Supreme Army Command (OHL)

Formally the Kaiser, Wilhelm II, was supreme commander, but operations were directed by the Chief of the General Staff of the Field Army. After the defeat on the Marne, Helmuth von Moltke was replaced on 14 September 1914 by Erich von Falkenhayn, and after the failed offensive at Verdun and Romania's entry into the war, on 29 August 1916, by Paul von Hindenburg, with Erich Ludendorff as First Quartermaster General. Headquarters moved over time between Koblenz, Luxembourg, Charleville-Mézières, Pless, Bad Kreuznach and Spa, among other places.

The Third OHL gained influence far beyond military affairs: it helped bring down Chancellor Bethmann Hollweg, forced through unrestricted submarine warfare and dictated peace terms in the east, which is why it is described as a military dictatorship. Ludendorff was dismissed on 26 October 1918 and replaced by Wilhelm Groener. The OHL was dissolved in 1919.