Alfred Krupp

German industrialist

• Born: April 26, 1812
• Birthplace: Essen, Grand Duchy of Berg (now in Germany)
• Died: July 14, 1887
• Place of death: Essen, Germany

During the period of Germany’s unification into one of the most powerful nations in Europe, Krupp expanded his family’s steelmaking concern into one of the most powerful industrial enterprises of the nineteenth century.

Early Life

The son of Friedrich Krupp, the founder of the family steelmaking business, Alfred Krupp (kruhp) was born in a Ruhr River Valley town only five months after Friedrich had founded the firm in 1812. When Alfred was fourteen, his father died and Alfred, along with his widowed mother, Therese, was left in charge of the business. Alfred had already been removed from school, largely because of his father’s inability to make enough money to pay for his eldest son’s education. As Krupp was to say in later life, his education came at an anvil, not a school desk.

As befitting a boy who had the responsibility of both a family and a factory thrust upon him, Krupp became consumed with work. His family and friends at the time described him as tall, slim, and delicate looking, but at the same time stoic and resolute. When Krupp inherited the family concern, the factory was almost bankrupt. Only seven men remained on the payroll, and wages had not been paid for several weeks. Moreover, few orders for steel products—the firm specialized in cutlery—were placed during the next several years. As Krupp later acknowledged, his mother held the family together during those lean times by sheer industriousness, a trait in himself that Krupp attributed to his mother’s influence. From 1826 until he reached full adulthood, Krupp devoted every waking hour to the firm—helping either on the foundry floor or in the bookkeeper’s office. Instead of playing with the other boys his age, young Krupp became obsessed with making steel.

Life’s Work

For the next twenty years, Krupp endured a perpetual grind of hard work and impending financial collapse. The chief problem lay in competing with foreign producers. As late as 1848, steel from England still dominated the Prussian market. What little profit Krupp made during this time he put back into the firm, constantly attempting to expand and improve the foundry works. He was not above telling potential customers outright lies to gain a contract, nor was he reluctant to steal useful ideas from competitors. Finally, in 1834 Krupp steel was united with a force that was to transform the company as well as the map of Europe. This force was the kingdom of Prussia.

Three years after the 1815 peace eliminated Napoleon I and restored the balance of power in Europe, the Prussian government abolished all hindrances to trade among its scattered provinces. On January 1, 1834, other German states joined Prussia in an economic union, the Zollverein, which extended to cover most of German-speaking Europe, with the exception of Austria and Hanover. Krupp was among the first businesspeople to exploit this new advantage. By the end of 1834, he had traveled to all parts of the customs union and increased his orders for steel threefold. A year later, he again doubled his production, was employing seventy workmen, and had purchased a steam engine to power his foundry tools.

In 1847, the Krupp firm cast its first steel cannon, a small three-pound field gun, which attracted interest but few orders. The foundry still specialized in the production of fine steel suitable for dies and machine tools. The big break came in 1851, however, at the London Exhibition. Krupp was determined to gain international renown for his firm by taking to London the best example of steel casting ever produced. The result, a flawless two-ton steel ingot, representing a giant step forward in metallurgy , caused a sensation and advertised Krupp’s skill as no other demonstration could have. Following the London Exhibition, orders flowed in from around the world.

The next step in the Krupp concern’s development centered on mass production. By the late 1850’s, Krupp had fully converted to the new production system. With his adoption of two new methods for steel manufacturing, which both lowered costs and increased production—the Bessemer and Siemens-Martin processes—Krupp was able to achieve such innovations as the seamless railroad wheel. This wheel revolutionized the railroad industry and made a fortune for Krupp; three interlocking wheels were chosen as the company emblem.

In 1858, large-scale armaments orders from the Prussian government began to dominate the firm’s business. Krupp steel cannons became world-renowned after they helped Prussia defeat both Austria and France between 1866 and 1871. As a result, Krupp became a close associate of both Kaiser William I, who dubbed Krupp the “Cannon King,” and German chancellor Otto von Bismarck.

