Land cold-blooded animals are active in winter. Introduction to zoology: cold-blooded animals - who are they? Variety of cold-blooded animals
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Source of information: magazine "CARAVAN OF STORIES", October 1999.
They came to arrest me in the morning. Five brave American officers entered the doors of the famous Hagel Castle. They were greeted by the owner - carefully shaved, smart, an expensive gray striped suit buttoned up with all the buttons. "Are you Alfred Krupp?" - the elder inquired. “Yes, I own this castle,” the manufacturer answered coldly. The officer grinned: “Great, old man, we need you, get ready.” Krupp winced: he hated familiarity.
A few days before his arrest, on a chilly April morning in 1945, Alfred Krupp went to Essen, where the heart of his gigantic empire beat. There were coal mines and mines, weapons factories and metallurgical plants, equipped with the latest technology. Almost the entire population of the city worked for the Krupps.
Alfred hasn't been here for a very long time. He did not want to see the family business turn to dust: in the two years following the first bombing of Essen, on March 5, 1943, the city was practically wiped off the face of the earth - the main target was the Krupp factories, which produced weapons for the Wehrmacht army. During this time, more than 36 tons of bombs were dropped on the small town, and air raids did not stop day or night.
Alfred rode in an open limousine through the empty streets of the city. During the trip he did not utter a single word, and only the white knuckles gripping the nickel-plated door handle betrayed his condition.
There was chaos all around. Where work had once been in full swing, now pitiful fragments of brick walls stuck out. In the openings one could see the skeletons of machine tools, the remains of once trouble-free mechanisms. Not a single house, not a single warehouse, mine or factory survived. All that was left of the main office was a floor - now the temporary administration was located there. Work was in full swing nearby: the surviving machines were being packed for shipment to the victorious countries. Two gloomy guys wrote chalk marks on the boxes: “Romania”, “France”, “Britain”. Most of the boxes had the inscription "USSR" on them. Driving past, Alfred recalled: on these machines parts for the famous “Tigers” - the best German tanks - were turned, U2 submarines were assembled here, but that filled-in mine brought him one and a half million pounds sterling in annual income. He asked the driver to stop only once: in the main square, covered with brick chips, lay a statue of his great-grandfather, the great King of the Cannons, after whom Alfred was named. The multi-ton sculpture, cast from the best Krupp steel, was not damaged at all. Alfred Sr.'s unyielding gaze was fixed on the sky, and Krupp stood for a long time, peering into his stern face.
He often remembered this statue, which survived all the air raids, while in solitary confinement and awaiting trial. Alfred miraculously escaped the Nuremberg trials: among the top ten Nazi criminals was his father Gustav, who headed the company until 1943 - he was the first of the German industrialists to be inspired by the ideas of the NSDAP and wrote checks to Hitler for impressive sums. When they came to arrest Gustav, they saw a deaf, weak old man. After suffering a heart attack, he could neither speak, nor read, nor write, and was unable even to move or eat without assistance. He was paralyzed. Gustav Krupp, the most influential industrialist in Germany, turned into a helpless plant - it was impossible to judge him. Prosecutors proposed convicting Alfred, but were met with sharp resistance from Krupp's lawyers: "We have a political trial here, not a football match with a bench." Oddly enough, the argument worked; Alfred never appeared in the dock. However, no one was going to release him. After serving two years in prison - the same one where Hitler wrote Mein Kampf - the head of the Krupp empire waited for a separate trial dedicated to his fate and the fate of the family business.
In 1947, Alfred Felix Alwin Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach was sentenced to twelve years in prison with confiscation of property. Krupp was accused mainly of forcedly working innocent people kidnapped from Eastern European countries in his factories. For eight long months, Krupp listened to eyewitness testimony and fiery speeches from the defense - impassive, indifferent. Only once did he make a response speech, dry and brief, noting that he simply did not have any other labor force. As for the conditions in which the workers were kept (the mortality rate at his enterprises was slightly lower than in concentration camps), he is not aware of this. Not a muscle moved on his face at the moment of sentencing. He allowed himself only one manifestation of emotion, which amazed everyone present: in response to the final phrase of the accusation, “The House of Krupp will never again regain its former power,” Alfred Krupp barely noticeably... smiled!
But the judges did not know the Krupps' history well. Alfred, on the other hand, knew her too well. Twenty-seven years ago, Gustav Krupp, then the owner of the House, stood gloomily in the Versailles House of Justice, listening to the verdict handed down to him personally by the victors of the First World War: never produce weapons, destroy all weapons workshops, halve steel production, destroy more than a million machine tools. Krupp guns, Krupp rifles - what the House made its name on - were supposed to fade into oblivion. Gustav was sentenced to fifteen long years, and was also ordered to pay five million pounds sterling in reparations. French prosecutor Justin de Bille accompanied the verdict with a victorious remark: “The House of Krupp no longer exists!”
However, Gustav was released after... six months. And five years later the Krupps again became the richest industrialists in Germany.
Reading out the verdict, Monsieur Ville celebrated the victory early: there were many moments in the history of this dynasty when it seemed to everyone that it would never rise again. The Krupp offspring went bankrupt, went to trial, their name was torn apart in unsightly scandals, and not one of them died in good health, but the Krupps emerged victorious from any deadlock situation, and it is not surprising: after all, the founder of the empire did not earn his first capital on anything - at the end of the world!
A year before the beginning of the new, seventeenth century, the plague came to the town of Essen. Residents shied away in horror from the gloomy figures in black robes - monotonously knocking on the beaters, the plague troops collected the daily harvest of Death. The city was overrun by itinerant preachers. “Repent!” they shouted. “The end of the world is near! Don’t you see that all God’s prophecies are coming true? Give up everything, atone for your sins before the Lord!” Day after day, crowds of people, numb with fear, wandered through the streets of Essen to nowhere. The townspeople left their homes, closed their shops and went into the fields, monasteries - to pray for the salvation of souls. And only Arndt Krupp, a small Essenese moneylender who did not believe in God or the devil, rushed around the city from morning to evening, buying houses, barns and utensils for next to nothing: who needs this junk if it’s all over soon? To tell the truth, in the depths of his soul he was also afraid of the end of the world, but he reasoned this way: if I am destined to die, then let me die rich. If I survive, my children will become rich.
The eve of the terrible year 1600 passed, and the end of the world still did not come. Little by little, the residents returned and the first thing they did was go to Arndt to buy back their family nests, but at exorbitant prices. The imaginary end of the world brought the resourceful moneylender so much money that it was enough for another five generations of Krupps. The descendants invested money in a small hardware factory, bought land, a couple of coal mines and lived quite comfortably - until Friedrich Krupp, the father of the King of Cannons, was born.
