August von Mackensen

1. Lead

August von Mackensen (1849–1945) was a German field marshal whose career spanned the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71, the First World War and the first months of the Second World War, and who died at the age of ninety-five as the last living German field marshal of the First World War.

A cavalry officer of the old Prussian school, he was known for his tall figure, his distinctive black hussar uniform with the death’s-head badge, and his calm, unhurried manner of command. He first became famous in the First World War as the commander of the German Ninth Army in Poland in 1914, and then as the commander of the German-Austro-Hungarian Eleventh Army that broke the Russian front at Gorlice–Tarnów in May 1915, one of the great breakthrough battles of the Eastern Front.

He went on to conquer Serbia in the autumn of 1915 and to lead the invasion of Romania in 1916, capturing Bucharest and occupying most of the country. He was one of the most successful German commanders of the war, and he was admired by his troops and by his allies for his skill in handling large forces in mobile warfare.

After the war he lived in retirement, and he became a controversial figure in the 1930s because of his public association with the Nazi regime, which used his prestige for its own purposes. He never joined the Nazi Party, and historians disagree about how far he supported the regime and how far he was used by it.

His long life, which began in the year of the revolutions of 1848 and ended in the ruins of the Third Reich, makes him a bridge between the Prussian Germany of Bismarck and the Germany of Hitler.

2. Key Facts

Field	Value
Born	6 December 1849, Haus Leipnitz, Saxony, Prussia
Died	8 November 1945, Burghorn, near Celle, Germany
Nationality	German (Prussian)
Role/Rank	Field Marshal (Generalfeldmarschall), German Army
Known for	Gorlice–Tarnów breakthrough, 1915; conquest of Serbia, 1915; Romania campaign, 1916; last living German field marshal of the First World War
Wars	Franco-Prussian War; First World War
Awards	Pour le Mérite with Oak Leaves; Grand Cross of the Iron Cross; Knight of the Order of the Black Eagle
Commands	XVII Corps; Ninth Army; Eleventh Army; Army Group Mackensen
Family	Married Dorothea von Horn in 1879, then Leonie von der Osten in 1908; five children
Buried	Cemetery at Burghorn, near Celle

3. Early Life and Education

Childhood in Saxony and the Franco-Prussian War

August von Mackensen was born on 6 December 1849 at Haus Leipnitz, near Torgau in Saxony, the son of Ludwig von Mackensen, an estate manager, and Marie Rink. He grew up in a Prussian family of modest means, and he was educated at the cadet school at Wahlstatt and at the military academy in Berlin.

He joined the Prussian army in 1868 as a lieutenant in the 2nd Life Hussars, the famous Death’s Head Hussars, whose black uniform and skull badge he wore for the rest of his life. He served in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71, where he was wounded at the Battle of Mars-la-Tour and was awarded the Iron Cross.

The experience of that war, and the sight of the German Empire proclaimed at Versailles in 1871, shaped his outlook: he believed in the Prussian military tradition, in the monarchy and in the duty of the officer to serve the state. He was a tall, handsome and courteous officer, and he was known for his good manners and his calm temper.

Staff Training and the Hussar Regiments

After the war, Mackensen attended the Prussian War Academy in Berlin, where he studied strategy and tactics and where he came to the attention of senior officers. He served on the staff of the General Staff and as adjutant to senior commanders, and he rose steadily through the ranks.

In 1891 he was appointed adjutant to the German Emperor, Wilhelm II, a post that brought him into close contact with the court and that marked him as an officer of promise. He commanded the 1st Life Hussars from 1893 to 1898, and he was known as a superb horseman and as a commander who cared for his men.

He was promoted to major general in 1899 and to lieutenant general in 1903, and in 1908 he was given command of XVII Corps at Danzig. He was by then one of the most respected corps commanders in the German army, and he was regarded as a safe pair of hands for a difficult command.

The Death’s Head Hussars

The regiment that Mackensen served in for much of his career, the 2nd Life Hussars, was one of the most famous in the Prussian army, and its black uniform with the silver death’s head became inseparably associated with him. He wore the uniform on ceremonial occasions throughout his life, and photographs of him in old age still show him in the black hussar dress.

The image was carefully cultivated, and it made him instantly recognisable to the German public. It also reflected his identity as a cavalryman of the old school, a man who believed in mobility, in the shock of the charge and in the personal example of the commander.

In the First World War, when cavalry had largely ceased to be decisive on the Western Front, Mackensen showed that mobile warfare was still possible on the Eastern Front, where the distances were greater and the fronts were less densely held. His success there owed much to his training as a cavalryman and to his instinct for the offensive.