By 1871, Krupp employed sixteen thousand men in numerous foundries and workshops. Ever the paternalistic proprietor, Krupp furnished an elaborate social-welfare program for his workers, including low-cost housing, free medical care, pensions, and consumer cooperatives. Workers’ unions, however, were vigorously opposed, and Krupp deemed any flirtation with unions a personal affront to him. Krupp became a leader of the other Ruhr industrialists in opposing workers’ organizations, and he helped finance strident antiunion and antisocialist campaigns. Most of the Krupp employees remained loyal to the firm, however, and the majority enjoyed referring to themselves as “Kruppianer.”

During the 1860’s, Krupp pioneered the development of vertically integrated industry by his acquisition of coal mines and railroads. By the 1870’s, Krupp had amassed one of the largest fortunes in Europe. The associated Krupp steel and coal companies employed more than twenty thousand men. The German elite, including the royal family, were frequent guests at Krupp’s colossal mansion in Essen, the Villa Huegel, a Renaissance-style house built entirely of stone and Krupp steel. On July 14, 1887, Krupp died at Villa Huegel, attended by his family and mourned by the kaiser. Krupp’s eldest son, Friedrich Alfred, continued the Krupp family’s sole control over its steel empire until his death, when the firm became a corporation.

Significance

With the death of his father, the founder of the Krupp steelmaking dynasty, Alfred Krupp saved the firm from near collapse and built it into an industrial giant by making use of the newest metallurgical techniques, by instilling tough discipline, and by obsessive hard work. Krupp began by making machine tools, coin dies, and steel cutlery, but his fame emerged with his production of steel cannons for the Prussian army during the 1860’s and 1870’s. By 1887, the name Krupp was world famous for the manufacture of quality steel, especially steel cannons for the Prussian army, which became the standard for comparison throughout the world. As an industrial empire builder, Krupp pioneered vertical integration by acquiring a variety of mining, power, and transportation concerns. An avowed opponent of socialism and labor unions, Krupp nevertheless was one of the first modern industrialists to provide full welfare services, including health insurance, pension benefits, and low-cost housing for his workers. Krupp served as a model for the nineteenth century aggressive, innovative, and paternalistic industrialist.

Bibliography

Batty, Peter. The House of Krupp. Rev. ed. Lanham, Md.: Cooper Square Press, 2002. First published in 1967, Batty’s survey of the Krupp dynasty from its founding to the post-World War II period is less ambitious than Manchester’s, but it provides the most readable and concise study. Batty thoroughly investigates Krupp’s youth, and the author is especially adroit at displaying the youthful factors that later played a role in Krupp’s direction of the firm.

Henderson, William Otto. The Rise of German Industrial Power, 1834-1914. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1975. The author concentrates on the role of unification in the rise of Germany as an industrial power. Krupp and the development of the Krupp firm from near bankruptcy to world acclaim are placed in the context of Germany’s overall economic growth in the nineteenth century.

Kitchen, Martin. The Political Economy of Germany, 1815-1914. London: Croom Helm, 1978. The book addresses the relationship between the growth of German industry and the creation of an industrialist class. Although the discussion centers largely on the political debate over tariffs and taxes, the Krupp dominance of German armaments is given partial credit for the direction of nineteenth century German foreign policy.

Manchester, William. The Arms of Krupp, 1587-1968. 1968. Boston: Back Bay Books, 2003. The standard popular biography of the Krupp dynasty. A major section of the work concerns Krupp and his career as proprietor of the firm. Of special interest is Manchester’s investigation of Krupp’s private life and eccentricities, including the construction of the Villa Huegel. The work is careless in some of the details of the Krupp family saga.

Showalter, Dennis E. Railroads and Rifles: Soldiers, Technology, and the Unification of Germany. Hamden, Conn.: Archon Books, 1975. This work provides a close study of Krupp’s role in the unification of Germany. The author focuses on Krupp’s early years of business and his successful association with the Prussian government through the acquisition of government contracts. Especially well covered are Krupp’s armaments contracts during the critical period of German unification during the 1860’s and 1870’s.