western Cemetery, between Potsdam and Berlin.[7]
| Military offices | ||
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| Preceded by | Chief of the General Staff 1919 | Succeeded by |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Transportation Minister of Germany 1920–1923 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Defence Minister of Germany 1928–1932 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Interior Minister of Germany 1931–1932 | Succeeded by |
Fehrenbach cabinet – 25 June 1920 to 10 May 1921 | ||
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First Wirth cabinet – 10 May 1921 to 22 October 1921 | ||
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Second Wirth cabinet – 26 October 1921 to 14 November 1922 | ||
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Cuno cabinet – 22 November 1922 to 12 August 1923 | ||
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Second Müller cabinet – 28 June 1928 to 27 March 1930 | ||
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First Brüning cabinet – 30 March 1930 to 10 October 1931 | ||
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Second Brüning cabinet – 10 October 1931 to 1 June 1932 | ||
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