A German philosopher, university professor, and Catholic politician. As a prominent politician of the Centre Party (Zentrum), he served as a member of the Reichstag and in 1912 became the Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of the Kingdom of Bavaria. In November 1917, during World War I, he succeeded Georg Michaelis as Chancellor of the German Empire and Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Prussia, serving until October 1918. Emphasizing the relationship between Catholicism, the state, and society, he was active as a Catholic intellectual during the Kulturkampf era. Politically belonging to the right wing of the Centre Party, he was cautious regarding parliamentarism that would increase government accountability to the Reichstag; nevertheless, the Hertling cabinet became the first German Imperial government formed through consultation with the majority parties in the Reichstag, marking a transitional phase toward the parliamentarization of the Empire. Toward the end of World War I, as military defeat became clear, pressure surrounding peace policy and political reform intensified, leading to the decision for his resignation in late September 1918, and he handed over power to Maximilian von Baden on October 3.

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