Son of a Prussian Junker family, Paul von Beneckendorff und
        Hindenburg was educated at the cadet schools at Wahlstatt and Berlin.
        In 1866 he fought at the battle of Koeniggraetz and, in 1870-1871, in
        the Franco-Prussian war. In 1903 he became a general and, after
        retiring in 1911, was recalled at the outbreak of the First World War.
        In 1914 Hindenburg and Ludendorff won decisive victories over the
        Russians at Tannenberg and, in 1915, at the Masurian Lakes. His
        successes against the Russians were not repeated on the western front,
        and in the summer of 1918 he was obliged to supervise the retreat of
        the German armies.
              A national hero and 'father figure' from 1925 till 1934 he was
        president of the German Republic. He did not oppose Stresemann's
        enlighted foreign policy, but neither did he oppose the rise of
        Hitler, whom he defeated in the presidential election of 1932 and who
        became chancellor in 1933. But such was his influence, that Hitler was
        unable to overthrow constitutional government until his death.
 

Source: Chambers's Biographical Dictionary