Hermann von Kuhl

Hermann von Kuhl

General von Kuhl in 1914
Born 2 November 1856
Koblenz, Kingdom of Prussia
Died 4 November 1958(1958-11-04) (aged 102)
Frankfurt am Main, Germany
Allegiance  Prussia
 German Empire
 Weimar Republic
Service/branch Imperial German Army
 Kaiserliche Marine
Reichswehr
Years of service 1878–1919
Rank General der Infanterie
Commands held
  • 25. Infanterie-Brigade Münster
  • 1. Armee (Chief of Staff)
  • 12. Armee (Chief of Staff)
  • 6. Armee (Chief of Staff)
  • Heeresgruppe „Kronprinz Rupprecht“
  • Heeresgruppe A
Battles/wars

World War I

Awards Pour le Mérite with Oakleaves (1916)
Military Order of Max Joseph (1916)
Order of the Red Eagle (1918)
Pour le Mérite f. Wiss. u. Künste (1924)
Other work Author, Military historian

Hermann Josef von Kuhl (2 November 1856 – 4 November 1958) was a Prussian military officer, member of the German General Staff, and a Generalleutnant during World War I. One of the most competent commanders in the Imperial German Army, he retired in 1919 to write a number of critically acclaimed essays on the war. Hermann von Kuhl is one of only five recipients to be distinguished with both the "military class" and "peace class" of the Pour le Mérite, Prussia's and Germany's highest honor.[1][2]

Pre-war period

Hermann von Kuhl was born in Koblenz, Rheinpreußen (Rhenish Prussia), the son of a high school teacher. He studied philosophy, classical philology, German studies and comparative linguistics at the Universities of Leipzig, Tübingen, Marburg and Berlin. In 1878 he received his D.Phil. with the dissertation De Saliorum Carminibus. During his studies, he was a member of the University of Leipzig's singing group St. Pauli.[3]

On 1 October 1878 he joined the 5th Westphalian Infantry Regiment No. 53 – Köln as a cadet. There he was promoted to Leutnant in 1879 and Oberleutnant in 1889. After attending the Prussian Military Academy from 1889 to 1892, he served in the Royal Prussian District Command (Bezirkskommando) Wesel and the Grenadier Regiment "King Friedrich Wilhelm I" (2nd East Prussian) No. 3 – Königsberg, where he was a company commander.[4]

In 1897 he returned to the Prussian Military Academy in Berlin as an instructor and concurrently served as a Section Chief in the German General Staff. During his time on the General Staff von Kuhl was heavily influenced by Feldmarschall Alfred Graf von Schlieffen and the Schlieffen plan. Working well with the often-difficult Schlieffen, von Kuhl's career flourished. Schlieffen came to believe von Kuhl would become a "great captain of the future" and in 1899 promoted him to Major.[5] During this period von Kuhl also served on the General Staff of the Imperial German Navy until the end of 1902. His first major publication, Bonaparte's Campaign of 1796, the Starting Point of Modern Warfare, also appeared in 1902.[3]

On 4 June 1912 von Kuhl was promoted to Generalmajor. One year later, during the 25th anniversary of the reign of Kaiser Wilhelm II, he was knighted and thereafter named von Kuhl. At this time he received his first command, that of the 25th Infantry Brigade Münster, from 3 June 1913 to 2 August 1914. His last position prior to the start of World War I was an appointment as one of the five Oberquartiermeister who served as deputies to the Chief of the General Staff in Berlin.[4]

World War I

At the outbreak of World War I on 2 August 1914, von Kuhl became General Alexander von Kluck's 1st Army Chief of Staff on the Western Front and would prove an expert commander.[6] He received a promotion to Generalleutnant on 18 April 1915. On 22 September that same year, he became General Max von Fabeck's 12th Army Chief of Staff, and then served in the same capacity in the 6th Army after 24 November 1915. For exemplary service during the Battle of the Somme, Generalleutnant von Kuhl received the Pour le Mérite on 28 August 1916[4]

The end of August 1916 also saw von Kuhl's elevation to Chief of Staff of Army Group Crown Prince Rupprecht (German: Heeresgruppe „Kronprinz Rupprecht“). There he served Feldmarschall Rupprecht, Crown Prince of Bavaria, one of four senior members of German royal families who were appointed army group commanders. As they had little military experience, their chiefs-of-staff exercised actual operational control. Von Kuhl was particularly able in this regard.[7] During this time he saw action in the Ypres Salient and received the Kingdom of Bavaria's highest purely military honor, the Military Order of Max Joseph, on 13 December 1916.

