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Walther Karl Friedrich Ernst Emil Freiherr von Lüttwitzgenelogics.org
/ref> (2 February 1859 – 20 September 1942) was a
German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...
general who fought in
World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
. Lüttwitz is best known for being the driving force behind the Kapp–Lüttwitz Putsch of 1920 which attempted to replace the democratic government of the
Weimar Republic The Weimar Republic (german: link=no, Weimarer Republik ), officially named the German Reich, was the government of Germany from 1918 to 1933, during which it was a constitutional federal republic for the first time in history; hence it is al ...
with a military dictatorship.


Early life

Lüttwitz was born on 2 February 1859 in the city of Bodland near Kreuzburg O.S. in
Upper Silesia Upper Silesia ( pl, Górny Śląsk; szl, Gůrny Ślůnsk, Gōrny Ślōnsk; cs, Horní Slezsko; german: Oberschlesien; Silesian German: ; la, Silesia Superior) is the southeastern part of the historical and geographical region of Silesia, located ...
, then part of
Prussia Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an em ...
(now Bogacica, Poland). His father was Ernst von Lüttwitz (1823–92), an ''Oberförster'' ("head forest warden"), ''Hauptmann'' (captain) and ''Deichhauptmann'' ("overseer of dikes"). His mother was Cecile (1835–1910), the daughter of Heinrich Graf Strachwitz von Groß-Zauche und Camminetz.


Military career

Lüttwitz received his military training in 1878–87, finishing as an officer. He then attended the '' Kriegsakademie'' in 1887–90. Between 1890 and 1912 he served in various army commands. In 1912, Lüttwitz was appointed ''Oberquartiermeister'' at the ''Großer Generalstab'' (the
German General Staff The German General Staff, originally the Prussian General Staff and officially the Great General Staff (german: Großer Generalstab), was a full-time body at the head of the Prussian Army and later, the German Army, responsible for the continuou ...
). Crownprince Wilhelm described him as: "mehr Truppenführer als Armeechef, mehr Blücher als Gneisenau" ("more leader of men than army chief, more Blücher than Gneisenau"). During
World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, Lüttwitz held several high military ranks. From 2 August to 26 September 1914, he was Chief of Staff of the 4th Army. He led the 33rd Division from 26 September 1914 to 28 June 1915 and the 2nd Guards Infantry Division from 29 June to 25 September. He led
X Corps 10th Corps, Tenth Corps, or X Corps may refer to: France * 10th Army Corps (France) * X Corps (Grande Armée), a unit of the Imperial French Army during the Napoleonic Wars Germany * X Corps (German Empire), a unit of the Imperial German Army * ...
from 22 December 1915 to 20 August 1916 and participated in the
Second Battle of Champagne The Second Battle of Champagne ( or Autumn Battle) in World War I was a French offensive against the German army at Champagne that coincided with an Anglo-French assault at north-east Artois and ended with French retreat. Battle On 25 Septemb ...
. On 21 August 1916, he became Chief of Staff of the 5th Army (whose commander-in-chief was Prince Wilhelm) and managed to minimize the military fallout from the drain on resources of the
Battle of Verdun The Battle of Verdun (french: Bataille de Verdun ; german: Schlacht um Verdun ) was fought from 21 February to 18 December 1916 on the Western Front in France. The battle was the longest of the First World War and took place on the hills north ...
. On 25 November 1916, Lüttwitz was made commanding general of III Corps. Having received the order
Pour le Mérite The ' (; , ) is an order of merit (german: Verdienstorden) established in 1740 by Frederick the Great, King Frederick II of Prussia. The was awarded as both a military and civil honour and ranked, along with the Order of the Black Eagle, the Or ...
on 24 August 1916, in March 1918 he was commanding general during the German spring offensive near Saint-Quentin/La Fère and for his actions received the "oak leaves" addition to this medal on 26 March 1918. In August 1918, Lüttwitz became ''General der Infantrie''.


