Early Years
Mackensen was born in Haus Leipnitz, near the village of Dahlenberg in the Prussian Province of Saxony, to Louis and Marie Louise Mackensen. His father, an administrator of agricultural enterprises, sent him to a Realgymnasium in Halle in 1865, with the apparent hope that Mackensen would follow him in his profession.
Mackensen began his military service in 1869 as a volunteer with the Prussian 2nd Life Hussar Regiment (Leib-Husaren-Regiment Nr. 2). During the Franco-Prussian War he was promoted to second lieutenant and recommended for the Iron Cross, Second Class. He left service and studied at the Halle University, but formally returned to the German Army in 1873, with his old regiment. Regarded as among the finest horsemen in the Empire, he was detached from normal duties to serve as a tutor of military history to the future Kaiser Wilhelm II, who would later send his own son to serve in Mackensen's regiment. Close relations between the emperor and Mackensen would continue for many years. In 1891 he joined the General Staff in Berlin, where he was heavily influenced by the new chief, Alfred von Schlieffen.
From 17 June 1893 to 27 January 1898, Mackensen commanded the 1st Life Hussar Regiment (Leib-Husaren-Regiment Nr. 1), to which he became à la suite when he left command and whose uniform he often wore as a general. He was ennobled on 27 January 1899, becoming August von Mackensen. From 1901 to 1903, he commanded the Life Hussar Brigade (Leib-Husaren-Brigade), and from 1903 to 1908 he commanded the 36th Division in Danzig. When Schlieffen retired in 1906 Mackensen was regarded by some as a possible successor, but the job went to Helmuth von Moltke the Younger. In 1908, Mackensen took command of the XVII Army Corps, and commanded this corps until shortly after the beginning of World War I.
Read more about this topic: August Von Mackensen
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