Messenger, Charles

Field Marshal Paul von Hindenburg, the son of Prussian aristocrats, was educated at the Wahlstatt and Berlin cadet schools, before joining the army in 1865. He fought in the Battle of Koniggratz and in the Franco-Prussian War, and was promoted to the rank of General. Von Hindenburg retired from the army in 1911, but returned to service at the outbreak of the First World War.