The Krupp family is a prominent 400-year-old German family from Essen, famous for their steel production and manufacture of ammunition and armaments. The family business, known as Friedrich Krupp AG in modern times, merged with Thyssen in 1999 to create ThyssenKrupp AG, a large industrial conglomerate. The Federal Republic of Germany (German: Bundesrepublik Deutschland) is one of the worlds leading industrialised countries, located in the heart of Europe. ... Map of Germany showing Essen Essen [ˈɛsn̩] is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. ... Steel framework Steel is a metal alloy whose major component is iron, with carbon being the primary alloying material. ... 5. ... Family Business is also the title of an American reality TV series. ... 1999 is a common year starting on Friday of the Common Era, and was designated the International Year of Older Persons by the United Nations. ... German industrial company ThyssenKrupp AG, with about 200,000 employees, mainly operates in the steel industry, but also in the automotive, industrial construction, and shipbuilding areas, as well as manufacturing elevators and providing other technologies and services. ... Conglomerate is: A large company; see conglomerate (company). ...

Overview

The metal business was started by Friedrich Krupp (1787–1826), who built a small steel foundry in Essen in 1811. His son, Alfred (1812–1887), known as "the Cannon King" or "Alfred the Great," invested heavily in new technology to become a significant manufacturer of railway material and locomotives. He also invested in fluidized hotbed technologies (notably the Bessemer process) and acquired many mines in Germany and France. He also invested in subsidized housing for his workers and started a program of health and retirement benefits. The company began to make steel cannons in the 1840s for the Russian, Turkish, and Prussian armies especially. Low non-military demand and government subsidy meant that the company specialized more and more in weapons, by the late 1880s the manufacture of armaments represented varied around 50% of the total output. When Alfred started the firm, it had five employees. At his death there were twenty thousand - the world's largest industrial company. 1787 was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... 1826 was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... Steel framework Steel is a metal alloy whose major component is iron, with carbon being the primary alloying material. ... 1811 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... The Krupp family is a prominent 400-year-old German family from Essen, famous for their steel production and manufacture of ammunition and armaments. ... 1812 was a leap year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... 1887 is a common year starting on Saturday (click on link for calendar). ... Bessemer Converter, Schematic Diagram The Bessemer process was the first inexpensive industrial process for the mass-production of steel from molten pig iron. ... The French Republic or France (French: République française or France) is a country whose metropolitan territory is located in western Europe, and which is further made up of a collection of overseas islands and territories located in other continents. ... Events and Trends First signing of the Treaty of Waitangi (Te Tiriti o Waitangi) on February 6, 1840 at Waitangi New Zealand. ... Events and Trends Technology Development and commercial production of electric lighting Development and commercial production of gasoline-powered automobile by Karl Benz, Gottlieb Daimler and Maybach First commercial production and sales of phonographs and phonograph recordings. ...

During World War I some criticized Krupp's policy of selling cannons to the Central Powers as well as to the Entente, a policy which turned out to be highly profitable. Ford and GM are accused of doing the same during World War II, however the German subsideries of GM and Ford were not controlled by the American parent company during the war. Ypres, 1917, in the vicinity of the Battle of Passchendaele. ... Central Powers is a term used to refer to the Dual Alliance of Germany, Austria-Hungary, Italy, the Ottoman Empire, and Bulgaria during World War I. They are so called because they all lay between Russia in the east and France and the United Kingdom in the west. ... Entente, meaning a diplomatic understanding, may refer to a number of agreements: The Entente Cordiale, 1904 between France and the United Kingdom. ... The Ford Motor Company (often referred to simply as Ford; sometimes nicknamed Fords or FoMoCo, (NYSE: F) is an automobile maker founded by Henry Ford in Detroit, Michigan, and incorporated on June 16, 1903. ... GM redirects here. ... Mushroom cloud from the nuclear explosion over Nagasaki rising 18 km into the air. ...

