Krupp family
His descendants produced small guns during the Thirty Years' War and eventually acquired fulling mills, coal mines and an iron forge.This led to the company becoming a major industrial power and laid the foundation for the steel empire that would come to dominate the world for nearly a century under his son Alfred.Arndt, a trader, arrived in town just before an outbreak of plague and became one of the city's wealthiest men by purchasing the property of families who fled the epidemic.The widow Krupp greatly expanded the family's holdings over the decades, acquiring a fulling mill, shares in four coal mines, and (in 1800) an iron forge located on a stream near Essen.He realized he would need a large facility with a power source for success, and so he built a mill and foundry on the Ruhr River, which unfortunately proved an unreliable stream.Friedrich spent a significant amount of time and money in the small, waterwheel-powered facility, neglecting other Krupp business, but in 1816 he was able to produce smelted steel.His father's death forced him to leave school at the age of fourteen and take on responsibility for the steel works in companionship with his mother Therese Krupp.Prospects were daunting: his father had spent a considerable fortune in the attempt to cast steel in large ingots, and to keep the works going the widow and family lived in extreme frugality.The young director laboured alongside the workmen by day and carried on his father's experiments at night, while occasionally touring Europe trying to promote Krupp products and make sales.He strongly believed in the superiority of breech-loaders, on account of improved accuracy and speed, but this view did not win general acceptance among military officers, who remained loyal to tried-and-true muzzle-loaded bronze cannon.In the Panic of 1873, Alfred continued to expand, including the purchase of Spanish mines and Dutch shipping, making Krupp the biggest and richest company in Europe but nearly bankrupting it.In return, Krupp provided social services that were unusually liberal for the era, including "colonies" with parks, schools and recreation grounds - while the widows' and orphans' and other benefit schemes insured the men and their families in case of illness or death.After Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated in 1914, Krupp bought his hunting lodge Schloss Blühnbach, in Werfen in the Austrian Alps, and which was a former residence of the Archbishops of Salzburg.Vickers of England naturally suspended royalty payments during the war (Krupp held the patent on shell fuses, but back-payment was made in 1926).During the war, Friedrich Krupp Germaniawerft produced 84 U-boats for the German navy, as well as the Deutschland submarine freighter, intended to ship raw material to Germany despite the blockade.Krupp's factory in Essen was occupied, and independent republics were declared, but the German Reichswehr invaded from Westphalia and quickly restored order.Later in the year, Britain oversaw the dismantling of much of Krupp's factory, reducing capacity by half and shipping industrial equipment to France as war reparations.French soldiers inspecting Krupp's factory in Essen were cornered by workers in a garage, opened fire with a machine gun, and killed thirteen.This incident spurred reprisal killings and sabotage across the Rhineland, and when Krupp held a large, public funeral for the workers, he was fined and jailed by the French.Krupp was able to hide this activity from Allied inspectors for five years, and kept up his engineers' skills by hiring them out to Eastern European governments including Russia.Gustav was alarmed at Hitler's aggressive foreign policy after the Munich Agreement, but by then he was fast succumbing to senility and was effectively displaced by his son Alfried.He was nursed by his wife in a roadside inn near Blühnbach until his death in 1950, and then cremated and interred quietly, since his adopted name was at that time one of the most notorious in the American Zone.[11] His father's health began to decline in 1939, and after a stroke in 1941, Alfried took over full control of the firm, continuing its role as main arms supplier to Germany at war.During the war, Krupp was allowed to take over many industries in occupied nations, including Arthur Krupp steel works in Berndorf, Austria, the Alsacian Corporation for Mechanical Construction (Elsaessische Maschinenfabrik AG, or ELMAG), Robert Rothschild's tractor factory in France, Škoda Works in Czechoslovakia, and Deutsche Schiff- und Maschinenbau AG (Deschimag) in Bremen.[citation needed] In 1942–1943, Krupp built the Berthawerk factory (named for his mother), near the Markstadt forced labour camp, for production of artillery fuses.German industry was seen as integral to western Europe's economic recovery, the limit on steel production was lifted, and the reputation of Hitler-era firms and industrialists was rehabilitated.He hired Berthold Beitz, an insurance executive, as the face of the company, and began a public relations campaign to promote Krupp worldwide, omitting references to Nazism or arms manufacturing.Beginning with Adenauer, he established personal diplomacy with heads of state, making both open and secret deals to sell equipment and engineering expertise.In West Germany, Krupp made jet fighters in Bremen, as a joint venture with United Aircraft, and built an atomic reactor in Jülich, partly funded by the government.He died in Essen in 1967, and the company's transformation was completed the next year, capitalized at 500 million DM, with Beitz in charge of the Alfried Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach Foundation and chairman of the corporation's board until 1989.
Business familyGermanyNorth Rhine-WestphaliaVilla HügeldynastyartilleryammunitionarmamentsThirty Years' Warfullingcoal minesiron forgeNapoleonic WarsFriedrich KruppGusstahlfabriksmeltedAlfredKingdom of PrussiaGerman EmpireplaguegunsmithingHelene Amalie AscherfeldBenjamin HuntsmanSheffieldcrucible steelNapoleonBritish EmpireContinental Systemthe British processpower sourcefoundryRuhr RiverwaterwheelAlfred KruppTherese Kruppspoon-rollerpatentedcast steelcannonGreat Exhibition6 pounderParis Expositionrailway tyresbreech-loading cannonbreech-loadersmuzzle-loadedhowitzersPrussian courtthe King of PrussiaWilhelmGerman Wars of UnificationNapoleon IIIFranco-Prussian wararms raceSchneider-CreusotArmstrongThailandPanic of 1873Meppenproving groundsole proprietorshipprimogeniturebenefit schemescompany townstate within a stateHohenzollern familypaternalistBismarckSocial DemocraticFührerprinzipAdolf Hitlercooperative societyJulius von Verdy du VernoisHans von KaltenbornC-96 field guntheir granddaughterFriedrich Alfred KruppFriedrich AlfredeugenicsWilhelm IInickel steelNobel's improved gunpowdertakeoverRudolf DieselGermaniawerftU-boatBerthaGustav Krupp von Bohlen und Halbachjoint-stock companyKaiser Wilhelm IIGustav von Bohlen und HalbachHenry BohlenArchduke Franz FerdinandSchloss BlühnbachWerfenArchbishops of SalzburgKrupp Gun WorksWorld War IVickersroyalty paymentsshell fusesHague ConventionsFriedrich Krupp Germaniawerftwar criminalKapp PutschRuhr Red ArmyRhinelandReichswehrWestphaliawar reparationshyperinflation of 1923occupied the RuhrWeimar RepublicTreaty of VersaillesBoforsfront companyvon SeecktKurt von SchleicherPaul von HindenburgFritz ThyssenRöhm purgeBormannMunich AgreementNuremberg TrialsAmerican ZoneAlfried Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach