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Summary: The Family That Armed Germany
Comment: William Manchester squeezes yet another masterpiece into just under a thousand pages (not counting
index!) For four centuries one name was associated with the armaments that were utilized in four
major wars, creating the richest family in Europe; Krupp. Each leader of the dynasty had peculiar
quirks that Manchester delights over, some were involved in sex scandals, and another ran his day to
the second with pure Prussian obsessive-compulsion. Krupp innovations included the steel cannon and
railroad wheel; they designed the notorious 88mm of WW II, and the descendant of that gun, the 120mm
hypervelocity cannon, may be seen on U.S. tanks to this day. The driving force behind the
industrialization of the Ruhr, it would be legitimate to ask if Germany were responsible for the
rise of Krupp, or Krupp responsible for the rise of Germany. Like so many others, Alfried Krupp
fell under Hitler's spell, spurring him to run private concentration camps in order to produce more
weapons. Intrafirm Krupp memoranda from this period begin to use terms such as Sklavenarbeiter
(slave labor), Sklavenmarkt (the slave market), Sklavenhalter (the slave-holder, Alfried Krupps),
and Judenmaterial (Jewish livestock.) The Nuremberg Trials follow, and Krupp walks away almost
unscathed, to continue in business until the company foundered in the 1960s. German history and the
Krupp lineage is inextricable, and there is no better writer to bring such a unique saga to life.

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Summary: The Arms of Krupp
Comment: The ultimate story of the KanonenKonig. I highly recommend this book to anyone intersted in the
industrial history of the Ruhr. The best work on the rise of Germany available.

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Summary: war is good for business
Comment: This work is the cardinal profile of the rise of the `military-industrial complex' in 19-20C
Germany. The Krupp legacy (family and firm) is skillfully traced in a lucid, comprehensive account
equal to the finest modern history.

Without Krupp, Germany would never have been
unified in 1871. Without war, Krupp would never have grown into the wealthiest concern in the world.
Each served the other. And tens of millions died.

What price did Krupp pay for key
instrumentality in aggressive war? Not much. Gustav (key Nazi donor, appointed `Leader of Industry'
in 1933) was judged too infirm for trial in 1945. Alfried (who joined the SS in 1931) spent 3 years
in jail (released to much applause in 1951). The firm self destructed 1967-8 (Arndt II, playboy
degenerate, wasn't up to the task of renewing the symbiotic relationship).

Krupp armed
regimes that killed civilians without remorse. It used slave labor to produce weapons, and operated
camps that (given the regimen) supported extermination. All without apology.

Perhaps
the most cynical salute to profit is Krupp's ultimate negotiation of a £40,000 settlement in 1926
for patent royalties from Vickers for 640,000 shells the Brits fired at Germans in WW1 (Gustav
insisted 4,160,000 shells were fired -- killing 2,080,000 German soldiers -- and £260,000 was due).
Thus Krupp, the preeminent German weapons firm, was paid for the death of German soldiers in a lost
war.

Though I read it thirty years ago, this book remains important and memorable.
Highly recommended.

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Summary: Interesting Overview of German History via One Family and Industry
Comment: William Manchester is the official biographer for Winston Churchill. He brings several annoying
defects from that former role into this work. First, he is very anti-German. Second, he is very
pro Zionist. I don't think he gets much wrong in terms of facts in this history, but his tone and
slant can be so annoying it takes away from what he is trying to say.

However, despite
this, in terms of a history of a multi-generational family business, it is hard to imagine anything
better.

Customer Rating:

Summary: Among Manchester's Best
Comment: Lying somewhere just outside the realm of essential works of German History (like Johannes Janssen's
"History of the German People" series or Hagen Schulze's "New History"), William Manchester's "Arms
of Krupp" is one of the iconic works that through its sheer size or its provocative look into German
through a family owned steel works happens to remain relevant and be a great source. This book is
details the chronology of a family and business marching in step (not always goose-stepping) with
German history. While that may not sound like a very interesting history however as it explores the
economic and political implications of a burgeoning industry in a burgeoning world power and how the
company was able to shift its work and design along with the times it becomes compelling and deeply
interesting. Combine this with the artful style of Manchester the work becomes a nonfiction work
that can't be put down.

The book opens up explaining how the Krupp works began in Essen
in the Rhine Valley, the lands that were so often contested by France and the German States. Then a
provincial hamlet as Krupp went from stamping utensils to building larger implements the steelworks
grew and eventually turned the place into an industrial center. By the mid 19th century the "der
Grosse Krupp" developed an inexpensive way to make steel which soon became an essential ingredient
in European armies. Naturally one of the most profitable items to make and sell in that century of
battle after battle was cannon and other tools for war. The cannon of the day were made from gun
metal, a bronze like copper and tin allow, but Krupp having with his newly found Bessemer process
steel was able to build cannons out of the stuff. This is a revolutionary technology upgrade.
However several countries weren't willing to buy into it. This of course resulted in an balance of
military power which gave Prussia and Bavaria, who bough the cannon, easy victory over Austria at
Konigratz in 1866 and four years later gave the Prussian forces an enormous edge over the French.
Manchester suggests that the German Empire may have never formed with out such decisive victories
brought about by this new technology.

But the Krupp works weren't at this time a
nationalistic firm and sold their cannon as export to several countries including the United States
and Russia, two nations at the time desperately trying to measure up with their Western European
counterparts. This provides another interesting aspect to the work. It shows how German economic
expansion through importation was a sort of industrial colonialism that German industry required for
expansion and even survival after unfettering itself from the guild system. It wasn't always that
the German State's governments weren't buying but that they often weren't big enough as customers to
keep competition alive.

The latter half of this book is devoted to the Krupp works
into the 20th Century, during these years the company armed Germany through two world wars and after
world war two went on to remain an important German firm as it and the country as a whole rebuilt
and redefined its character. These chapters may be the most interesting and though as history goes
is far more familiar to most readers. Of course it is interesting to see the relationship between
the German high commands of two very different Germanies and also what the firm did during the war
reparations period between the world wars. During the dark days of World War Two, Alfried Krupp
took incredible license in use of prisoners for factory work. As reprehensible as it was it was
certainly the norm under the Nazi regime and though inhumane by our standards it was a very
different time. I imagine that many other captains of industry would also take such measures if
given the license.

When the book was finished the firm had just become a public
company after being family owned for centuries (currently the company has undergone a merger and
operates as Thyssen Krupp). This of course correlates well with the modern Germany that is both an
ally in industry and democracy. Overall this is a great history of business that is interesting on
its own or as a work of German history. It is always nice to read well written books on German
history that don't revolve around Hitler, the SS or WWII. This is a must read for German historians,
Business historians and fans of Manchester's work.

-- Ted Murena

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