The first and last adventurer in the family, Frederick relied on luck and believed in fate. He spent a lot of money searching for treasures and did not lose hope of becoming the richest man in Germany. He soon realized how - he just needed to set up the production of hardened steel. At that time, only England owned the secret of production and kept it in the same way as the Chinese kept the secret of making porcelain. Napoleon promised anyone who pulled a prank on the hated British a round sum of gold and his eternal patronage. Frederick hired a company of secret agents, but they obtained nothing but gossip. But luck smiled at him - two fugitive British officers appeared in Krupp’s office and announced that they were ready to sell the secret. The very next day, Frederick announced that he was opening the first alloy steel plant. In the suburbs of Essen, work was in full swing, the scale was amazing. Friedrich invested almost everything he had in the new business and got into huge debts - he had no doubt about success. But the joy did not last long: Krupp was an amateur, and the officers were professional swindlers. The formula for which they were paid a substantial sum turned out to be copied from a school chemistry textbook.
The blow was strong: after all, he trusted these “respected” people and even asked them to become the godfathers of his first-born! Frederick fell into a severe depression: he forbade his family to say the word “steel” and whiled away his time in local taverns. To pay off his debts, the failed steel magnate sold everything, including the family mansion, and soon died of a broken heart. The widow and her son Alfred got a bunch of creditors and a small steel factory (regular steel, of course). They moved into a wooden shed next to the factory, ate vegetables from their own garden and barely scraped together enough money to pay seven workers. No one believed in the Krupps anymore - no one except Alfred himself.
Returning from his father’s funeral, the future King of Guns sat down at his desk and wrote letters to all his former partners with the same content: “Failures are in the past, mother will continue the family business - with my help. I hope you will be interested in the steel we offer, “It’s of the highest quality. The company now has so many orders that we don’t have time to fulfill them.” The latter was pure fiction, but there was no one to reproach the fourteen-year-old boy for his innocent deception. Alfred dropped out of school and spent days at the factory helping the workers. Games, books - he didn't care about anything except orders. The father was a dreamy simpleton, he loved to shed a sentimental tear on occasion and wrote bad poems in imitation of Byron, and Alfred in the very first days sent Byron to kindling: he did not like poetry and hated romantics. And having matured a little, he independently traveled around Germany, Austria and Prussia, persistently seeking orders.
Soon, having bought a good suit, he went to London, hoping to still find out the notorious secret that brought his father to the grave. “The British are stupid and frivolous,” the young industrialist wrote to the manager. “They gave me a tour of their factories, be prepared - I sketched many useful mechanisms.” True, Alfred never found the recipe for super-strong steel, but he borrowed from the “frivolous British” the idea of a machine for making forks and spoons, which brought him a lot of money. He invested the money he earned in the development of his own Krupp steel. Alfred, unlike his father, grew up a pragmatist and did not believe in outside well-wishers, preferring to pay people a fixed rate. But then he tore three skins from them. The strategy turned out to be very effective - after a year and a half, Krupp steel was famous throughout Europe. Alfred immediately began producing what he had long dreamed of - cannons, rifles and shells.
Each new war brought gigantic profits to the House, and Krupp became increasingly gloomy and irritable: the fatigue accumulated over many years was making itself felt. Bismarck recommended his own doctor: Alfred suffered from insomnia, nervous disorders, indigestion and at times fell into prolonged depression - the fear of death (he was already sixty) poisoned his existence. The doctor sent Krupp to the resort. Alfred returned from his trip with stunning news: he is getting married!
Bertha Eischhoff, the daughter of an influential tax inspector, was half her age, preferred neatness out of all the virtues, and went to Carlsbad twice a year to drink water. Surrounded by idle loafers, Krupp felt completely lost, and when at one of the evenings he saw Bertha, he was sincerely delighted: they had once been introduced to each other at a dinner party in honor of the victory of Prussian weapons, and the girl made a good impression on him. Now Bertha favorably listened to his stories about the prizes that Krupp guns had recently received at the annual exhibition in Berlin, and noted to herself: “Courteous, handsome, rich.” And the helplessness with which the influential tycoon sometimes looked around awakened in her very maternal feelings - and the job was done.
“It turns out that I have a heart,” Alfred wrote to one of his few friends after his marriage. “I thought it was just a piece of iron.” Acquaintances were dumbfounded by the change that had occurred with Krupp: for the last thirty years he had been interested in nothing but weapons, called carnivals, books and politics the most boring things in the world, and then suddenly began to appear at balls arm in arm with his charming wife. But family happiness did not last long: Bertha hated Essen, and it is not surprising - constant rains, the roar of the largest steam hammer in the world, smoke and soot from a myriad of steel factories could ruin anyone’s character. She complained of headaches and soon began to wander from resort to resort, trying either the healing mud of Locarno or the healing air of Nice. Two years after his marriage, Alfred had a nervous breakdown - for no apparent reason he made a scandal at the board of directors, which had never happened to him, vowed to fire everyone and disappeared. After a long search, the faithful servants found their master in a cheap tavern: wearing a gardener's dress, he drank bitter, staring blankly into the glass.
Alfred was afraid to appear at home: there was an endless series of troubles. The couple recently had their first child, and Alfred was overjoyed - the heir! But the boy was diagnosed with congenital rheumatism and asthma (the bad climate of Essen made itself felt), and Krupp cursed everything in the world. He planned to build a castle worthy of the richest man in Europe, but fate, it seemed, seriously decided to prevent this. First, the almost finished building was demolished by a powerful hurricane, the likes of which the old-timers could not remember, then there was a flood, the first in seventy years. On the day of the grand opening, deep cracks appeared on the facade, and the entire central part of the castle had to be rebuilt.
And yet the castle was built - a gigantic gloomy building of steel and stone. It had two hundred rooms, a reception hall and a greenhouse, but there was no room for a library. Not a single painting hung on the walls, and the windows did not open even in the heat: Krupp was afraid of drafts. Bertha did not live here even a week: she dubbed the new home a cold tomb, harmful for her and her son. Alfred listened to her hysterics with icy calm, and one day Bertha, in her hearts calling her husband an insensitive fool, left the house. Krupp threw only one phrase after her: “You have two days to come to your senses,” and after this period, he calmly ordered the servants to send Frau Krupp all her things. They never saw each other again.