4. Rise to Prominence

XVII Corps in East Prussia

When the First World War began in August 1914, Mackensen commanded XVII Corps, part of the German Eighth Army in East Prussia. He fought in the battles of Gumbinnen and Tannenberg, where the German army under Paul von Hindenburg and Erich Ludendorff encircled and destroyed the Russian Second Army. His corps played an important part in the battle, and his handling of his troops in difficult terrain impressed his superiors.

He was then transferred to the south, where he took command of the German Ninth Army in Poland in November 1914. The Ninth Army fought in the battles around Łódź, and Mackensen’s skill in manoeuvre warfare began to attract attention.

He was a commander who understood the importance of the artillery preparation, of the concentration of force at the decisive point and of the rapid exploitation of a breakthrough, and he applied these principles with great success in the campaigns that followed.

The Gorlice–Tarnów Breakthrough

Mackensen’s rise to fame came in the spring of 1915, when he was given command of the Eleventh Army, a German-Austro-Hungarian force created for a great offensive against the Russian front in Galicia. The plan, devised by the German Chief of Staff, Erich von Falkenhayn, was to break through the Russian lines at Gorlice and Tarnów, and then to drive eastwards and to force the Russians to abandon Poland.

Mackensen’s army was given a massive concentration of artillery, including heavy guns, and on 2 May 1915 it attacked after a four-hour bombardment that destroyed the Russian defences. The breakthrough was complete: the Russian front collapsed, and Mackensen’s troops advanced rapidly, taking Przemyśl and Lemberg and driving the Russians back across Poland.

The offensive was one of the great successes of the war on the Eastern Front, and it made Mackensen’s reputation as a master of the breakthrough battle.

A Master of the Breakthrough

The Gorlice–Tarnów offensive showed Mackensen at his best. He had prepared the attack with great care, concentrating his artillery and his best divisions on a narrow front, and he had planned the exploitation in advance, so that his cavalry and his infantry could pursue the retreating Russians without pause.

He worked closely with his chief of staff, Hans von Seeckt, who was one of the ablest staff officers in the German army, and the partnership between the two men was a model of cooperation between a commander and his staff. The offensive also showed the value of the German system of command, in which the commander gave his subordinates clear objectives and left them free to carry them out.

Mackensen’s success at Gorlice–Tarnów was rewarded with promotion to field marshal in June 1915, and he became one of the most celebrated soldiers in Germany.

5. August von Mackensen’s Role in the War

The Conquest of Serbia

After the success in Galicia, Mackensen was given a new task: the conquest of Serbia. In the autumn of 1915, he commanded an army group composed of German, Austro-Hungarian and Bulgarian forces, and he attacked Serbia from the north and the east.

The Serbian army, which had resisted Austria-Hungary for more than a year, was overwhelmed by the weight of the attack, and it retreated through the mountains of Albania to the Adriatic coast in the winter of 1915–16, in one of the great tragedies of the war. Mackensen’s forces occupied Belgrade and most of Serbia, and the country was placed under military occupation.

The campaign was a military success, but it was also a harsh one: the Serbian retreat cost tens of thousands of lives, and the occupation was marked by reprisals and by suffering among the civilian population. Mackensen himself was known for his correct treatment of prisoners and for his respect for his enemies, and he was admired by the Serbs for his chivalry, but the campaign as a whole remains a controversial episode in his career.

The Romania Campaign

In 1916, Romania entered the war on the side of the Allies, and Mackensen was given command of the forces that invaded the country from the south, while Falkenhayn attacked from the north-west. The Romanian army, which was poorly equipped and badly led, was unable to resist the coordinated attack, and Mackensen’s forces crossed the Danube, defeated the Romanians at the Battle of the Argeș in December 1916, and captured Bucharest.

By the end of the year, most of Romania was occupied, and the Romanian government and army had retreated to Moldavia. The campaign gave Germany control of the Romanian oilfields and grain, which were vital to the German war effort, and it was Mackensen’s third great victory in eighteen months.

He remained in Romania as military governor until the end of the war, and he administered the occupied territory with a firmness that was respected even by his enemies.

Military Governor of Romania

Mackensen’s time as military governor of Romania lasted from late 1916 until November 1918, and it was the longest period of his wartime service in a single post. He was responsible for the administration of the occupied territory, for the exploitation of its resources and for the maintenance of order.

