August 30, 1914: The Battle of Tannenberg

Paul von Hindenburg

August 30, 1914: The Battle of Tannenberg is fought at Allenstein, East Prussia -- now Olsztyn, Poland -- the first major battle of the Eastern Front in the Great War (World War I).

Tannenberg is actually about 20 miles to the west, but an aide to German General Erich Ludendorff, 2nd-in-command of the German forces, suggested putting an old name on the battle, to make it the "site" of a German victory, instead of one of a German defeat by Poles and Lithuanians in 1410.

About 25 miles to the east is Borki Wielkie, then under German control as part of East Prussia. Five years earlier, in 1909, my great-grandfather left that village as an 18-year-old hatmaker, and came to America. Had he not, he might well have been drafted into the Imperial German Army (Deutsches Heer), and he might have fought in that battle.

It may have been the largest battle, in terms of total men fighting, in human history to that point, with nearly 400,000 combined soldiers taking part. And it was a massacre: The Germans, under Paul von Hindenburg, killed 78,000 Russians (a lot more in 5 days than America lost in 8 years of combat in Vietnam), all but destroying Russia's Second Army, and leading to the suicide of its commander, Alexander Samsonov. Over the next few days, the mop-up led to the ruin of Russia's First Army as well.

Two days later, on September 1, 1914, the name of what was then the Russian capital was changed from St. Petersburg (Sankt-Peterburg) to Petrograd, to give it a less-German, more-Russian sounding name.

It was named for its founder, the early 18th Century Czar Peter I -- Peter the Great. After the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917, the capital was moved to Moscow. After Vladimir Lenin died in 1924, the Soviet Union renamed the city Leningrad. It saw some of the worst fighting in World War II, due to a Nazi siege that was finally shaken off.

In spite of a couple of references to that name in the 23rd Century on Star Trek (by Chekov in "The Trouble With Tribbles") and by a weather analyst at Starfleet Command in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home), the St. Petersburg name was restored in 1991, after the Soviet Union was disbanded. As someone remarked at the time, "Better to have it named for a saint than a devil."

Today, the 2nd-largest city in the Russian Federation is home to 4.9 million people, more than any city in North America except New York (and, if you count it as North rather than Central, Mexico City). Moscow has a little over 13 million, more than New York (and more than Mexico City at 9.2 million).

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August 30, 1914 was a Sunday. This was one of the Federal League seasons, when what we now call Major League Baseball had 3 major leagues. No games were played in the American League. In the National League:

* The New York Giants beat the Chicago Cubs, 8-1 at the West Side Grounds in Chicago. Two years later, after the FL folded, Whales owner Charlie Weeghman was invited to buy the Cubs, and he moved them into his Weeghman Park, which eventually became Wrigley Field.

* The Philadelphia Phillies swept a doubleheader from the Cincinnati Reds, 4-2 at 2-1 at Redland Field (later renamed Crosley Field) in Cincinnati. Grover Cleveland Alexander was the winner in the opener. The nightcap went 10 innings, before Beals Becker tripled, and Bobby Byrne suicide-squeeze-bunted him home.

* And the Boston Braves beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 2-0 at Robison Field (not "Robinson") in St. Louis. George "Lefty" Tyler allowed only 1 hit, a single to Lee Magee in the 7th inning. The only run came in the 5th, when a Hank Gowdy single and an error by left fielder Albert "Cozy" Dolan allowed Walter "Rabbit" Maranville to score.

And in the FL:

* The Chicago Whales beat the St. Louis Terriers, 3-1 at Handlan's Park in St. Louis. Al Wickland tripled Art Wilson home with the winning run in the top of the 13th inning. Erv Lange went the distance for the win.

* And the Kansas City Packers swept a doubleheader from the Indianapolis Hoosiers, 6-4 and 6-1 at Gordon and Koppel Field in Kansas City.

January 30, 1933: Adolf Hitler Is Appointed Chancellor of Germany

Hitler and Hindenburg, at Potsdam, March 21, 1933.

The photo is colorized, but otherwise real.

January 30, 1933: Adolf Hitler, Führer (leader) of the National Socialist German Workers' Party -- in German, Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei, abbreviated to NSDAP, or "Nazi" -- is appointed Chancellor of Germany, head of the country's government, by its head of state, President Paul von Hindenburg.

Hitler blamed Germany's loss in World War I on Communists and Jews, and often equated them. He did this to boost Germany's self-esteem, so that the people wouldn't think they lost on merit, or that the country's army -- led by Hindenburg -- had let them down. He allowed them to believe that Communists and Jews had "stabbed them in the back," betraying them.

Hindenburg, Germany's top military commander in that war, knew better. Within a year of the Armistice, he had told American journalist George Seldes that the reason Germany lost that war was because America got into it with fresh troops and supplies for the Allies.

As the country suffered through the economic disaster of hyperinflation in 1923, Hitler, by now leading the Nazi Party, led a coup that meant to take over the State of Bavaria, as a stepping-stone to a challenge to the national government in Berlin. His "Beer Hall Putsch" didn't work, and he was imprisoned.

But only for a little over a year, and, in prison, he wrote Mein Kampf (My Struggle), both memoir and declaration of intentions. It's been said that the Holocaust began with one book, Mein Kampf by Adolf Hitler; and ended with another book, The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank.

In the 1928 German federal election, the Nazi Party won only 3 percent of the seats in the national legislature, the Reichstag. In 1930, they won 18 percent, becoming the 2nd-ranking party. On July 31, 1932, another election was held, and they won 37 percent, becoming the leading party -- but not a majority party. So the minority government of Chancellor Franz von Papen held on, but another election was forced for November 6.

Again, the Nazis finished first -- but still not with a majority, and actually lost seats, down to 33 percent. von Papen urged Hindenburg to continue to govern by emergency decree. Negotiations continued, until, on January 30, 1933, Hindenburg knew that the only way to have a stable government was to let the leader of the largest party be Chancellor. And that was Hitler.

Hitler assumed dictatorial powers, and banned all other parties. There would not be another free election in western Germany until August 14, 1949; and not another in eastern Germany until December 2, 1990. When Hindenburg died on August 2, 1934, Hitler assumed his office as President -- and replaced it with that of Führer, and its "cult of personality," which made him not just all-powerful in the government, but his country's secular god.

In the 2011 film Captain America: The First Avenger, Stanley Tucci played Dr. Abraham Erskine, the German scientist who, horrified at what the Nazis were doing, created a "super-soldier" serum to give to the United States, telling the volunteer for the serum, Steve Rogers, played by Chris Evans, "The first country the Nazis invaded was their own."

Hitler took office in his country 89 days after Franklin Delano Roosevelt was elected President of the United States, and 33 days before FDR was sworn in as his country's head of state and head of government. No one knew it in the Winter of 1932-33, but the two men were on a collision course. In the end, neither man survived it, but one's philosophy did. And, as late as June 1944, it wasn't clear which one's it would be.

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January 30, 1933 was a Monday. Baseball and football were out of season. The NBA hadn't been founded yet. And while the NHL season was underway, no games were scheduled for that day. So there were no scores.