With age, Alfred became manically suspicious, it seemed to him that everyone around him wanted to rob him, and every day he sent his managers heaps of contradictory orders and instructions. Fortunately, there was no particular need to react to the whims of the cantankerous old man: he did not appear at his factories, and the telephone had not yet been invented by that time. Suffering from insomnia, he wandered through the empty rooms of the castle all night long, and then, turning out the lights, sat down to write the next instructions - to save money, he learned to write in the dark, although he could have bought up all the candle factories in Europe. After his death, thirty thousand such instructions were found in his office, including the “General Prescriptions” - a kind of constitution of the House of Krupp, in which Alfred meticulously outlined the rules for governing the empire for future heirs. Everything was regulated there, right down to the color of the workers’ uniform.
To have fun, the old man sometimes held receptions (without posting the daily schedule and rules of behavior in the house in the rooms), but he easily forgot about the invitees, and the guests enjoyed Krupp’s hospitality without ever seeing the owner. However, in case of non-compliance with the rules (not to make noise after ten in the evening, say), Alfred immediately sent a written complaint to the offending guest. Everything irritated him, even the maids' black stockings - he ordered them to wear only white ones. Only Fritz, the only son and heir, could endure his obnoxious character.
Fritz was the complete opposite of his father (side by side they looked like Pat and Patashon) - small, plump, a classic "mama's boy". He spent his entire childhood with his mother at resorts and was known as a pampered barchuk. Until his son turned twenty, Alfred did not even want to hear that Fritz would someday become the head of the company - he seemed to him completely incapable of serious matters. In addition, at the age of 15, Fritz became interested in archeology - his father stopped this stupid passion immediately, sending him to study as a financier, but he drew conclusions. However, the son soon showed himself to be an obedient and savvy guy - during the day he reported to his dad about the affairs of the company, and in the evenings he read aloud to him. At the age of 25, Fritz intended to get married, Alfred was categorically against it: he did not like the bride, and most of all, the need to change something in his usual way of life. For three long years he did not give permission for the marriage and agreed only on the condition that the newlyweds would live with him in Hagel Castle. Young Margaret, the daughter of an important Prussian official, turned into the main target of the old man’s nagging; he could easily scold her (and at the same time his son) in front of guests for an inappropriate outfit or a carelessly thrown word and found special pleasure in inventively and methodically mocking his daughter-in-law. "Why don't you try the fruits from our garden?" - he asked sarcastically at breakfast, and the servants snorted furtively: they knew that Alfred had given the gardeners strict instructions not to serve Margaret. As soon as she lingered for her morning toilet, Alfred sent a servant every five minutes with “polite” questions like “Should I help Frau get dressed?”
After the death of old Krupp, Margaret finally breathed a sigh of relief. She gave birth to Fritz two daughters and showed touching care for her husband: he was terribly absent-minded and could easily go to the board of directors in slippers. The family fortune at that time was estimated at more than ten million pounds sterling and grew every day. Krupny became the official suppliers of weapons to the court of His Imperial Royal Majesty Kaiser Wilhelm, hosted titled persons from all over the world, and it seemed that nothing could overshadow them happiness - until a sensational reprint from the Italian press appeared in German newspapers in 1902.
It spoke of a certain prominent industrialist close to the court, who often visited Capri. And there, in a secluded villa, in a secluded cove, such orgies take place that it would be inconvenient to write about in a decent newspaper. Moreover, only... young people participate in these orgies! A couple of days later, the newspaper of the Social Democratic Party also named the name of the mysterious industrialist - Fritz Krupp.
Upon learning this news, Margaret immediately demanded a divorce, asking for protection from the chancellor. Fritz, trying to hush up the scandal, announced that he was suing the newspaper and demanded a medical examination of his wife - his agents spread rumors that Margaret was suffering from sleepwalking and was not able to answer for her words. The Chancellor wanted an explanation, but the servant who brought the invitation to the audience found Krupp lying in a pool of blood on the floor of his bathroom. No autopsy was performed and the official cause of death was declared to be a heart attack. But everyone, of course, talked about suicide - a few days before his death, Fritz Krupp wrote a couple of letters to friends full of the darkest hints.
The chancellor said that his friend was killed by the socialists. The eldest daughter, having entered into inheritance rights, tried (not without success) to convince everyone that the Krupps were holier than the Pope. Her husband Gustav von Bohlen und Halbach quietly and decisively achieved the ruin of the nasty newspaper. In the couple of years that had passed since his marriage to Fritz's daughter, he had become more of a Krupp than the Krupps themselves. Gustav fell in love with horses, memorized all 72 points of the “General Regulations”, posted in each of the 200 rooms of the house a schedule that he made for himself, and steadily followed it for many years: five minutes to nine - departure for work, eight in the evening - children report about the progress of the day, on Sunday from three to four they come and play with dad. For squealing and running around the house - severe punishment. He had to break this routine only once: for a trip to the trial in Versailles.
Gustav served six months in the dungeon, his son Alfred for six years. On a cold February morning in 1951, he walked out of the prison gates, throwing a woolen coat over his shoulders, kindly donated by the commandant, and went straight to a store selling expensive cars - sports cars were his only passion. The Krupps still had a lot of money left in the banks of Switzerland and Argentina, so Alfred could not limit himself in anything. In a snow-white Porsche, he drove to a press conference to announce: “No more weapons, now only peaceful goods.” The companies began to produce drills, sharpening machines and dentures (the latter were eagerly purchased by Soviet Russia), as well as equipment for nuclear power plants and began to develop various know-how. Everything seemed to be going well...
A year later, Alfred got married. To prevent reporters from getting wind of this and infiltrating the church, the newlyweds arrived at the wedding in a van labeled “Bread.” Alfred presented his wife with a luxurious Cadillac and a bouquet of peonies, but they lived together for only four years: in court, the wife stated that her husband refused to fulfill marital duties. In response, Alfred's lawyers released another piquant detail: the plaintiff had an affair with the general manager of the Krupp empire - as a result, the ex-husband did not receive a pfennig. Alfred dealt with depression in his own way: he bought a silver Jaguar and went on a rally in West Africa.
Alfred also left nothing to his heir Arndt (who received his name in honor of the founder of the dynasty who lived more than three hundred years ago). He established a charitable foundation named after Friedrich Krupp, which now manages the affairs of the empire.
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[[Lua error in Module:Wikidata/Interproject on line 17: attempt to index field "wikibase" (a nil value). |Works]] in Wikisource |
Arms sales volumes increased at a very rapid pace. Krupp supplied guns to all European countries except France. This led to further growth of the enterprise and the introduction of innovative technologies into production.
Meanwhile, in Germany, Alfred Krupp fought against the Socialist Workers' Party. He was not so much afraid of becoming bankrupt after implementing socialist ideas, but rather viewed his workers as his property, to whom he wanted to instill the opinion he needed through orders and directives. So-called “black lists” of workers who took part in the demonstrations were introduced. Those on the list of workers were fired or not hired. Before each Reichstag election, workers were ordered not to vote for the Socialist Workers' Party.
