Today in 1914, the Battle of Tannenberg began. This is the battle we named the game after, and had huge consequences for the war as a whole. It ended with the destruction of not one but two Russian armies, almost 100,000 prisoners captured, and hundreds of artillery pieces taken. It also inspired our Maneuver game mode and the ability to encircle enemy positions. However, the Battle of Tannenberg was actually fought 30km away from Tannenberg, near what is today the town of Olszytn in Poland. So why the name? We'll give you a clue... it has something to do with Teutonic Knights.
These fellows are re-enactors, of course. Basically, it was the choice of general and statesman (and arguably, celebrity) Paul von Hindenburg or to give him his full name, Paul Ludwig Hans Anton von Beneckendorff und von Hindenburg. When the First World War broke out, Hindenburg was retired from the military, but a faster than expected mobilization and initial Russian advances led to hasty calls for his return to service. Hindenburg obliged, and was sent east. Although the German victory at Tannenberg wasnt entirely his work, his presence was highly significant, and as a public figure he got almost all the credit. He wanted to name the battle Tannenberg to link it to a battle 500 years earlier, where Teutonic Knights were defeated by a Polish-Lithuanian coalition. His idea was that his Battle of Tannenberg was vengeance served for the defeated Teutonic Knights. After the war, Hindenburg would go on to become President of the Weimar Republic. For anyone who takes issue with me describing Hindenburg as a celebrity, I present to you this silver memorial medallion, featuring naked Hindenburg swinging a sword at the Russian bear.
Presented without comment.

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