After Hitler came to power, the Krupp works became the center for German rearmament. In 1943, by a special order from Hitler, the company was reconverted into a family holding, and Alfried Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach (1907-67), son of Gustav Krupp, took over the management. After Germany's defeat and the incapability of Gustav to be tried, Alfried was tried as a war criminal before the U.S. Nuremberg Military Tribunal (in the so-called Krupp Trial) for his company's use of slave labor and was sentenced to 12 years and ordered to sell 75% of his holdings. In 1951, as the Cold War developed and no buyer could be found, he was released and in 1953 he resumed control of the firm. Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (April 20, 1889 – April 30, 1945, standard German pronunciation in the IPA) was the Führer (leader) of the National Socialist German Workers Party (Nazi Party) and of Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945. ... 1943 is a common year starting on Friday. ... 1907 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... 1967 was a common year starting on Sunday (the link is to a full 1967 calendar). ... Gustav Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach, Taffi, (August 7, 1870 - January 16, 1950) ran the German Freidrich Krupp AG heavy industry conglomerate from 1909 until 1941. ... A war crime is a punishable offense, under international law, for violations of the law of war by any person or persons, military or civilian. ... The United States of America — also referred to as the United States, the U.S.A., the U.S., America, the States, or (archaically) Columbia—is a federal republic of 50 states located primarily in central North America (with the exception of two states: Alaska and Hawaii). ... Chief prosecutor Telford Taylor opens the prosecution case in the Krupp Trial The Subsequent Nuremberg Trials (or, more formally, the Trials of War Criminals before the Nuremberg Military Tribunals (NMT)) were a series of twelve U.S. military trials for war crimes against surviving members of the military, political, and... The judges in the Krupp trial. ... 1951 was a common year starting on Monday; see its calendar. ... The Cold War ( 1947- 1991) was the open yet restricted rivalry that developed after World War II between groups of nations practicing different ideologies and political systems. ... 1953 is a common year starting on Thursday. ...

In 1999 the Krupp Group merged with its largest competitor, Thyssen AG; the combined company—Thyssen-Krupp AG, became Germany's fifth largest firm and one of the largest steel producers in the world. German industrial company ThyssenKrupp AG, with about 200,000 employees, mainly operates in the steel industry, but also in the automotive, industrial construction, and shipbuilding areas, as well as manufacturing elevators and providing other technologies and services. ...

Early history

The first historical appearance of the Krupp family is 1587, when Arndt Krupp joined the merchants' guild in Essen. Arndt was a trader who arrived before an epidemic of plague and became one of the city's wealthiest men by purchasing the property of families who fled the epidemic. He died in 1624 during the Thirty Years War. His son Anton took over the family business; his tenure is notable for extensive gunsmithing during the war, beginning the family's long association with weapon manufacturing. Events February 8 - Mary, Queen of Scots is executed. ... A guild is an association of persons of the same trade or pursuits, formed to protect mutual interests and maintain standards of morality or conduct. ... An epidemic is generally a widespread disease that affects many individuals in a population. ... Plague redirects here. ... Events The Netherlands establish a trading colony at Kaohsiung on Taiwan. ... The victory of Gustavus Adolphus at the Battle of Breitenfeld (1631) The Thirty Years War was a conflict fought between the years 1618 and 1648, principally in the central European territory of the Holy Roman Empire, but also involving most of the major continental powers. ... A weapon is a tool used to kill or incapacitate a person or animal, or destroy a military target. ...

For the next century the Krupps continued to prosper, generation after generation, becoming Essen's most powerful family and accumulating more and more property in the city. By the mid-eighteenth-century, the head of the Krupp family was Friedrich Jodocus Krupp, Arndt's great-great-grandson. In 1751 he married Helene Amalie Ascherfeld (another of Arndt's great-great-grandchildren); Jodocus died 6 years later, which left his widow to run the business - a family first. The Widow Krupp greatly expanded the family's holdings over the decades, acquiring a mill, shares in 4 coal mines, and in 1800, an iron forge located on a stream near Essen. The term mill, when used by itself, can refer to: Mill (factory) - a place of business for making articles of manufacture, e. ... Wyoming coal mine Coal mining is the mining of coal. ... --66. ... General Name, Symbol, Number iron, Fe, 26 Chemical series transition metal Group, Period, Block 8 (VIIIB), 4 , d Density, Hardness 7874 kg/m3, 4. ... This article is about smithing. ...

Friedrich's era

In 1807 the modern progenitor of the Krupp firm, Friedrich Krupp, began his business career at age 19 when the Widow Krupp appointed him manager of the forge. Friedrich's father, the Widow's son, had died when Friedrich was 8; since that time, the Widow had tutored the boy in the ways of business, as he was the logical family heir. Unfortunately, Friedrich proved too ambitious for his own good, and quickly ran the formerly-profitable forge into the ground. The Widow was soon forced to sell it away. 1807 was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ...

Afterward, Friedrich continued to stumble into ways to lose the family's money. But in 1810, the Widow died, and in what would prove a disastrous move, left virtually all the Krupp fortune and property to Friedrich. Newly enriched, Friedrich decided his goal would be to discover the secret of cast (crucible) steel. Benjamin Huntsman, a clockmaker from Sheffield, had pioneered a process to make crucible steel in 1740, but the British had managed to keep it secret since then, forcing other Europeans to import the material. But after the Royal Navy began its blockade of Napoleon's empire, this option was no longer open, and so Napoleon offered a prize of four thousand francs to anyone who could replicate the British process. It was this prize that piqued Friedrich's interest. 1810 was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... Steel framework Steel is a metal alloy whose major component is iron, with carbon being the primary alloying material. ... Benjamin Huntsman (1704 - 1776), English inventor and steel-manufacturer, was born in Lincolnshire. ... This article is about the city in England. ... For other uses, see Napoleon (disambiguation). ... The franc is the name of several currency units. ...

Thus, in 1811 Friedrich founded the Krupp Gusstahlfabrik (Cast Steel Works). He soon discovered, however, that he would need a large facility with a power source if he was to succeed, and so he built a mill and foundry on an Essen stream. Soon Friedrich was pouring huge sums of time and money into the small, waterwheel-powered facility, neglecting all other Krupp business. After much work, Friedrich produced his first smelt steel in 1816. 1811 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... Chemical reduction or smelting is a form of extractive metallurgy. ... 1816 was a leap year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ...

to be finished

Alfred's era

Alfred Krupp

A painting of the Krupp-family

Alfred Krupp (Alfried Felix Alwyn Krupp April 26, 1812 - July 14, 1887), son of Friedrich Carl, was born in Essen. Friedrich's death in 1826 left his widow as owner of the works. Alfred was forced to leave school at the age of fourteen and take on the direction of the works. The prospect was a cheerless one. His father had spent a considerable fortune in the attempt to cast steel in large blocks: in order to keep the works going at all, the family had to live in extreme frugality, while the youthful director worked besides the workmen by day, and carried on his father's experiments at night. For the next fifteen years, the works made barely enough money to cover the workmen's wages. In 1841, his invention of the spoon-roller brought in enough money for Alfred to enlarge the factory and spend money on casting steel blocks. In 1847 he made his first cannon of cast steel. At the Great Exhibition of 1851 he exhibited a 6 pounder (2.7 kg) cannon made entirely from cast steel, and a solid flawless ingot of steel weighing 2000 pounds (907 kg), more than twice as much as any previously cast. Krupp's exhibit caused a sensation in the engineering world, and the Essen works at once sprang into fame. In 1851, another successful invention, this time for the making of railway tyres, supplied a profit, which was devoted partly to enlarging and equipping the factory, and partly to his long-cherished scheme - the construction of a breech-loading cannon of cast steel. Krupp himself was strongly convinced of the superiority of breech-loaders to muzzle-loaders, on account of the greater accuracy of firing and the saving of time, but this view did not win general acceptance in Germany till after the Franco-Prussian war, when the army was supplied throughout with Krupp's perfected field-piece. Once the quality of its output was recognised, the factory developed with amazing rapidity. At the time of Alfred Krupp's death in 1887, he employed 45,000 men, and including those in works outside Essen, his rule extended over 75,000 people. Scanned from German Meyers Encyclopedia, 1906 This image is in the public domain because its copyright has expired in the United States and those countries with a copyright term of life of the author plus 100 years. ... Scanned from German Meyers Encyclopedia, 1906 This image is in the public domain because its copyright has expired in the United States and those countries with a copyright term of life of the author plus 100 years. ... April 26 is the 116th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (117th in leap years). ... 1812 was a leap year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... July 14 is the 195th day (196th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 170 days remaining. ... 1887 is a common year starting on Saturday (click on link for calendar). ... 1841 is a common year starting on Friday (link will take you to calendar). ... A small cast-iron cannon on a carriage A cannon is a modern day rifled machine gun with a calibre of 20 mm or more (see autocannon). ... The Great Exhibition was an international exhibition held in Hyde Park London, from 1 May to 15 October 1851 and the first in a series of Worlds Fair exhibitions of culture and industry that were to be a popular 19th century feature. ... A breech-loading weapon, usually a gun or cannon, is one where the bullet or shell is inserted, loaded, into the gun at the rear of the barrel, the breech; the opposite of muzzle-loading. ... A muzzleloader is any firearm into which the bullet is loaded from the muzzle of the gun. ... The Franco-Prussian War (July 19, 1870 – May 10, 1871) was fought between France and Prussia (backed by the North German Confederation) allied with the south German states of Baden, Bavaria and Württemberg. ...

Special "colonies" were built for the employees and their families, with parks, schools and recreation grounds, while the widows' and orphans' and other benefit schemes ensured the men and their families against anxiety in case of illness or death.

After Alfred's death, the works were carried on by his only son, Friedrich Alfred.

World War I

In 1917 and 1918, Krupp produced seven Paris Guns. 1917 was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... 1918 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... The Paris Gun was the name of a set of artillery pieces with which the Germans bombarded Paris during World War I. This oversized railway gun was used from March to August 1918. ...

See also

• Krupp Trial

The judges in the Krupp trial. ...

References

• Friz, D. M.: Alfried Krupp und Berthold Beitz—der Erbe und sein Statthalter, Zürich: Orell-Füssli 1988; ISBN 3-280-01852-8.
• Manchester, William (1968). The Arms of Krupp: 1587-1968. Boston: Little, Brown and Company. Paperback edition 2003: ISBN 0-316-52940-0.