Erich Ludendorff

[offizier1916]

Hallo,

is there any reason, why Ludendorff never got his promotion to Generalfeldmarschall? And why was Ludendorff never admitted to the nobility? He received the Grand cross to the Iron Cross, the Pour le Merite, the Miliär Max Joseph Orden.....

[Dave Danner]

Seniority was important in the Prussian Army. Ludendorff was a very junior Generalmajor when the war started, so his promotions to Generalleutnant and General der Infanterie were already well ahead of his peers. Also, as a staff officer rather than a senior field commander, Generalfeldmarschall was unlikely. If Germany won the war and he had made Generaloberst before retiring, he might have been bumped to Generalfeldmarchall afterwards, like Graf v. Schlieffen. If Ludendorff had lived to the August 1939 Tannenberg promotions, he would have been given the Charakter of Generaloberst.

Regarding the nobility, I have read that Wilhelm II considered it, but Ludendorff himself did not want it. On a German history forum, someone who claimed to be a family member stated, "Ludendorff wurde in dieser Angelenheit sogar bereits vom Kaiser empfangen, dort erklärte er jedoch nicht in den Adelsstand erhoben werden zu wollen, da er seine Leistungen als soldatisch selbstverständlich ansah und dem persönlich nicht viel abgewinnen konnte."

http://www.geschichtsforum.de/f58/war-l ... lig-42490/

[offizier1916]

thx dave danner!