The concern, which has existed for almost a century and a half, began with the production of seamless railway wheels (this was indicated by its emblem: three intertwined rings). Already in the First World War, Krupp’s position was simple: to earn as much as possible in the war, and the company directed all its potential to serve the needs of the army - guns, ammunition, new types of weapons. The concept of the concern did not change in any way with the Nazis coming to power, at that time peacefully producing agricultural equipment, but prudently having, since the First World War, a couple of artillery factories transported to Sweden, with a full staff of designers and other valuable personnel. Krupp became the main executor of military orders from Nazi Germany, quickly producing tanks, self-propelled artillery, infantry trucks, and reconnaissance vehicles.
Although, according to the decision of the Yalta and Postdam Conference, the concern was subject to complete destruction, it, like a phoenix bird, was reborn again - already in 1951, Krupp was released and his entire fortune was returned to him. Alfried Krupp took over the leadership of the company and achieved the cancellation of the decree on the liquidation of the concern. Two decades later, the company’s staff reached 100 thousand employees!
In 1999, Krupp merged with the second German giant Thyssen AG and now their brainchild ThyssenKrupp AG is the leading steel manufacturer in the world.
Excerpt characterizing Krupp, Alfred
“This is just now... And then she will die... She will die very scary - they will cut off her head... But I don’t like to watch that,” Stella whispered sadly.Meanwhile, the beautiful lady caught up with our young Axel and, seeing him, froze for a moment in surprise, and then, blushing charmingly, smiled at him very sweetly. For some reason, I had the impression that the world froze for a moment around these two people... As if for a very short moment nothing and no one existed for them except the two of them... But the lady moved on , and the magical moment fell apart into thousands of short moments that wove between these two people into a strong sparkling thread, never to let them go...
Axel stood completely stunned and, again not noticing anyone around, looked after his beautiful lady, and his conquered heart slowly left with her... He did not notice the looks of passing young beauties looking at him, and did not respond to their shining, inviting smiles.
Count Axel Fersen Marie Antoinette
As a person, Axel was, as they say, “both inside and out” very attractive. He was tall and graceful, with huge serious gray eyes, always amiable, reserved and modest, which attracted both women and men equally. His correct, serious face rarely lit up with a smile, but if this happened, then at such a moment Axel became simply irresistible... Therefore, it was completely natural for the charming female half to intensify the attention towards him, but, to their common regret, Axel was only interested in there is only one creature in the whole wide world - its irresistible, beautiful queen...
– Will they be together? – I couldn’t stand it. - They are both so beautiful!..
Stella just smiled sadly and immediately plunged us into the next “episode” of this unusual and somehow very touching story...
We found ourselves in a very cozy, flower-scented, small summer garden. All around, as far as the eye could see, there was a magnificent green park, decorated with many statues, and in the distance a stunningly huge stone palace, similar to a small city, could be seen. And among all this “grandiose”, slightly oppressive, surrounding grandeur, only this garden, completely protected from prying eyes, created a feeling of real comfort and some kind of warm, “homely” beauty...
Intensified by the warmth of the summer evening, the dizzyingly sweet smells of blooming acacias, roses and something else that I could not identify were in the air. Above the clear surface of the small pond, as if in a mirror, huge cups of soft pink water lilies and the snow-white “fur coats” of lazy, royal swans, ready for sleep, were reflected. A beautiful young couple was walking along a small, narrow path around a pond. Somewhere in the distance music was heard, cheerful women's laughter shimmered like bells, the joyful voices of many people sounded, and only for these two the world stopped right here, in this small corner of the earth, where at that moment the gentle voices of birds sounded only for them; only for them a playful, light breeze rustled in the rose petals; and only for them, for a moment, time helpfully stopped, giving them the opportunity to be alone - just a man and a woman who came here to say goodbye, not even knowing whether it would be forever...
The lady was charming and somehow “airy” in her modest, white summer dress, embroidered with small green flowers. Her wonderful ashen hair was tied back with a green ribbon, which made her look like a lovely forest fairy. She looked so young, pure and modest that I did not immediately recognize in her the majestic and brilliant beauty of the queen whom I had seen just a few minutes ago in all her magnificent “ceremonial” beauty.
French Queen Marie Antoinette
Next to her, not taking his eyes off her and catching her every move, walked “our friend” Axel. He seemed very happy and, at the same time, for some reason deeply sad... The Queen lightly took his arm and gently asked:
- But what about me, I will miss you so much, my dear friend? Time moves too slowly when you're so far away...
- Your Majesty, why torture me?.. You know why all this is... And you know how hard it is for me to leave you! I have managed to avoid unwanted marriages twice already, but my father does not lose hope of marrying me... He does not like rumors about my love for you. Yes, and I don’t like them, I can’t, I don’t have the right to harm you. Oh, if only I could be close to you!.. To see you, to touch you... How hard it is for me to leave!.. And I am so afraid for you...
– Go to Italy, my friend, they will be waiting for you there. Just don't stay long! I’ll be waiting for you too...” the queen said, smiling affectionately.
Axel fell with a long kiss to her graceful hand, and when he raised his eyes, there was so much love and anxiety in them that the poor queen, unable to bear it, exclaimed:
- Oh, don't worry, my friend! I am so well protected here that even if I wanted to, nothing could happen to me! Travel with God and come back soon...
Axel looked at her beautiful and so dear face for a long time, as if absorbing every feature and trying to keep this moment in his heart forever, and then bowed low to her and quickly walked along the path to the exit, without turning around or stopping, as if afraid that if he turns around, he simply won’t have enough strength to leave...
And she saw him off with the suddenly moist gaze of her huge blue eyes, in which the deepest sadness lay hidden... She was a queen and had no right to love him. But she was also just a woman whose heart completely belonged to this pure, brave man forever... without asking anyone for permission...
- Oh, how sad it is, isn’t it? – Stella whispered quietly. – How I would like to help them!..
– Do they really need someone’s help? – I was surprised.
Stella just nodded her curly head, without saying a word, and again began showing a new episode... I was very surprised by her deep involvement in this charming story, which so far seemed to me just a very sweet story of someone's love. But since I already knew quite well the responsiveness and kindness of Stella’s big heart, somewhere in the depths of my soul I was almost sure that everything would probably not be as simple as it seemed at first, and I could only wait...
We saw the same park, but I had no idea how much time had passed there since we saw them in the last “episode.”