He was known for his correct and courteous treatment of the Romanian population, and he made efforts to limit the requisitions that bore heavily on the civilian population. He also protected Romanian cultural institutions, and he was respected by the Romanian political leaders with whom he dealt.

When the war ended, he was interned by the French in Hungary and then in Serbia, and he was not released until December 1919. He returned to Germany to find the Empire gone and the army he had served disbanded, and he retired to his estate at Burghorn, where he lived for the remaining twenty-six years of his life.

6. Key Decisions

The Decision to Attack at Gorlice

The first of Mackensen’s great decisions was the decision to attack at Gorlice in May 1915, on a narrow front and with a massive concentration of artillery. The plan was Falkenhayn’s, but Mackensen was responsible for its execution, and he insisted on the details that made it work: the careful registration of the artillery, the stockpiling of ammunition, the secrecy of the preparations and the planning of the exploitation.

He rejected the idea of a broad-front attack, which would have dissipated his strength, and he concentrated his forces on a sector only a few kilometres wide. The decision required courage, because a failure on a narrow front would have been conspicuous, but it was justified by the result.

The breakthrough was the most complete of the war on the Eastern Front, and it showed that a well-prepared attack could still succeed in an age of trenches and machine guns, provided that the attacker concentrated his force and his firepower at the decisive point.

The Invasion of Romania

A second decision, taken in 1916, was the decision to invade Romania from the south, across the Danube, while Falkenhayn attacked from the north-west. The crossing of the Danube was a difficult operation, and it required careful planning and the cooperation of Bulgarian forces, but Mackensen carried it out successfully, and the Romanian army was caught between two attacks that it could not resist.

He then made the decision to press on to Bucharest without waiting for Falkenhayn, and the capture of the capital in December 1916 completed the conquest of the country. His judgement in the campaign was sound throughout, and it showed his ability to coordinate the operations of allied armies of different nationalities.

He understood the importance of the Romanian oilfields and grain, and he knew that the occupation of the country would give Germany resources that it desperately needed.

The Partnership with Seeckt

Mackensen’s success owed much to his partnership with his chief of staff, Hans von Seeckt, who served with him from 1915 to the end of the war. Seeckt was one of the ablest staff officers in the German army, and he was responsible for much of the detailed planning of the Gorlice, Serbia and Romania campaigns.

Mackensen gave Seeckt his full confidence, and he allowed him a freedom of action that was unusual in the German army. The partnership worked because the two men complemented each other: Mackensen was calm, courteous and decisive, while Seeckt was energetic, thorough and intellectually brilliant.

Their cooperation is often cited as an example of the German system of command at its best, in which the commander and his chief of staff worked as a team. Seeckt went on to become the commander of the Reichswehr after the war, and he always acknowledged his debt to Mackensen.

7. Controversies

Mackensen and the Nazi Regime

The most controversial aspect of Mackensen’s later life is his relationship with the Nazi regime. After Hitler came to power in 1933, the Nazis used Mackensen’s prestige as a hero of the First World War to lend legitimacy to the new regime, and he appeared at public ceremonies alongside Hitler and other Nazi leaders.

He was photographed in his black hussar uniform at the Day of Potsdam in March 1933, and he was present at the funeral of President Hindenburg in 1934. He never joined the Nazi Party, and he is not known to have shared its racial ideology, but he did not publicly criticise the regime, and he accepted the honours that it offered him.

His defenders argue that he was an old man who believed in the army and in the state, and who did not understand the nature of Nazism. His critics argue that his public appearances gave the regime a respectability it did not deserve, and that a man of his standing should have spoken out.

The Serbian Campaign and the Occupation

A second controversy concerns the Serbian campaign of 1915 and the occupation that followed. The Serbian retreat through Albania in the winter of 1915–16 cost tens of thousands of lives, and the occupation of Serbia was marked by harsh measures against the civilian population, including reprisals for resistance and the internment of suspected enemies.

Mackensen himself was known for his correct conduct and for his respect for the laws of war, and he is not accused of ordering atrocities, but he was the commander of the forces that carried out the occupation, and he bears a share of the responsibility for its conduct. Historians have debated how far he knew about the harshness of the occupation and how far he could have prevented it.

The most balanced view is that he was a humane commander by the standards of his time, but that the occupation was nonetheless a harsh one, and that his reputation for chivalry should not obscure the suffering that it caused.

A Monarchist in a Republic

A third controversy, of a different kind, concerns Mackensen’s political views after the war. He was a convinced monarchist, and he never accepted the Weimar Republic, which he regarded as the product of defeat and revolution. He supported the return of the monarchy, and he was associated with right-wing political circles in the 1920s.