After the Battle of Amiens on 11 August 1918, Rupprecht and his staff recognized that Germany's position had become hopeless.[8] The Army Group's command headquarters had moved to Tournai (24 April 1918), to Mons (2 September 1918) and finally to Brussels (17 October 1918), reflecting the long withdrawal from the Western Front and the final collapse of the German Army. At war's end, Rupprecht resigned his post on 11 November 1918. During the march back to Germany, the Army Group was designated "A" (German: Herresgruppe A) [6] and von Kuhl was made General der Infanterie to oversee its orderly demobilization. Following this final military assignment, Hermann von Kuhl retired.[3]

Post-war period

In retirement, von Kuhl published historical-critical books and numerous essays, articles and reviews about leadership problems on the Western Front during the war. He first revealed the existence of the Schlieffen Plan to the public in 1920, in an article entitled Why did the Marne Campaign Fail? This sparked a debate concerning German strategy that continued throughout the 1920s and early 1930s, and again in the 1950s.[9] Perhaps his most popular book in its day was The German General Staff in the Preparation and Conduct of the World War (1920), republished several times. He also wrote the objective essay The World War in the Judgment of our Enemies (1922). In 1929 he published Weltkrieg 1914–1918, two extensive volumes covering the entire war, which firmly established his reputation as a historian.[10]

In the 1920s von Kuhl was appointed to the Historical Commission of the Reich Archives and gave evidence to the Weimar Republic's Parliamentary inquiries on the reasons for the military collapse of 1918.[3] In his testimony, von Kuhl concluded: "The German offensive of spring 1918 had to battle with severe challenges... The mobility of the army was limited. Front-line units were gradually exhausted, while the enemy's combat power grew substantially through the arrival of the Americans and through the new means of combat – the tank."[11] This stands in contrast to General Erich Ludendorff who spent his post-war years promoting a Far Right stab-in-the-back legend that blamed the German defeat without an honorable peace on Marxists and Republicans at home.[12] Military historian Hans Meier-Welcker summed up von Kuhl this way: "For a deep historical understanding of the world war, even if not free of temporal apology, he performed a significant contribution" [3]

For his postwar work, von Kuhl was awarded the Pour le Mérite für Wissenschaften und Künste (English: Order of Merit in the Sciences and Arts) in 1924, Germany's highest civilian decoration.[13] Hermann von Kuhl spent his last few years living with his nephew in Frankfurt am Main. He died there on 4 November 1958 at the age of 102,[4] possibly the last survivor of World War I to have held general rank in the German army before the Armistice.

Awards

Dates of ranks

Works by von Kuhl

References

  1. 1 2 William E. Hamelman: The History of the Prussian Pour le Mérite Order, Volume III (1888–1918) Matthäus Publishers, 1986
  2. ↑ History of the Pour le Mérite at pourlemerite.org, Retrieved 28 April 2012.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Has Meier-Welcker: Hermann von Kuhl, in: Neue Deutsche Biographie 13 (1982), pp. 251f. Online summary (German) Retrieved 28 April 2012
  4. 1 2 3 4 Hermann von Kuhl at The Prussian Machine, Retrieved 28 April 2012
  5. ↑ David T. Zabecki: Chief of Staff, Volume 1: The Principal Officers Behind History's Great Commanders: Napoleonic Wars to World War I Naval Institute Press, 2008
  6. 1 2 Hermann Cron: Imperial German Army, 1914–18: Organisation, Structure, Orders of Battle. Helion & Company, Solihull 2010 (ISBN 1 874622 29 9) pp 67f
  7. ↑ Nigel Thomas: The German Army in World War I: 1915–17 2nd ed. Osprey Publishing 2004 (ISBN 1 84176 566 X) p 3.
  8. ↑ Glossary of the First World War at the National Archives, Retrieved 28 April 2012
  9. ↑ Terence Zuber German War Planning, 1891–1914: Sources And Interpretations. Boydell Press, Woodbridge 2004 (ISBN 1 84383 108 2) p 2.
  10. 1 2 Hermann von Kuhl at the Pour le Mérite für Wissenschaft und Künste Official website (German), Retrieved 28 April 2012.
  11. ↑ Ashley Ekins (ed.): 1918 – Year of Victory: The End of the Great War and the Shaping of History Moonrising, Auckland 2010
  12. ↑ Alexander Watson, Enduring the Great War: Combat, Morale and Collapse in the German and British Armies, 1914–1918 (Cambridge Military Histories, 2008) ch 6
  13. ↑ G. Ritter Orden Pour le mérite f. Wiss. u. Künste, Speeches & Memorial Words Vol. III, 1958/59, pp. 85–97 German: {{{1}}}
  14. ↑ Oakleaves awards at pourlemerite.org, Retrieved 28 April 2012
  15. ↑ Wolfgang Schütz: Koblenzer Köpfe. Personen der Stadtgeschichte – Namensgeber für Straßen und Plätze. 2. Auflage. Verlag für Anzeigenblätter, Mülheim-Kärlich 2005. (German)

Literature

External links

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Military offices
Preceded by
?		 Commander, 25. Infantry Brigade Münster
3 June 1913 – 2 August 1914 		Succeeded by
?
Preceded by
Formed from VIII Army Inspectorate
(VIII. Armee-Inspektion)		 Chief of Staff, 1. Armee
2 August 1914 – 21 September 1914 		Succeeded by
?
Preceded by
?		 Chief of Staff, 12. Armee
22 September 1915 – 23 November 1915 		Succeeded by
?
Preceded by
?		 Chief of Staff, 6. Armee
24 November 1915 – 27 August 1916 		Succeeded by
?
Preceded by
?		 Chief of Staff
Army Group Kronprinz Rupprecht
24 November 1915 – 11 November 1918 		Succeeded by
Dissolved
Preceded by
Formed from Army Group
Kronprinz Rupprecht		 General der Infanterie
Army Group A
12 November 1918 – 11 January 1919 		Succeeded by
Dissolved
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