That evening, the entire park literally shone and shimmered with thousands of colored lights, which, merging with the flickering night sky, formed a magnificent continuous sparkling fireworks display. Judging by the splendor of the preparations, it was probably some kind of grandiose party, during which all the guests, at the whimsical request of the queen, were dressed exclusively in white clothes and, somewhat reminiscent of ancient priests, “organized” walked through the wonderfully illuminated, sparkling park, heading towards the beautiful stone gazebo, called by everyone - the Temple of Love.
Temple of Love, antique engraving
And then suddenly, behind the same temple, a fire broke out... Blinding sparks soared to the very tops of the trees, staining the dark night clouds with bloody light. The delighted guests gasped in unison, approving the beauty of what was happening... But none of them knew that, according to the queen’s plan, this raging fire expressed the full power of her love... And the real meaning of this symbol was understood only by one person who was present that evening at holiday...
Excited, Axel leaned against a tree and closed his eyes. He still couldn't believe that all this stunning beauty was meant for him.
-Are you satisfied, my friend? – a gentle voice whispered quietly behind him.
“I’m delighted...” Axel answered and turned around: it was, of course, her.
They looked at each other with rapture for only a moment, then the queen gently squeezed Axel’s hand and disappeared into the night...
- Why was he always so unhappy in all his “lives”? – Stella was still sad for our “poor boy”.
To tell the truth, I haven’t seen any “misfortune” yet and therefore I looked in surprise at her sad face. But for some reason the little girl stubbornly refused to explain anything further...
The picture changed dramatically.
A luxurious, very large green carriage was speeding along the dark night road. Axel sat in the coachman's place and, quite skillfully driving this huge carriage, looked around and looked around with obvious anxiety from time to time. It seemed like he was in a wild hurry somewhere or was running away from someone...
Inside the carriage sat the king and queen we already knew, and also a pretty girl of about eight years old, as well as two ladies still unknown to us. Everyone looked gloomy and worried, and even the little girl was quiet, as if she sensed the general mood of the adults. The king was dressed surprisingly modestly - in a simple gray frock coat, with the same gray round hat on his head, and the queen hid her face under a veil, and it was clear that she was clearly afraid of something. Again, this whole scene was very reminiscent of an escape...
Just in case, I looked again in Stella’s direction, hoping for an explanation, but no explanation came - the little girl was very intently watching what was happening, and in her huge doll eyes there was a deep, not at all childish, sadness lurking.
“Well, why?.. Why didn’t they listen to him?!.. It was so simple!..” she suddenly became indignant.
The carriage was rushing all this time at almost crazy speed. The passengers looked tired and somehow lost... Finally, they drove into some large, unlit courtyard, with the black shadow of a stone building in the middle, and the carriage stopped abruptly. The place resembled an inn or a large farm.
Axel jumped to the ground and, approaching the window, was about to say something, when suddenly an authoritative male voice was heard from inside the carriage:
– Here we will say goodbye, Count. It is not worthy for me to expose you to further danger.
Axel, of course, who did not dare to object to the king, only managed to fleetingly touch the queen’s hand as a farewell... The carriage rushed off... and literally a second later disappeared into the darkness. And he was left standing alone in the middle of the dark road, wanting with all his heart to rush after them... Axel felt “in his gut” that he could not, had no right to leave everything to the mercy of fate! He just knew that without him, something would definitely go awry, and everything that he had organized for so long and carefully would completely fail due to some ridiculous accident...
The carriage was no longer visible for a long time, and poor Axel still stood and looked after them, clenching his fists with all his might in despair. Angry male tears rolled sparingly down his deathly pale face...
“This is the end already... I know, this is the end already...” he said quietly.
– Will something happen to them? Why are they running away? – not understanding what was happening, I asked.
- Oh, yes!.. They will now be caught by very bad people and put in prison... even a boy.
-Where do you see the boy here? – I was surprised.
- So he’s just dressed up as a girl! Don't you understand?..
I shook my head. While I still didn’t understand almost anything here - neither about the royal escape, nor about the “bad people”, but I decided to just look further without asking anything else.
“These bad people offended the king and queen and wanted to capture them. So they tried to escape. Axel arranged everything for them... But when he was ordered to leave them, the carriage drove slower because the king was tired. He even got out of the carriage to “get some air”... and that’s where they recognized him. Well, they grabbed it, of course...
Pogrom at Versailles Arrest of the royal family
Fear of what is happening... Seeing off Marie Antoinette to the Temple
Stella sighed... and again threw us into another “new episode” of this, not so happy, but still beautiful story...
This time everything looked ominous and even frightening.
We found ourselves in some dark, unpleasant room, as if it was a real evil prison. In a tiny, dirty, damp and smelly room, on a wooden bed with a straw mattress, sat exhausted by suffering, dressed in black, a thin, gray-haired woman, in whom it was completely impossible to recognize that fabulously beautiful, always smiling miracle queen whom young Axel most loved. loved in the world...
) - German industrialist and inventor; largest arms supplier of its era, giving it the nickname " cannon king».
Biography
Meanwhile, in Germany, Alfred Krupp fought against the Socialist Workers' Party. He was not so much afraid of becoming bankrupt after implementing socialist ideas, but rather viewed his workers as his property, to whom he wanted to instill the opinion he needed through orders and directives. So-called “black lists” of workers who took part in the demonstrations were introduced. Those on the list of workers were fired or not hired. Before each Reichstag election, workers were ordered not to vote for the Socialist Workers' Party.
In 1887, 75-year-old Alfred Krupp died of a heart attack. His son, Friedrich Alfred Krupp, inherited the company, which by that time had 20,000 workers.
Personality of Alfred Krupp
Alfred Krupp was an unusual man. On the one hand, he was a tireless worker who never rested on his laurels. On the other hand, he was a hypochondriac in the extreme, who suffered from depression and did not leave his bed for weeks and months at a time.
He imagined the employer as a patriarch, demanding from his employees not only respect, but also obedience and providing them with a secure existence for this. He had a high opinion of himself as an entrepreneur. In his villa Hugel he received the top officials of Europe. Kings and emperors came to visit him not for receptions, but as clients. Therefore, in 1865, he refused the title of nobility granted to him by the King of Prussia as “inconsistent with his wishes.” His name was Krupp, and that was enough.
Krupp's penchant for graphomania is known. He had a great need to speak out, and he wrote several thousand letters during his life - sometimes several letters a day to the same person. He issued a huge number of directives to his workers. In 1877, Krupp addressed the workers with a “word to the subordinates.” It said: “It is I who introduce inventions and create new industries, not the worker. He must be satisfied with his salary, and whether I make a profit or incur a loss is my own business...”
Krupp always admired England. Therefore, he called himself Alfred, and not his baptismal name Alfrid.