His views were shared by many former officers, and they were not in themselves unusual, but they made him a figure of the old order in a Germany that was trying to build a democracy. His monarchism also explains his attitude towards the Nazis: he saw Hitler as a man who might restore Germany’s greatness, and he was slow to recognise that the Nazi regime was something very different from the monarchy he had served.

His political judgement in the 1930s was poor, and it has damaged his reputation among historians who judge him by the standards of the present day.

8. Later Life and Death

Retirement at Burghorn

After his release from internment in December 1919, Mackensen retired to his estate at Burghorn, near Celle in Lower Saxony, where he lived for the remaining twenty-six years of his life. He was sixty-eight years old when the war ended, and he took no further part in military affairs, although he remained a respected figure in the army and in German society.

He wrote his memoirs, which were published in the 1920s, and he corresponded with former colleagues and with historians about the campaigns he had fought. He was a courteous and dignified old man, and visitors to Burghorn remembered his hospitality and his stories of the war. He was also a keen horseman, and he continued to ride until he was well into his eighties.

His retirement was long and peaceful, and it contrasted sharply with the fate of many of his contemporaries, who died in the war or in the turmoil that followed it.

The Third Reich and the Second World War

Mackensen’s long retirement coincided with the rise of the Nazis and with the Second World War, and he lived to see Germany defeated a second time. He was ninety years old when the Second World War began, and he took no part in it, although his son Eberhard served as a general and was later convicted of war crimes in Italy.

Mackensen himself was not accused of any crime, and he was left in peace by the Allied occupation authorities after the war. He was visited by British officers who wanted to hear his account of the First World War, and he received them with courtesy.

He died on 8 November 1945, at the age of ninety-five, only a few months after the end of the war, and he was buried at Burghorn. He was the last living German field marshal of the First World War, and his death closed a chapter in German military history.

The Last Field Marshal

Mackensen’s death in 1945, at the age of ninety-five, made him a symbol of a vanished Germany. He had been born in 1849, in the year after the revolutions of 1848, and he had served the Prussian monarchy, the German Empire and, in a sense, the Third Reich, although he never served the Nazi regime in a military capacity.

He had fought in two wars, and he had commanded armies in some of the greatest battles of the First World War. His long life spanned the whole history of the German Empire, from its creation to its destruction, and his career illustrates both the achievements and the limitations of the Prussian military tradition.

He was admired as a commander, respected as a man and criticised as a political figure, and his life remains a subject of interest for historians of Germany and of the First World War. He was admired as a commander, respected as a man and criticised as a political figure, and his life remains a subject of interest for historians of Germany.

9. Legacy

A Master of Mobile Warfare

Mackensen’s military legacy rests on his conduct of the campaigns of 1915 and 1916, and above all on the breakthrough at Gorlice–Tarnów. He showed that a well-prepared attack, concentrated on a narrow front and supported by massive artillery, could break through a fortified line and restore mobility to a war that had become static.

His campaigns in Serbia and Romania showed the same skill in handling large forces in difficult terrain, and his partnership with Seeckt became a model of cooperation between a commander and his staff. His methods were studied in German military academies in the interwar period, and they influenced the doctrine of mobile warfare that the German army developed in the 1930s.

He is remembered as one of the most successful German commanders of the First World War, and his reputation as a soldier has survived the controversies about his later political life.

The Black Hussar

Mackensen’s second legacy is his image as the Black Hussar, the tall, courteous officer in the black uniform with the death’s-head badge. The image was carefully cultivated, and it made him one of the most recognisable soldiers in Germany. It has survived in photographs, in films and in the popular memory of the First World War, and it has become a symbol of the Prussian military tradition.

The image is romantic, and it has sometimes obscured the reality of his career, which was that of a professional soldier who was also a careful planner and a skilled administrator. Yet the image captures something real about him: his belief in the traditions of the army, his courtesy and his calm under pressure.

He is remembered in Germany as a figure of the old order, and his name is still associated with the campaigns of 1915 and 1916.

Mackensen in German Memory

In German memory, Mackensen occupies a place that is both honoured and ambiguous. He is honoured as a great commander of the First World War, and his victories at Gorlice, in Serbia and in Romania are still remembered. He is also remembered as a man who lived to see the destruction of the Germany he had served, and whose association with the Nazis in the 1930s has complicated his reputation.

