In Our Time: Paul von Hindenberg

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Paul von Hindenburg, one of the greatest military leaders of the First World War. He was the victorious commander at the Battle of Tannenberg against Russian invaders and later won Germany's Presidential election twice during the Weimar Republic, as a candidate of national unity. While he gained his second term as a 'stop Hitler' candidate, Hindenburg was to appoint Hitler as Chancellor and transfer some of his charisma onto him - a move so disastrous that Germans were later to ask if the myth of Hindenburg had always been an illusion