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Text extracted from opening pages of book: BLOOD AND STEEL PREFACE ZAHAROFF, the Man of Mystery, aroused the curi osity of a dozen of post-War sensation-seeking pub licists. But the House of Krupp, which could boast the friendship of two German Emperors, its guns making the background for a half - century of mad armament policy, and again doing so by the will of Krupp's new patron, Adolf Hitler, has never yet, throughout the many generations of its existence, been the subject of a genuinely critical history. The fact, though surprising, is by no means accidental. For this firm, surpassing in adroitness of intelligence all its competitors in the armament industry, has success fully camouflaged its activities in a rather novel manner. Several hundred books and pamphlets and more than a thousand scientific papers seem to imply a veritable publicity-mania, which, however, is a stroke of true genius: i. e., concealment of the truth behind a mass of cleverly dished-up data. The author confesses that herein lay the real difficulty of his task. Here was no charitable obscurity in which every ascertained fact could prove a welcome guide to the Unknown. Step by step mountains of paper had to be pushed aside in order that what was essential could be found in spite of thousands of printed pages. And utmost care was taken to investigate and weigh the sources of all information. Definite, undisputed state ments alone could be utilised here. The author, lacking vi PREFACE all talent for fiction, did not allow his imagination play in any single instance. He himself retreated behind the facts presented. It is obvious that the association of politics and busi ness, steel and the destiny of nations, revealed in these pages is not to be considered peculiar to the history or the present condition of Germany. Wherever the name Krupp appears, let the Frenchman substitute Schnei der; the Englishman, Vickers; and any other coun try, its corresponding firm. Not out of blind antagonism nor hatred has this criti cism of one phase of German actuality been born. Rather out of sadness; sadness for a kindly but misguided peo ple; for a noble country; and especially for one strip of earth beside the Ruhr which will always remain the Promised Land to the writer. CONTENTS PAGB PREFACE v PART I THE ANCESTORS ARNDT KRUPE 3 THE ARMS DEALER 5 THE THREE BROTHERS 8 THE FIRST IRONWORKS 12 PART II THE FOUNDER SMUGGLER AND SPECULATOR 19 THE BANKRUPT 28 PART III THE CANNON KING THE COMING OF STEAM 39 OTHER PEOPLE'S IDEAS 43 THE BOOM IN RAILS 52 THE FIRST GUN 60 BLOOD AND IRON 68 ON BOTH SIDES 76 OFFICER OF THE LEGION OF HONOUR 88 THE HOME OF His ANCESTORS 96 THE INDUSTRIAL CRISIS 104 BLOODY INTERNATIONAL 113 SOCIAL ANXIETIES 120 LAST STRUGGLES 129 LONELY DEATH 145 PART IV THE HEIR ARMOUR PLATE AND CANNON 153 THE NAVY ERA 161 KRUPP, MEMBER OF TH% REICHSTAG 171 CONCERNING THE RECOIL CYLINDER 180 THE LEAP IN THE DARK 190 CAPRI 202 viii CONTENTS PART V THE KRUPP A.-G. THE LIMITED COMPANY PAGE THE GIANT GROWS 223 PARLIAMENT AND ARMOUR PROFITEERING 233 CONFLICT WITH LE CREUSOT 244 PRINCE CONSORT VON BOHLEN 253 THE GREAT PANIC 263 KORNWALZER 2/ 4 THE DOWNFALL OF EHRHARDT 287 THE DUEL OF THE GIANTS 297 ON THE EVE 313 THE WAR 322 THE CONVERSION 356 SECRET ARMS 377 THE CRISIS You NEED 385 FORWARD OVER GRAVES 397 BIBLIOGRAPHY 409 INDEX 4x5 PARTI THE ANCESTORS Arndt Krupe-The Arms Dealer-The Three Brothers The First Ironworks THE ANCESTORS ARNDT KRUPE IN 1599, the year of the Plague, a small German city near the right bank of the Rhine staggered through the horror in the grip of the Black Death. Flourishing fami lies were wiped out overnight; entire streets, the chroni clers relate, looked like graveyards in their sad deser tion. In the midst of this distracted heap of humanity the wine merchant on Salt Market kept his head. Property and money had lost their meaning for most of those who survived, but he made the best of death and pur chased for a few dialers extensive gardens and p

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