Alfred Krupp (born Alfried Felix Alwyn Krupp; Essen, 26 April 1812 – Essen, 14 July 1887) was a German steel manufacturer and inventor; the largest arms supplier of his era, which earned him the nickname "The Cannon King". Biography Alfred Krupp, son of Friedrich Krupp and his wife Theresa Helena Johann Wilhelmi (1790-1850), was born in 1812. His father did not manage to put the factory he founded in 1811 on its feet during his lifetime. He died in 1826 when Alfred Krupp was 14 years old and left to his son the secret of making high-quality cast steel, together with a small workshop in which production had come almost to a standstill. At this time, the family lived with the 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 founding agreement was signed by all the heirs of Friedrich and his sister Helena. Alfred dropped out of school and took over the firm, although the firm was officially owned by his mother. By 1830 the situation had changed. With the development of rail transport in Germany and Europe, the demand for steel for the production of rails and steam locomotive axles had greatly increased. On 26 August 1830, after overcoming some difficulties in steel production, Krupp supplies cast steel rolls for the first time to Hüseken in Hagen-Hohenlimburg. The creation of the German Customs Union facilitated freight transport in Germany. In 1836, Krupp already employed 60 people. Alfred Krupp took care of his "Kruppians", as they were later called, all his life. He introduced sickness insurance and built apartments for workers. In exchange, he demanded loyalty from them to the firm. Alfred Krupp won new customers, extended his firm's purchases of raw materials, and secured funds to finance the expansion of his works. At the first world exhibition, the Great Exhibition, in London in 1851, he exhibited the largest steel ingot ever cast up to that time (4,300 pounds). In 1851, another successful innovation, no-weld railway tyres, began the company's primary revenue stream, from sales to railways in the United States. Alfred enlarged the factory and fulfilled his long-cherished scheme to construct a breech-loading cannon of cast steel. He strongly believed in the superiority of breech-loaders, on