The Arms of Krupp, 1587-1968
Little, Brown & Company | 1968 | English | 1010 pages | PDF | 120 MB

The Krupp family were the premier German arms manufacturers from the middle of the 19th century until the end of World War II, producing artillery pieces and submarines that set the standard for effectiveness. This book relates the history of this influential company. Compelling book in which William Manchester brings to life Europe's richest, most powerful family, a 400-year dynasty that armed Germany in three major wars. Their cannon won the Franco-Prussian War in 1870. In 1871 they invented the first anti-aircraft gun to shoot down observation balloons. In WWI their mammoth weapons shelled Paris at a range of 81 miles. For 40 years they manufactured submarines, beginning with the U-1 that menaced Allied shipping. In 1940 their cannon actually shelled England from across the channel. The Krupps armed the forces of the Kaiser and financed Hitler's 'Terror Election' of 1933. Hitler honored their loyalty by decreeing special tax exemptions that continued to bind a post-war West Germany. The Krupps even survived a Nuremberg conviction to become the dynamo behind the 'Common Market'