What is Paul von Hindenburg?
{{Infobox_President | name = Paul von Hindenburg | nationality = German | image = Bundesarchiv Bild 183-C06886, Paul v. Hindenburg.jpg | caption = Hindenburg in the 1920s | order = 2nd [[Reich President|President of Germany]] | term_start = 12 May 1925 | term_end = 2 August 1934 | vicepresident = | predecessor = [[Friedrich Ebert]] (acting President [[Walter Simons]]) | successor = [[Adolf Hitler]]<br />''([[Führer]] and [[Chancellor of Germany|Chancellor]])'' | birth_date = {{birth date|1847|10|2}} | birth_place = [[Posen]] (Poznań),<br />[[German Confederation]] | death_date = {{Death date and age|1934|8|2|1847|10|2}} | death_place = [[Neudeck]], [[Province of East Prussia|East Prussia]], [[Nazi Germany]] | party = None | order2 = Chief of the German General Staff | term_start2 = 1916 | term_end2 = 1919 | predecessor2 = [[Erich von Falkenhayn]] | successor2 = [[Wilhelm Groener]] }} '''Paul Ludwig Hans Anton von Beneckendorff und von Hindenburg''' (2 October 1847 – 2 August 1934) was a [[Germany|German]] [[Generalfeldmarschall|field marshal]] and [[statesman]]. Hindenburg retired from the army in 1911. He rejoined the [[German army]] at the start of the [[First World War]]. He became famous when he won the [[Battle of Tannenberg (1914)|Battle of Tannenberg]] in 1914. Hindenburg retired again in 1919, but returned to public life one more time in 1925 to be elected as the second [[President of Germany]]. He was 84 years old and in poor health, but decided to run for re-election in 1932 as the only candidate who could defeat [[Adolf Hitler]], because he saw him as a dangerous [[wikt:extremist|extremist]]. He tried to stop Hitler's and the [[Nazi Party]]'s rise to power, but [[Franz von Papen]] [[wikt:persuade|persuaded]] Hindenburg, that the [[Conservative]] [[wikt:elite|elite]] and the [[military]] could control Hitler when he becomes [[Chancellor of Germany]] and that the other more dangerous [[wikt:alternative|alternative]] was [[Communist]] rule. As a result, Hindenburg appointed Hitler as Chancellor on 3