There is a historical anecdote that Krupp loved the smell of horse manure and therefore ordered his office to be built above the stables of Villa Hugel. His fear of fires is also known, because of which the entire interior of the villa was made of non-flammable materials.
Notes
The concern, which has existed for almost a century and a half, began with the production of seamless railway wheels (this was indicated by its emblem: three intertwined rings). Already in the First World War, Krupp’s position was simple: to earn as much as possible in the war, and the company directed all its potential to serve the needs of the army - guns, ammunition, new types of weapons. The concept of the concern did not change in any way with the Nazis coming to power, at that time peacefully producing agricultural equipment, but prudently having, since the First World War, a couple of artillery factories transported to Sweden, with a full staff of designers and other valuable personnel. Krupp became the main executor of military orders from Nazi Germany, quickly producing tanks, self-propelled artillery, infantry trucks, and reconnaissance vehicles.
Although, according to the decision of the Yalta and Postdam Conference, the concern was subject to complete destruction, it, like a phoenix bird, was reborn again - already in 1951, Krupp was released and his entire fortune was returned to him. Alfried Krupp took over the leadership of the company and achieved the cancellation of the decree on the liquidation of the concern. Two decades later, the company’s staff reached 100 thousand employees!
In 1999, Krupp merged with the second German giant Thyssen AG and now their brainchild ThyssenKrupp AG is the leading steel manufacturer in the world.
On April 26, 1812, Alfred Krupp was born, the most famous German industrialist, inventor, the largest supplier of weapons of his era (“the cannon king”), and the creator of the “iron empire” of the Krupps.
Family and early yearsAlfred Krupp was born in Essen. He was the son of industrialist and steel mill owner Friedrich Krupp and his wife Theresa Helena Johanna Wilhelmy (1790-1850). His father was unable to get the factory he founded in Essen back on its feet during his lifetime. He died in 1826, when Alfred was not 14 years old. At this time, the family lived with an aunt in Metternich. The company, which at that time had only seven jobs, was inherited by Friedrich Krupp’s wife, Therese. Friedrich Krupp specifically stipulated in his will that “the factory should become the full property of his wife and a competent person appointed by her who can assist her in management.”
The inventory presented by Teresa Krupp to the board of trustees noted that in 1826 the factory's liabilities exceeded its assets by almost 10,000 thalers. All land plots in Walkmühl and Essen were mortgaged. The widow had only one piece of arable land left in her possession, located near the windmill, not far from Limbekkertor.
Teresa Krupp, in addition to the factory, started a small farm, organized the sale of surplus at the market and thus helped herself and her children. Her advisor in all matters was her son-in-law Karl Schulz, a store owner in Essen. It was Schultz who was the person who helped Teresa Krupp maintain correspondence with the people she needed. He actually became the “advertising agent” of the Krupps - on trips, when he traveled to far-flung customers, he convinced clients not only of the high quality of his goods, but also actively advertised the cast steel produced at the Krupp plant. At that time, the company specialized in the production of various tools: turning tools, chisels, files, tools for leather processing.
As an adult, Alfred Krupp completely rejected the idea of himself as a child prodigy, whose rapid successes were only a consequence of his extraordinary abilities. On the contrary, from the very beginning he was accompanied by bitter disappointments and heavy blows. Alfred Krupp had to leave school in 1826 and go to the smelting furnace in the forge, starting his working career. This was his father's order, and he could not disobey. In search of clients, young Krupp himself traveled around the area, playing the role of either a traveling salesman or a peddler, offering his goods to the population. Features of production that he did not know enough, technical errors that appeared already in the process of work, caused him many unpleasant moments. Of course, among Krupp's workers there were experienced specialists who had worked at the factory under his father. In terms of their working qualifications, they naturally stood above the young heir, but the plant needed an experienced manager who would ensure the transportation of products between the smelting shop and the forge and would be able to profitably organize their sales. During his lifetime, Friedrich Krupp was an open, hospitable person. From early youth he made good friends who helped his son in the early days of his activities. From his father, Alfred also inherited a truly “fatherly” attitude towards workers: A. Krupp cared about his “Kruppians,” as they were later called, all his life.
Starting a businessSoon, Theresa Krupp, together with Friedrich's sister, Helena von Müller, founded a steel company. The agreement establishing the company was signed by all the heirs of Frederick and his sisters. The minor Alfred, as the eldest of the male heirs, took over the management of the company, but until 1830-31 it continued to be an unprofitable enterprise.
According to Krupp’s biographers, the company owed its first success to Alfred’s uncle, Karl von Müller, who, against the will of his parents, invested in production (for which he mortgaged his hereditary Metternich estate). In 1830, it was he who was instrumental in concluding a lucrative contract for the supply of cast steel rollers for the Hüseken railway company in Hagen-Hohenlimburg.
With the development of railway transport in Germany and Europe, the need for steel for the production of rails and axles for steam locomotives has greatly increased. By 1836, Krupp already employed 60 people. In 1838, Krupp patented rollers for the production of steel spoons and forks.
In subsequent years, Alfred traveled all over Europe in search of clients. By that time, the company had expanded significantly, but it was still under threat of bankruptcy. In Lower Austria, Krupp, together with banker and entrepreneur Alexander Scheler, founded a metal products factory. The factory first produced cutlery from silver, and later from alpaca. Upon returning to Germany, Krupp handed over the Berndorf plant to his brother Hermann Krupp. But the plant was also unprofitable at first. “It took seven whole years before we started making money,” Herman later admitted.
In 1844, Krupp's partner changed. Karl Friedrich von Müller finally left the company, and his place was taken by a friend of Alfred Krupp’s youth, Friedrich Zelling, the owner of large capital, a partner of the Trading House “Arnold Theodor Zelling, Essen, Rotterdam.” After Selling's arrival, Krupp enjoyed a short period of commercial success. With the support and connections of Zelling, the company enters into two large agreements with the directorates of the mints in Paris and Utrecht, with which Krupp had been negotiating unsuccessfully for two years. In 1845, in Paris, Alfred Krupp received one of the most profitable orders for the manufacture of four drawing and two adjusting mechanisms with rolls with a diameter of 6-7 3/4 inches. The Utrecht Mint orders from him two drawing and two adjusting mechanisms and three pairs of rollers for each mechanism. Krupp continued to work successfully with this customer in subsequent years.
The balance sheet, drawn up on February 28, 1846, showed good profits, although the co-founders (including Zelling) expected more. The next balance sheet, dated December 31, 1847, already revealed losses in the amount of 21,139 thalers. Krupp and his companions were faced with the need to make a serious decision. Alfred himself had more grandiose plans in his head.