Post-war

After the
armistice An armistice is a formal agreement of warring parties to stop fighting. It is not necessarily the end of a war, as it may constitute only a cessation of hostilities while an attempt is made to negotiate a lasting peace. It is derived from the La ...
and the
German Revolution German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...
in 1918, on 28 December the ''
Rat der Volksbeauftragten The Council of the People's Deputies (, sometimes translated as Council of People's Representatives or Council of People's Commissars) was the name given to the government of the November Revolution in Germany from November 1918 until February 19 ...
'', the provisional German government, appointed him commander-in-chief of the German military in
Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...
and vicinity (''Befehlshaber der Truppen in und um Berlin'' and ''Oberbefehlshaber in den Marken''). Besides being in command of all the regular forces of the demobilizing Imperial Army in that region, he was also in charge of all the ''
Freikorps (, "Free Corps" or "Volunteer Corps") were irregular German and other European military volunteer units, or paramilitary, that existed from the 18th to the early 20th centuries. They effectively fought as mercenary or private armies, regar ...
'' in the area. He was called "Father of the Freikorps" as he relied heavily on these paramilitary units in late 1918 and early 1919 after the regular troops had turned out to be unreliable. In this function, he directed the suppression of the
Spartakus Uprising The Spartacist uprising (German: ), also known as the January uprising (), was a general strike and the accompanying armed struggles that took place in Berlin from 5 to 12 January 1919. It occurred in connection with the November Revoluti ...
by the ''
Freikorps (, "Free Corps" or "Volunteer Corps") were irregular German and other European military volunteer units, or paramilitary, that existed from the 18th to the early 20th centuries. They effectively fought as mercenary or private armies, regar ...
'' in January 1919 under the orders of Minister of Defence
Gustav Noske Gustav Noske (9 July 1868 – 30 November 1946) was a German politician of the Social Democratic Party (SPD). He served as the first Minister of Defence (''Reichswehrminister'') of the Weimar Republic between 1919 and 1920. Noske has been a cont ...
. In March 1919, Lüttwitz' position was renamed ''Oberbefehlshaber des Reichswehr-Gruppenkommandos 1''. In May 1919, the government named him as supreme commander of all military troops of the Reich in case of an emergency or war. However, even at that time, Lüttwitz was making political demands outside the area of responsibility of a military commander, like outlawing strikes and abolishing unemployment insurance.


