The Arms of Krupp: The Rise and Fall of the Industrial Dynasty that Armed Germany at War - William Manchester

Steel yourself for a great reading experience

I had the hardcover version of "The Arms of Krupp" on my bookshelf for several years and finally got around to reading it in full over the past few months. I have to agree with all those who gave the book five stars. It is a masterful and well-written account of the Krupp dynasty over more than two centuries. In well over 800 pages, William Manchester has done a remarkable job in relating the important roles of Alfred, Gustav and Alfried Krupp in building a lucrative empire in the Ruhr based on steel and iron that gave Germany military dominance from the 1870's to the 1940's. This was accomplished by selling state-of-the-art weapons and other products through Machiavellian maneuvering with global powers and close political connections with two Kaisers and one Fuhrer. If you are interested in German history, military science or technology, you should read this book!

Thank You Mr. Manchester - Danke Schoen Herr Manchester

William Manchester's The Arms of Krupp is a great accomplishment. The book fluidly details the history of the Krupps, one of the world's greatest industrialist dynasties and its Firma. The history of the Krupps is interesting, because it is so closely connected to the history of the German state. The author skillfully weaves the histories of the Krupps and German state, while always remaining focused on the Krupps. A lesser author would need to diverge from his/her storytelling to relate surrounding historical events. Mr. Manchester is always able to avoid such divergences and distractions with his skillful writing.

I perceived only two shortcomings regarding this book. First, the book's evaluation of Alfried Krupp's war crimes was not as balanced as I would have hoped. Much of the book seems to be an indictment of Alfried Krupp for war crimes, e.g., enslavement of foreign workers. Although he is most assuredly inexcusably guilty of the crimes, I would have appreciated a more balanced, analytical evaluation of the Firma's decisions to commit the crimes. Instead, the author seems to simply dismiss the decisions as being evil and unexplainable.

My second perceived shortcoming in the book concerns its translation of German into English. I believe it is safe to assume that many or most of Mr. Manchester's sources were originally in German. I believe it is also safe to assume that translated sources in the book obtained extra scrutiny before publication. Unfortunately, the original German and English translations provided in the book were not always entirely consistent. In Chapter 28, the author discusses the Firma's business relationship with Egypt. The text quotes an internal Firma memorandum, which state in English, "The true goal of Krupp in Egypt is the multimillion-dollar Aswan Dam." The original German provided next to it in the book states that "Das naechste Ziel Krupps ist das Milliardenprojeckt des Assuan Damms." A correct translation of the Firma's memorandum reveals that it was the firm's "next goal", not its "true goal", to obtain the contract to build the Aswan Dam. Although the mistranslations I noted were typically insignificant in consequence, they leave me with a little doubt regarding any translated source.

Because of the above shortcomings, I wish I could give this book 4.5 stars. Unfortunately, I had to decide between four and five stars. I elected to give five stars, because Mr. Manchester's The Arms of Krupp is simply a great read.

For such a monumental work never to become boring, is quite a feat

It covers a lengthy span of time in Krupp saga. Its 900 pages have space for all kinds of detail, from the purely familiar and personal to the more general of German customs and idiosyncrasies, and finally -to me the most relevant and interesting- the historical. The historical from the ground perspective, is what I mean, not the ideological or political.

There's a lot of merit in this author to keep the interest along so many pages. Some of these pages are of great style, elsewhere the interest plummets a little, which is totally understandable.

One paradox in the book that can summarize the story of Krupp is the difference between the way the greatest Krupp (Alfred) treated a poor and foreign woman appealing for help, and the way his great-grandson, would treat people like her in his not-known-well-enough private concentration camps. For Alfred it was: "Necessity knows no law", a fitting motto. Exactly the opposite would be during the Nazi times. Here's a sample of great writing: "Yet there was a time when Alfred's great-grandson not only abandoned helpless women from abroad, but exploited them, and then left them to a doom far more unspeakable than the turbid gray waters of the Rhine. The bonfire of the Third Reich was rapidly being reduced to embers. No sources of manpower were left and so, necessity knowing no law, Krupp turned to girls, to mothers, and, in the end, to the construction of a private concentration camp for children."

A must read, for the fine style in which it describes important historical subjects that must be known, the day-to-day lives of the people who lived those turbulent -to say something- times. Let's not forget those horrors. And don't try to understand them, just beware how low the human race can fall.

Krupp: the Epitome of the Military-Industrial Complex.

William Manchester's "The Arms of Krupp" is an epic look at the company, personalities, dynasty, and the nation that formed one of the world's most infamous armaments manufacturers.

From the earliest records of a Krupp in the late 16th century, the Krupp family profited off the suffering an misery of others when Arndt Krupp bought land in Essen for a bargain following an outbreak of bubonic plague. It was a pattern that played out again and again up to the Second World War; but the later tragedies the family profited off was human conflict rather than disease.

Throughout the narrative, the reader is introduced to a long list of eccentric and sometimes brutal 'Cannon Kings': from manure-loving Alfred whose genius launched die Firma into its infamous glory, the scandalous Fritz, the robotic Gustav, to the WWII-era slaveholder Alfried. At times, readers will envy the early Krupps for their dedication to die Firma, while in other instances the audience will be appalled by the Krupps' cold-blooded arms dealings that led to the deaths of so many of their own countrymen.

Manchester is keen on casting the house of Krupp as a symbol of modern Germany; as their trials and boons both seemed to coincide in recent history. Furthermore, "The Arms of Krupp" is an excellent source for insight on the pre-WWI arms race and the post-Versailles rearmament that other histories of the period overlook. Over all, it is a highly recommended book for anyone interested in the history of Germany and the barons of modern warfare.

Excellent book with annoying features

This book is excellent for all the reasons mentioned in the other reviews. What I found REALLY annoying was the author's use of German quotes. He provides quotes, in German, usually somewhat abbreviated as shown by the use of ellipses, and then provides the translation of the entire quote in English. Since most of his readers can't read German, and the entire quote is NOT in the German version, why include them? More frustrating are the German phrases that he quotes and doesn't translate, leaving us to guess at their meanings.