"Rail and Wheel King"On February 24, 1848, an agreement was concluded under which Alfred Krupp became the sole owner of the steel factory in Essen. This event was complicated by unforeseen circumstances that almost negated the fruits of twenty years of work by Krupp himself and his companions. Revolution broke out in Paris. Already in March it stormed into the Rhineland. Workers in German factories began to break equipment, damage machines, and blackmail owners with mass layoffs. For example, the Remscheider iron foundry of the Prussian trading company was completely destroyed by workers. Only 2 people left Krupp, and two workers were fired; the remaining 70 people continued to work and receive wages, although the financial situation of the plant was very difficult. During this difficult period, Krupp was allowed to survive only by large orders from private railway companies for the production of rails and cast axles for switches. At this time, Krupp goes beyond the needs of the country and conquers the European and world markets. Two decades later, Krupp rails covered large areas of Europe and Russia. The final breakthrough was made by Alfred Krupp thanks to his invention of the seamless wheel for trains in 1852-1853. For decades, these wheels were a staple of Krupp factories, and most American railroads used them. Therefore, the logo of the Krupp company is not a cannon, but three wheels lying on top of each other.
"Cannon King"People who knew Alfred Krupp closely in life spoke of him as a quickly formed person, but because of this he was extremely restless. By temperament, he was obviously choleric (friend and companion Zelling more than once called Krupp “the eternal Jew” because Alfred never sat still, he always strived for new achievements, loved to travel, move forward, develop his business ). Today he would be called a “workaholic.” On the other hand, Krupp's periods of extraordinary activity were often followed by periods of hypochondria and long-term depression. It happened that he did not leave his bed for weeks and even months.
In 1853, Alfred Krupp married Bertha Eichhof, who was twenty years his junior. They had a son, Friedrich, but the marriage was unhappy. Krupp was not interested in anything other than his own enterprise. The wife could not live in industrial, dirty Essen. Therefore, Bertha spent most of the year with little Friedrich in Italy. In addition, the character of Alfred Krupp was characterized by stinginess and pettiness in everyday life, as well as incorrigible pessimism, which manifested itself both in his relationships with loved ones and in commercial endeavors.
Actually, the production of weapons, which brought huge profits and worldwide fame to Krupp’s enterprises, also began with failures.
Initially, it was just a hobby of the foundryman Krupp. After seven years of attempts, Alfred himself hand-cast the first rifle barrel in 1843. Attempts to sell steel firearms were unsuccessful, as the military trusted the time-tested bronze more. In 1847, the first steel cannon was cast. The manufacturers immediately presented it to the Prussian War Ministry for review, but officials returned the gun to the arsenal, considering it unpromising. The tests were carried out only two years later. The result exceeded all expectations, but the government had its own suppliers, and officials refused to order guns from Krupp.
For several years, Krupp was engaged in the manufacture and exhibition of individual tools, which “were real works of art.” The head of the Essen company was very pessimistic about the prospects for weapons production. In a letter dated January 19, 1859, Krupp wrote to his Parisian representative:
Only after the victories of Napoleon III over the Austrians, which revived the aggressive policy of Napoleon I in the memory of Europeans, did the situation quickly change. In addition to the steam hammer, which received the name "Fritz", the most significant and expensive new buildings of Krupp in 1861-1870 were four cannon workshops that appeared on the factory territory. The Fritz steam forging hammer, developed by Krup, made mass production of steel possible using new technologies. The Bessemer technology, which he bought from the UK, and the Martin Siemens technology were first introduced in Germany at the Krupp plant. Bessemer's technology made it possible to produce steel from cast iron by blowing air and speeding up the process of converting iron into steel.
Already in the mid-1860s, government orders literally rained down on the Krupp company.
Thanks to the superiority of Krupp's steel guns over Danish bronze cannons, Prussia won the war with Denmark in 1864. In 1866, in the Austro-Prussian War, for the first time in history, troops equipped with Krupp faced each other. A year later, Krupp improved the bolt of the breech-loading gun. The war with France was won thanks to the range of Prussian steel cannons, which was twice the range of French bronze cannons, which made Krupp a rich man. Emperor Wilhelm I himself called Alfred Krupp the “cannon king.”
In the 1860s, significant changes also occurred in Krupp's personal life. At the insistence of his wife, he leaves the noisy and dusty factory town of Essen and moves his family to a modest rural country house called “Am Hügel” (“On the Hill”), located on the Ruhr River. Soon Krupp began rebuilding it, and over time the modest house turned into a real “family” castle, where the “cannon king” received high-ranking guests, and even persons of imperial blood.
All his life, Alfred Krupp was barbaric about his health. Now, after the difficult years he had experienced, his nerves had given way. In 1866, Krupp went on vacation to the south, trying to get away from business concerns for at least some time. On the way he falls ill, in Nice he becomes much worse, and from that moment on he will never feel like an absolutely healthy person.
A German doctor from Germany who treated Krupp in Nice describes him as follows:
Krupp had barely turned 55 years old, but he had already “driven” himself, losing his health and youth. In the 1870-1880s, he remained only the formal head of his enterprises, correctly selected people, gave instructions, filled entire pages with “valuable” instructions to managers and partners, but he himself rarely appeared in production.
The largest enterprise in EuropeIn the early years of the German Empire, the output of heavy industry doubled, and the Krupp company became the largest enterprise in Europe. Essen was called nothing other than the “city of Krupp”, and its population increased to ten thousand inhabitants. Despite this, Krupp, who had almost retired due to illness, was constantly under threat of bankruptcy. He almost fell victim to the financial crisis of heavy industry that broke out in Europe in 1874. During the crisis, Krupp owed banks a significant sum of 30 million marks, but quickly eliminated the debt thanks to the boom in railway transport in the United States of America. The Krupp empire avoided the fate of most industrial enterprises in Germany - coming under the control of banking capital.
At the same time, the construction of the Hugel villa building was underway, the technical part of which was personally designed by Alfred Krupp. Out of fear of fires, the building was built without the use of flammable materials and, thanks to its technical improvements (heating, elevators for serving food), became a symbol of industrialization. This construction was not cheap, and most of Krupp’s bank debts were precisely the costs of the villa.
In response to the general strike organized by the Social Democratic Workers' Party (SDAP) in 1871, Krupp published the General Regulativ, which was distributed to all workers. Reading today the draft of this provision, drawn up by Krupp during his holiday at the seaside resort of Torquay in England, we can feel the atmosphere in which he found himself. In this document, he acts as a caring owner who feels responsible for everything that happens in him, and wants the next generations to preserve the spirit that made the plant what it has become. On Krupp's instructions, the document was finalized by his authorized representative, supplemented with previously made comments, divided into paragraphs and checked from the point of view of legal formulations. The final version of this provision, dated September 9, 1872, lays the foundations for the management of the factory, its production, includes a set of duties and rights of those working in it, both those responsible for the work as a whole and those responsible for individual sections, regulates the behavior of representatives outside the factory itself and supplements work schedule in production is a mandatory social program. “First of all,” says the draft of this document, “I return loyalty for loyalty.”
