Claim profile

Erich Ludendorff

German Army officer (1865–1937)

  • Fame63.2
  • Momentum16.4
  • Wikipedia66.3K
Source-basedStable
Lived 1865–1937, aged 72
PoliticiansPolitician
  • Wikipedia
    61 languages
    Cross-language footprint
  • Era
    1865–1937
    Aged 72
  • Known for
    Apocalypse: The Battle…
    2016
Summary
Updated 2026-06-11

He ran Germany's war machine as a virtual military dictator from 1916 to 1918, winning crushing victories in the east before watching the whole effort collapse. After the armistice, he spent two decades blaming everyone else — and marching alongside the men who would finish what he started.

Biography

About

Erich Ludendorff came from a non-noble Prussian family and climbed the ranks on merit, admitted to the War Academy in 1893 and assigned to the Great General Staff by 1904, where he helped develop the Schlieffen Plan. Removed once for meddling in politics, he redeemed himself in August 1914 by leading the assault on Liège, then engineered the annihilation of Russian forces at Tannenberg and the Masurian Lakes under Hindenburg's command. By August 1916 he'd maneuvered himself into the role of First Quartermaster General, establishing a military dictatorship that controlled Germany's entire war s…

Voice

In their own words

Sourced, dated quotes from Erich Ludendorff

Erich Ludendorff
said
A field marshal is born, not made!
— In an attempt to regain Ludendorff's favor, Hitler paid Ludendorff an unannounced visit in 1935 and offered to make him a field marshal.
Erich Ludendorff
said
For example, Italy and Soviet Russia, superficially considered, each seem to constitute a united people.
— Der Totalkrieg (Berlin, 1933), quoted in W. W. Coole (ed.), Thus Spake Germany (London: George Routledge & Sons, 1941), p. 139
Erich Ludendorff
said
During the years of the so-called peace, politics—total politics—have only a meaning in as much as they prepare for total war.
— Der Totalkrieg (Berlin, 1933), quoted in W. W. Coole (ed.), Thus Spake Germany (London: George Routledge & Sons, 1941), p. 357
Erich Ludendorff
said
What the enemy allows to us and praises in us, must be bad for us.
— Kriegsführung und Politik (Berlin, 1922), p. 334, quoted in W. W. Coole (ed.), Thus Spake Germany (London: George Routledge & Sons, 1941),
Erich Ludendorff
said
The un-Germanness in and about us...lies primarily in a lack of racial sense ...
— Kriegsführung und Politik (Berlin, 1922), pp. 337-338, quoted in W. W. Coole (ed.), Thus Spake Germany (London: George Routledge & Sons,
via Wikiquote · CC BY-SA
Where to find them

Platforms

By the numbers

Score breakdown

The six component signals behind the Fame score, and their ranks across the leaderboards.

Fame
Stable
63.2
Composite of search demand, mentions, audience & graph footprint.
Score components
Momentum16.4
Historical26.4
Now attention19.9
Source confidence65.0
Completeness65.0
Global rank
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Country rank
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Category rank
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Receipts

Sources

  • Wikipedia
    wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org
    High confidence
  • Wikidata
    wikidata · wikidata.org
    High confidence
  • Pantheon 2.0
    database · pantheon.world
    High confidence