Karl Eduard Wilhelm Groener (22 November 1867 – 3 May 1939) was a German soldier and politician. His organisational and logistical abilities resulted in a successful military career before and during World War I. After a confrontation with the Quartermaster general of the German army and de-facto dictator of Germany, Erich Ludendorff, Groener was reassigned to a field command. However, on Ludendorff's dismissal in October 1918, Groener succeeded him. Groener then worked with the new Social Democratic president Friedrich Ebert to prevent chaos and a left-wing take-over during the German Revolution of 1918–19. Under his command the military bloodily suppressed leftist uprisings throughout Germany. Yet he also tried to integrate the military, which was dominated by an aristocratic and monarch