Margareta Krupp (wife of Friedrich Alfred, son of Alfred Krupp) brought the enterprise's social policy to a qualitatively new level - under her leadership entire residential villages for workers were built, hospitals and schools were opened.
One of the most famous settlements is Margaretenhöhe ("Margaret's Height") - a village on the outskirts of Essen, built in the English style for factory engineers in 1911. In total, more than 900 residential buildings with more than 3,000 apartments were built (during the Second World War, the village was severely destroyed, but restoration began in 1948. In 1987, the village was recognized as a cultural heritage monument).
The critical historian Robert Jahn, in his history of the city of Essen (1952), evaluates Krupp’s efforts and successes before and after the First World War: “The Krupp factory worker is proud to belong to a world-famous company, and is happy to buy good and cheap goods from his shops and enjoys the comfortable factory apartment; if he is already of retirement age - a cozy house in Altenhof. But this system, based on industrial prosperity, often reveals sharp contradictions. These contradictions did not in the least hinder the workers’ obvious and justified attachment to the company: the Krupp worker at that time was the embodiment of the traditional patriarchal relations that had developed in the factory, and at the same time he felt that he belonged to the working elite.” The duties assigned to workers were strict, but in return they were given significant social privileges. This way workers could get cheaper housing and health insurance. For the first time in Germany, those who worked their whole lives for Krupp were additionally provided with a pension. If an employee was fired, all these privileges were lost. Bismarck's social legislation, which appeared a few years later, was largely guided by Krupp's “General Directive”.
FinalIn the 1880s, competition with the American steel industry reached its climax. Krupp lost the American market and with it its main part of the sales market - train wheels. From now on, he concentrated his efforts only on the production and development of weapons. The same applied to his two main competitors: the Frenchman G. Schneider and the Englishman W. Armstrong. The three of them started an arms race that resulted in the weapons battles of World War I.
Krupp had to go through the most bitter moments: his glory was in the past, and he no longer had a task that he wanted and could solve. In 1882, Krupp divorced his wife, who by that time was already very ill, and went to live in Leipzig. He spent the last five years of his life completely alone, in his villa “Hügel”, where he died on July 14, 1887 from a heart attack.
Alfred Krupp was an extraordinary personality, going beyond a simple entrepreneur. He cannot be called a serious specialist: there were many more outstanding technicians, brilliant inventors, and experienced businessmen, but the Krupp steel cannon helped Prussia unite all of Germany in 1871. The Krupps armored the ships of the Imperial German Navy. During the First World War, Krupp factories produced up to 10% of military products; They made no less a contribution to the Nazi war economy. After the defeat of Germany in 1945, the enterprises and mines of this family remained in ruins, but in the process of the rapid post-war development of West Germany, the Krupp company again restored its industrial power...
Alfred Krupp, son of Friedrich Krupp and his wife Theresa Helena Johanna Wilhelmy (1790-1850), was born in 1812. His father failed to get the factory he founded back on its feet during his lifetime. He died in 1826, when Alfred Krupp was 14 years old. At this time, the family lived with an aunt in Metternich. The company, which at that time had only seven jobs and a debt of 10,000 thalers, was inherited by Friedrich's wife Theresa. Together with Friedrich Krupp's sister, Helena von Müller, née Krupp, a steel company was founded. The agreement establishing the company was signed by all the heirs of Frederick and his sister Helena. Alfred dropped out of school and took over the management of the company, although the company officially belonged to his mother. By 1830 the situation had changed. With the development of railway transport in Germany and Europe, the need for steel for the production of rails and axles for steam locomotives has greatly increased. On August 26, 1830, Krupp, after overcoming some difficulties in steel production, supplied cast steel rollers for the first time to the Hüseken company in Hagen-Hohenlimburg.
The creation of the German Customs Union facilitated freight transport in Germany. In 1836, Krupp already employed 60 people. Alfred Krupp cared about his “Kruppians,” as they were later called, all his life. He introduced health insurance and built apartments for workers. In exchange, he demanded their loyalty to the company.
In 1838, Krupp patented rollers for the production of steel spoons and forks. In subsequent years, Alfred traveled all over Europe in search of clients. Although the company expanded, it was constantly under threat of bankruptcy. In Lower Austria, he, together with the banker and entrepreneur Alexander Scheler, founded the Berndorf Metal Products Factory, which first produced cutlery from silver and later from alpaca. But upon Krupp's return to Germany, he handed over the plant to his brother Hermann Krupp.
Weapons manufacturing was originally Krupp's hobby. After seven years of attempts, he hand-cast the first rifle barrel in 1843. Early attempts to sell steel firearms were unsuccessful, as the military trusted the time-tested bronze more. In their opinion, steel was too close to iron, which was brittle and therefore unsuitable for making weapons.
In 1847, the first steel Krupp cannon was cast and was provided to the Prussian War Ministry for review. However, it was immediately handed over to the arsenal and tested only two years later. Although the test result exceeded all expectations, the ministry saw no reason to order these guns.
Rise in production
The final breakthrough was made by Alfred Krupp thanks to his invention of the seamless wheel for trains in 1852-1853. For decades these wheels were a Krupp staple and most American railroads used Krupp wheels. Therefore, the logo of the Krupp company is not a cannon, but three wheels lying on top of each other. As a result of this first boom, in the 50s of the 19th century, the company already employed about a thousand workers.
In 1853, Alfred Krupp married Bertha Eichhof, who was twenty years his junior. They had a son, Friedrich, but the marriage was unhappy. Krupp was exclusively interested in his own enterprise, where he spent all his time. His wife was unable to live in Essen, which she disliked due to its industrial pollution. Therefore, Bertha lived with little Friedrich in Italy for most of the year.
In 1857 Alfred developed a new version of the breech-loading cannon. When he offered to buy it to the Prussian military in 1858, they did not agree, since they had fair doubts about the reliability of its bolts. However, Krupp did not give up on his goal of becoming an arms supplier, and in April 1860 he sold the first steel cannons: Prussia ordered 312 six-pounder muzzle-loading guns.
Arms sales volumes increased at a very rapid pace. Krupp supplied guns to all European countries except France. This led to further growth of the enterprise and the introduction of innovative technologies into production.