Ernst Wilhelm Arnold von Hoeppner was born in Tonnin on the Pomeranian island of Wollin on January 14, 1860. The son of a major, Hoeppner entered the Cadet School in Potsdam at the age of twelve. Seven years later, he was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Sixth Magdeburg Dragoon Regiment.
Hoeppner married Sophie Eugenie Minette Elisabeth Adele Valentine of Pöppinghausen on July 14, 1885. They had three children: Busso, Margot, and Gerd.
In 1890, Hoeppner attended the Prussian Military Academy. From 1893 to 1899, he was a member of the 14th Dragoon Regiment stationed at Colmar in Alsace, where he commanded a squadron.
Hoeppner was appointed to the General Staff in 1902. Two years later, he was appointed as a staff officer with the IX Army Corps in Altona. By 1906, Hoeppner was a lieutenant colonel and commander of the 13th Hussars Regiment in Diedenhofen. Two years later he was appointed chief of staff of the VII Army Corps.
In September 1912, Hoeppner was made commander of the Fourth Cavalry Brigade in Bromberg. A year later, he was ennobled by Kaiser Wilhelm II in recognition of his achievements as a staff officer and brigade commander.
At the start of the First World War, Hoeppner was Chief of Staff at German Third Army HQ. He remained at the post until the spring of 1915 when he took up command of the 14th Reserve Division. Later that year, Hoeppner was appointed Chief of Staff of the German Second Army. He then took command of the 75th Reserve Division in 1916.
That October, General Erich Ludendorff decided that the German Air Service needed greater unity of command with a general officer having authority over all the German Army’s aerial combat and anti-aircraft units… both in the field and at home. Hoeppner was selected by Ludendorff as the new air commander. Around the same time, the Air Service was renamed from Fliegertruppe to Luftstreitkräfte… and Hoeppner was given the title of Kommandierender General der Luftstreitkräfte (Commanding General of the Air Service – sometimes abbreviated to Kogenluft in German). In addition, he attained the rank of lieutenant-general, directly responsible to Hindenburg at Supreme Army Command.
Hoeppner reorganized the fragmented air services, greatly increasing the number of Jastas (squadrons) and forming them into Jagdgeschwader (wings). Priority was given to the development of strategies for massed air attacks.
In 1917, Hoeppner was awarded the Pour le Mérite. Even though he was a senior commander, Hoeppner was not directly involved in air combat. Nevertheless, the award was resented by some of his junior officers.
After the November 1918 armistice , the German Air Service was dissolved. The German War Ministry issued orders for Hoeppner’s post to be disestablished on January 16, 1919, but he appeared to have continued as a commanding general for a few more days (his final order was issued on January 21st).
Hoeppner then took up command of the 18th Army Corps on April 10, 1919… but he resigned from active service at his own request by year’s end. He also retired as general of the cavalry with permission to wear the uniform of the 13th Hussars Regiment.
Hoeppner returned to his estate at Groß-Mokratz (now Mokrzyca Wielka) on the island of Wollin in the Baltic Sea where he wrote his memoirs. In 1921, he published Deutschlands Krieg in der Luft (“Germany’s War in the Air”), a study of the German Air Service during the Great War.
On September 26, 1922, Ernst von Hoeppner died of influenza at the age of sixty-two. He was buried in his birthplace of Tonnin on the island of Wollin.