Editing Karl Haushofer (section)

== Life and early career ==

Haushofer belonged to a family of artists and scholars. He was born in [[Munich]] to Max Haushofer Jr, a well-known professor of economics, politician and author of both academic and literary works, and Adele Haushofer (née Fraas).  His grandfather was the landscape painter [[Max Haushofer|Max Haushofer Sr]]. On his graduation from the Munich Gymnasium (high school), in 1887, Haushofer entered the 1st Field Artillery regiment "Prinzregent Luitpold" of the [[Bavarian Army]] and completed ''[[Kriegsschule (Wehrmacht)|Kriegsschule]]'', ''Artillerieschule'' and ''[[War Academy (Kingdom of Bavaria)]]''. In 1896, he married Martha Mayer-Doss (1877–1946) whose father was Jewish. They had two sons, [[Albrecht Haushofer]] and Heinz Haushofer (1906–1988). In 1903, he accepted a teaching position at the Bavarian War Academy.<ref name="Sprang">{{cite book |last1=Spang |first1=Christian |title=Japanese-German Relations 1895-1945 |date=2006 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=041545705X |pages=139–157}}</ref>

In November 1908, Haushofer was ordered to [[Tokyo]] as a [[military attaché]] to study the [[Imperial Japanese Army]] and as a military advisor in [[artillery]] instruction. He travelled with his wife via India and South East Asia and arrived in February 1909. He was received by [[Emperor Meiji]] and became acquainted with many important people in politics and the armed forces. In autumn 1909, he travelled with his wife for a month to [[Korea under Japanese rule|Korea]] and [[Manchuria]] on the occasion of a railway construction. In June 1910, they returned to Germany via [[Russia]] and arrived one month later. However, shortly after returning to Bavaria, he began to suffer from a severe lung disease and was given a leave from the army for three years.<ref name="Sprang"/>

During his convalescence, from 1911 to 1913, Haushofer would work on his [[doctorate of philosophy]] from [[Munich University]] for a thesis on Japan titled ''Dai Nihon, Betrachtungen über Groß-Japans Wehrkraft, Weltstellung und Zukunft'' ("Reflections on Greater Japan's Military Strength, World Position, and Future"). He established himself as one of Germany’s foremost experts regarding the Far East, and co-founded the geopolitical monthly ''Zeitschrift für Geopolitik'' (ZfG), which he would co-edit until it was suspended towards the end of World War II.<ref name="Sprang"/>

Haushofer continued his career as a professional soldier after the annexation of Bavaria by Germany, serving in the army of [[Imperial Germany]] and returning to teach War History at the Military Academy in Munich.

During World War I, he commanded a [[brigade]] on the [[Western Front (World War I)|Western Front]].  But he was disillusioned with Germany's readiness for the tests of warfare.

When the United States entered the war, it cemented two especially bitter hatreds for Haushofer.  The first was for the U.S.  America was a "deceitful, ravenous, hypocritical, shameless beast of prey," he wrote.  "Americans are truly the only people on this world that I regard with a deep, instinctive hatred."

At the same time, Haushofer developed an especially virulent strain of anti-semitic feeling.  In letters to his wife Martha, whose own father was Jewish, Haushofer wrote of Jewish "treason against Volk, race and country." He repeated false but common slanders alleging that Jews declined to fight for their country of citizenship, and were guilty of war profiteering.

The solution to these ills besetting Germany, he declared, would be a powerful and charismatic leader.  "A man! A kingdom, an imperial crown for a man worthy of the name!"  "You see how ready for a [[Kaiser#German history and antecedents of the title|Caesar]] I am," he wrote in another letter to Martha, "and what kind of a good instrument I would be for a Caesar, if we had one and if he knew how to make use of me."<ref>Holger Herwig, "THE DAEMON OF GEOPOLITICS: KARL HAUSHOFER, RUDOLF HESS AND ADOLF HITLER," lecture at the United States Air Force academy, 2016, pp. 5-6.</ref>

Haushofer would both identify and influence Germany's contemporary autocracy (although the title '[[Führer#Origins of the political concept|Führer]]' would be used, not 'Kaiser').  After retiring from the army with the rank of ''[[Generalmajor]]'' (major general) in 1919, he forged a friendship with the young [[Rudolf Hess]], who became his scientific assistant and later rose to be the deputy leader of the Nazi Party, second in authority only to Hitler.

In 1919, Haushofer successfully defended his second dissertation, and became [[Privatdozent]] for [[political geography]] at [[Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich]], and was made a professor in 1933, although he declined a formal position and salary, because that would have affected his military pension.<ref name="Sprang"/>