Early Life
He was born Fritz Erich Georg Eduard von Lewinski in Berlin, the tenth son of a Prussian aristocrat and artillery general, Eduard von Lewinski (1829–1906), and Helene von Sperling (1847–1910). His father's family had some Polish blood, and was entitled to use the Brochwicz coat of arms (Brochwicz III). Hedwig von Sperling (1852–1925), Helene's younger sister, was married to Lieutenant General Georg von Manstein (1844–1913); the couple was unable to have children, so they adopted Erich. They had previously adopted Erich's cousin Martha, the daughter of Helene and Hedwig's deceased brother.
Manstein's biological and adoptive fathers were both Prussian generals, as were his mother's brother and both his grandfathers (one of them, Albrecht Gustav von Manstein, had led a corps in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71). Sixteen relatives on each side of his family were military officers, many of whom rose to the rank of general. Paul von Hindenburg, the future Generalfeldmarschall and President of Germany, was his uncle; Hindenburg's wife, Gertrud, was Hedwig and Helene's sister.
He attended the Imperial Lyzeum, a Catholic Gymnasium in Strasbourg (1894–99). After six years in the cadet corps (1900–1906) in Plön and Groß-Lichterfelde, he joined the Third Foot Guards Regiment (Garde zu Fuß) in March 1906 as an ensign. He was promoted to lieutenant in January 1907 and entered the three-year officer's training programme at the Prussian War Academy in October 1913. Manstein only completed his first year of studies; all academy students were ordered to report for active duty when World War I began in August 1914. He never completed the balance of his general staff officer's training.
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