Von Hellingrath was born in
Munich,
Kingdom of Bavaria. He achieving the
Abitur, he joined the
1st Royal Bavarian Heavy Cavalry “Prince Charles of Bavaria” in 1880, became
Lieutenant of the
2nd Royal Bavarian Uhlans King in 1882, and visited the
Bavarian Kriegsakademie (
war academy) from 1887 to 1890. Two years later he became Hofkavalier (
court cavalier) of
Duke Karl-Theodor in Bavaria, in 1893
adjutant of the 4th Cavalry Brigade and was advanced to the rank of a
Rittmeister in 1897. After 1899 he was squadron commander in the 1st
Chevauleger Regiment, was transferred to the general staff of the
3rd Royal Bavarian Division in 1902 and advanced to
Major in 1903. In 1905 he served in the general staff of the
I Royal Bavarian Corps, and shortly after that in the central of the General Staff. In 1907 he became
Oberstleutnant and commander of the 4th Chevauleger Regiment, in 1909 he became
Oberst and commander of the 3rd Cavalry Brigade, and was made
Major General in 1912. In 1914 he became commander of the 6th Cavalry Brigade. With the beginning of
World War I he was made inspector of the Etappen-Inspektion (back bases inspection unit) of the
6th Army, shortly after that he was advanced to
Lieutenant General and became military representative of Bavaria in the general German headquarters. In 1915 he took part as divisional commander in the campaigns against
France,
Lithuania and
Courland. On 11 December 1916 he became war minister and representative of Bavaria at the Federal Council of the
German Empire. He was advanced to the rank of General der Kavallerie on 28 May 1918. On 8 November the same year
Albert Roßhaupter followed as the first war minister of the new
Freistaat. Von Hellingrath was retired on 25 November 1918 and died in his hometown in 1939. == Awards (selection) ==