Battle of Tannenberg

When war began in 1914 two Russian armies invaded East Prussia, and the German commander in the east was replaced. The new team of Hindenburg and Ludendorff, with Hoffmann as a key staff officer, moved forces by rail against the Russian Second Army. The Russians advanced in poor communication, sending orders by radio in the clear that the Germans could read. German forces enveloped both flanks and closed the trap around the centre. Samsonov, the Russian commander, is said to have shot himself in the forest. The victory made Hindenburg a national hero.

Historians have long reassessed the credit. Max Hoffmann's planning and the German railway network count for much, and Ludendorff's nerve wavered on the second day. The success rested also on Russian errors, bad coordination between the two armies and unencrypted radio. The German public mythology of a flawless victory by Hindenburg shaped later politics, including his election as president in 1925. Because the place name evoked 1410, the battle became part of a story told by German nationalists about the east, which later historians treat critically.