Kapp–Lüttwitz Putsch

Like many members of the Reichswehr, Lüttwitz was an outspoken opponent of the
Treaty of Versailles The Treaty of Versailles (french: Traité de Versailles; german: Versailler Vertrag, ) was the most important of the peace treaties of World War I. It ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers. It was signed on 28 June ...
that was signed in June 1919. He was concerned that the treaty's stipulations could cause the army to disintegrate during its period of re-organisation and he especially disliked the treaty articles that demanded the reduction of the army to 100,000 men, disbandment of the ''Freikorps'', and the extradition of about 900 men whom the
Allies An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...
accused of war crimes. He planned to defy these stipulations of the treaty. As early as July 1919, Lüttwitz was involved in plots to topple the Weimar Republic and replace the government of
Friedrich Ebert Friedrich Ebert (; 4 February 187128 February 1925) was a German politician of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) and the first President of Germany (1919–1945), president of Germany from 1919 until his death in office in 1925. Eber ...
with a military dictatorship. On 29 February 1920, Defence Minister Noske ordered the disbandment of two of the most powerful ''Freikorps'', the ''Marinebrigade Loewenfeld'' and the ''
Marinebrigade Ehrhardt The Marinebrigade Ehrhardt, also known as the Ehrhardt Brigade, was a Freikorps unit of the early Weimar Republic. It was formed on 17 February 1919 as the Second Marine Brigade from members of the former Imperial German Navy under the lead ...
''. The commander of the latter, ''Korvettenkapitän''
Hermann Ehrhardt Hermann Ehrhardt (29 November 1881 – 27 September 1971) was a German naval officer in World War I who became an anti-republican and anti-Semitic German nationalist Freikorps leader during the Weimar Republic. As head of the Marinebrigade E ...
, declared that the unit would refuse to disband. On 1 March, it staged a parade without inviting Noske. Lüttwitz said at the parade that he would "not accept" the loss of such an important unit. Several of Lüttwitz's officers were horrified at this open rejection of the government's authority and tried to mediate by setting up a meeting between von Lüttwitz and the leaders of the two major right-wing parties. Lüttwitz listened to and remembered their ideas, but was not dissuaded from his course of action. Noske then removed the ''Marinebrigade'' from Lüttwitz's command. Lüttwitz ignored the order, but agreed to a meeting with President Ebert suggested by his staff. On the evening of 10 March, Lüttwitz came with his staff to Ebert's office. Ebert had also asked Noske to attend. Lüttwitz, drawing on demands by the right-wing parties and adding his own, now demanded the immediate dissolution of the National Assembly, new elections for the Reichstag, the appointment of technocrats (''Fachminister'') as Secretaries for Foreign Affairs, Economics and Finance, the dismissal of General
Walther Reinhardt Walther Gustav Reinhardt (; 24 March 1872 in Stuttgart – 8 August 1930 in Berlin) was a German officer who served as the last Prussian Minister of War and the first head of the army command (''Chef der Heeresleitung'') within the newly create ...
as ''Chef der Heeresleitung'', his own appointment as supreme commander of the regular military and the revocation of the orders of dissolution for the ''Marinebrigaden''. Ebert and Noske rejected these demands. Noske told Lüttwitz that he expected his resignation the next day. Instead of resigning, Lüttwitz went to Döberitz on 11 March and asked Ehrhardt whether he would be able to occupy Berlin that very evening. Ehrhardt said he needed another day, but in the morning of 13 March he could be in the centre of Berlin with his men. Lüttwitz gave the order, and Ehrhardt began his preparations. It was only at this point that Lüttwitz brought the group known as ''Nationale Vereinigung'' into the plot. These included
DNVP The German National People's Party (german: Deutschnationale Volkspartei, DNVP) was a national-conservative party in Germany during the Weimar Republic. Before the rise of the Nazi Party, it was the major conservative and nationalist party in Wei ...
member
Wolfgang Kapp Wolfgang Kapp (24 July 1858 – 12 June 1922) was a German civil servant and journalist. A strict nationalist, he is best known for being the leader of the Kapp Putsch. Early life Kapp was born in New York City where his father Friedrich Kapp ...
, retired General
Erich Ludendorff Erich Friedrich Wilhelm Ludendorff (9 April 1865 – 20 December 1937) was a German general, politician and military theorist. He achieved fame during World War I for his central role in the German victories at Liège and Tannenberg in 1914. ...
, as well as
Waldemar Pabst Ernst Julius Waldemar Pabst (24 December 1880 – 29 May 1970) was a German soldier and political activist, involved in right-wing and anti-communist activity in both his homeland and Austria. As a serving officer Pabst gained notoriety for orde ...
and , the last Berlin head of police in the old Reich. Their goal was to establish an authoritarian regime (though not a monarchy) with a return to the federal structure of the Empire. Lüttwitz asked them to be ready to take over the government on 13 March. Lüttwitz had not been dismissed, but only suspended from his post on 11 March. On the morning of 13 March, the ''Marinebrigade'' reached the ''Brandenburger Tor'', where it was met by Lüttwitz, Ludendorff, Kapp and their followers. Shortly thereafter, the putschists moved into the
Reich Chancellery The Reich Chancellery (german: Reichskanzlei) was the traditional name of the office of the Chancellor of Germany (then called ''Reichskanzler'') in the period of the German Reich from 1878 to 1945. The Chancellery's seat, selected and prepared s ...
(''Reichskanzlei''). Supported by a battalion of the regular Reichswehr, they occupied the government quarter. Kapp declared himself
Chancellor Chancellor ( la, cancellarius) is a title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the or lattice work screens of a basilica or law cou ...
(''Reichskanzler'') and formed a provisional government. Lüttwitz served as commander of the armed forces and Minister of Defence. Although the putsch received support from military commanders and other conservative and monarchistic groups around the Reich, the rank and file of the bureaucracy mostly refused to cooperate. A general strike, called by the legitimate government, the unions and the parties of the left paralyzed the country and made it impossible for Kapp to govern. After negotiations with those members of the legitimate government who had remained in Berlin, Kapp resigned on 17 March, but Lüttwitz tried to hold on for another day as head of a military dictatorship. When Lüttwitz offered his resignation on 18 March, Vice-Chancellor
Eugen Schiffer Eugen Schiffer (14 February 1860 – 5 September 1954) was a German lawyer and liberal politician. He served as Minister of Finance and deputy head of government from February to April 1919. From October 1919 to March 1920, he was again deputy h ...
accepted—granting him full pension rights. Schiffer also suggested Lüttwitz should leave the country until the National Assembly had decided on the question of an amnesty and even offered him a false passport and money.


