Career
He was the first party politician to hold the office. Hertling became professor of philosophy at the University of Munich and published books on Aristotle (1871) and on Albertus Magnus (1880). As leader of the largest party in the Bavarian Landtag, in 1912 Hertling was appointed Bavarian Minister-President and Minister for Foreign Affairs by Luitpold, Prince Regent of Bavaria.
He was the first minister-president ever appointed who governed on the basis of a majority in the Landtag.
King Ludwig III later elevated him to the rank of Count. Following the outbreak of World War I, Hertling supported the policy of Chancellor Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg but declined to become his successor in 1917.
After the fall of Georg Michaelis in November of that year, however, he accepted appointment as German Chancellor and Minister-President of Prussia. He was the first politician to hold either post.
His predecessors had either been career civil servants or military mentor
Hertling was a staunch conservative who believed in total victory for Germany. Like Michaelis before him, he was increasingly seen as a puppet of Hindenburg and Ludendorff, who constituted a virtual military dictatorship in the last year of the war. Hertling presided over the last stage of the collapse of the German home front.
When it became apparent that he was unable to manage the crisis, he was forced to resign in favour of Prince Maximilian of Baden.
His great-granddaughter is actress Gila von Weitershausen.
