August von Mackensen, (born Dec. 6, 1849, Haus Leipnitz, Saxony [Germany]—died Nov. 8, 1945, Celle, Ger.), German field marshal and one of the most successful commanders in World War I.

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Beginning his army career in 1869, Mackensen served in various campaigns, received successive promotions, and, during World War I, took command of the combined German-Austrian 11th Army in western Galicia (Poland; April 1915). Then, ably assisted by his chief of staff, Hans von Seeckt, Mackensen achieved the great German breakthrough in the Gorlice-Tarnów area (Poland), for which he was promoted to field marshal (June 20, 1915). The breakthrough was the beginning of a series of victories for Mackensen: the defeat of the Russians at Brest-Litovsk and at Pinsk (August–September 1915), the overrunning of Serbia (October–November 1915), and the occupation of Romania (1916–17). After the Armistice, Mackensen was interned for a year. He retired from the army in 1920 and was made a Prussian state councillor in 1933 by Hermann Göring. Mackensen, a nationalist rather than a National Socialist, frequently appeared at Nazi functions wearing his imperial cavalry uniform; he became a major symbol of the integration of the Second and Third Reichs.