Later life

After the collapse of the putsch, Lüttwitz first went to Saxony and only later left for
Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...
. He used a passport provided by supporters in the Berlin police department. Lüttwitz returned to Germany after an
amnesty Amnesty (from the Ancient Greek ἀμνηστία, ''amnestia'', "forgetfulness, passing over") is defined as "A pardon extended by the government to a group or class of people, usually for a political offense; the act of a sovereign power offici ...
in 1924. He went back to Silesia and supported the
DNVP The German National People's Party (german: Deutschnationale Volkspartei, DNVP) was a national-conservative party in Germany during the Weimar Republic. Before the rise of the Nazi Party, it was the major conservative and nationalist party in Wei ...
but was not politically active. In 1931, he called for the creation of the
Harzburger Front The Harzburg Front (german: Harzburger Front) was a short-lived radical right-wing, anti-democratic political alliance in Weimar Germany, formed in 1931 as an attempt to present a unified opposition to the government of Chancellor Heinrich Brü ...
and in 1933 congratulated
Wilhelm Frick Wilhelm Frick (12 March 1877 – 16 October 1946) was a prominent German politician of the Nazi Party (NSDAP), who served as Reich Minister of the Interior in Adolf Hitler's cabinet from 1933 to 1943 and as the last governor of the Protectorate ...
on the successful ''
Machtergreifung Adolf Hitler's rise to power began in the newly established Weimar Republic in September 1919 when Hitler joined the '' Deutsche Arbeiterpartei'' (DAP; German Workers' Party). He rose to a place of prominence in the early years of the party. Be ...
'' (take-over) by the NSDAP. His book, ''Im Kampf gegen die November-Republik'' was published in 1934.


Personal life

Lüttwitz was married twice. In 1884 at Nimkau, he married Louise (1864–1918), daughter of the Austrian Hauptmann Viktor Graf von Wengersky and Eleonore Gräfin Haller von Hallerstein. In 1921 at
Salzburg Salzburg (, ; literally "Salt-Castle"; bar, Soizbuag, label=Bavarian language, Austro-Bavarian) is the List of cities and towns in Austria, fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020, it had a population of 156,872. The town is on the site of the ...
, he married Adelheid (1869–1956), daughter of Johann Freiherr Sardagna von Meanberg und Hohenstein and Irma von Dorner. With Louise, Lüttwitz had three daughters and a son. His son was
Smilo Freiherr von Lüttwitz Smilo Walther Hinko Oskar Constantin Wilhelm Freiherr von Lüttwitz (23 December 1895 – 19 May 1975) was a German general during World War II and son of Walther von Lüttwitz. After World War II he joined the Bundeswehr on 1 June 1957 and retir ...
. His daughter Maria married
Kurt von Hammerstein-Equord Kurt Gebhard Adolf Philipp Freiherr von Hammerstein-Equord (26 September 1878 – 24 April 1943) was a German general (''Generaloberst'') who was the Commander-in-Chief of the Reichswehr, the Weimar Republic's armed forces. He is regarded as "a ...
. Lüttwitz died on 20 September 1942 in Breslau.


References


Bibliography

* Berger, Florian, ''Mit Eichenlaub und Schwertern. Die höchstdekorierten Soldaten des Zweiten Weltkrieges''. Selbstverlag Florian Berger, 2006. . (self-published source)


External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Luttwitz, Walther Von 1859 births 1942 deaths People from Kluczbork Generals of Infantry (Reichswehr) Generals of Infantry (Prussia) People from the Province of Silesia Recipients of the Pour le Mérite (military class) Leaders who took power by coup German monarchists Kapp Putsch participants German Army generals of World War I 20th-century Freikorps personnel