Historians in Germany have debated his legacy, and they have generally concluded that he was a great soldier but a poor politician, and that his later life shows the dangers of allowing a military reputation to be used for political purposes.

His estate at Burghorn and his grave there are still visited by those interested in the history of the First World War, and his memoirs remain a valuable source for the campaigns he fought. His estate at Burghorn and his grave there are still visited by those interested in the history of the First World War, and his memoirs remain a valuable source.

10. Assessment by Historians

One of the Great Commanders of the Eastern Front

Historians have generally assessed Mackensen as one of the great commanders of the First World War, and as the most successful German commander on the Eastern Front after Hindenburg and Ludendorff. His victories at Gorlice–Tarnów, in Serbia and in Romania were achieved with relatively low losses, and they had a decisive effect on the course of the war in the east.

His skill in the breakthrough battle, his handling of allied armies and his partnership with Seeckt are all praised by historians, and his campaigns are studied as examples of mobile warfare. The consensus is that he was a commander of the first rank, and that his reputation as a soldier is well deserved.

His success is all the more remarkable because he was sixty-four years old when the war began, and he was older than most of his fellow commanders.

The Political Mackensen

A second strand of assessment concerns Mackensen’s political life, and here historians are more critical. They argue that his monarchism and his association with the Nazis in the 1930s show a failure of political judgement, and that his public appearances lent legitimacy to a regime that he should have opposed.

His defenders reply that he was an old man who did not understand the nature of Nazism, and that he never joined the Party or shared its ideology. They also point out that he was not alone: many former officers of his generation made the same mistake, and his conduct was no worse than theirs.

The debate reflects a wider argument about the responsibility of the German military elite for the rise of Hitler, and Mackensen’s case is often cited as an example of the way in which the prestige of the old army was used by the Nazis.

The debate reflects a wider argument about the responsibility of the German military elite for the rise of Hitler, and Mackensen’s case is often cited as an example.

The Balanced Judgement

The balanced judgement that has emerged is that Mackensen was a great soldier and a poor politician, and that the two parts of his life should be judged separately. As a commander, he was one of the finest of the First World War, and his campaigns of 1915 and 1916 remain models of mobile warfare.

As a political figure, he was a man of the old order who failed to understand the new Germany, and whose association with the Nazis damaged his reputation. His long life, which spanned the whole history of the German Empire, makes him a useful figure for understanding the Prussian military tradition and its limitations.

Historians now generally agree that his military achievements deserve to be remembered, and that his political errors deserve to be acknowledged, and that the two together make him one of the most interesting figures of the First World War. Historians now generally agree that his military achievements deserve to be remembered, and that his political errors deserve to be acknowledged.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who was August von Mackensen?
August von Mackensen was a German field marshal who commanded the German-Austro-Hungarian Eleventh Army at Gorlice–Tarnów in 1915, conquered Serbia in 1915 and led the invasion of Romania in 1916. He died in 1945 as the last living German field marshal of the First World War.

What was the Gorlice–Tarnów breakthrough?
It was an offensive launched on 2 May 1915 in Galicia, in which Mackensen’s Eleventh Army broke through the Russian front after a massive artillery bombardment and drove the Russians back across Poland, taking Przemyśl and Lemberg.

Why was Mackensen called the Black Hussar?
He served for much of his career in the 2nd Life Hussars, the Death’s Head Hussars, whose black uniform with a silver skull badge he wore throughout his life. The image became inseparably associated with him.

What did Mackensen do in Romania?
He commanded the invasion of Romania from the south in 1916, crossed the Danube, captured Bucharest in December 1916 and served as military governor of the occupied territory until the end of the war in 1918.

What was Mackensen’s relationship with the Nazis?
He never joined the Nazi Party, but he appeared at public ceremonies with Hitler in the 1930s and his prestige was used by the regime. Historians disagree about how far he supported the Nazis and how far he was used by them.

How long did Mackensen live?
He was born on 6 December 1849 and died on 8 November 1945, at the age of ninety-five. His life spanned the creation and the destruction of the German Empire.

Sources

• August von Mackensen, Memoirs, published in the 1920s
• Theodor von Schaefer, Generalfeldmarschall August von Mackensen, 1928
• Holger Herwig, The First World War: Germany and Austria-Hungary 1914–1918, 1997
• Norman Stone, The Eastern Front 1914–1917, 1975
• Richard L. DiNardo, Breakthrough: The Gorlice-Tarnow Campaign, 1915, 2010
• Hew Strachan, The First World War, volume 1, 2001