Royal Prussian rifle factory
The Royal Prussian Rifle Factory was the oldest rifle manufacturer in Prussia and was founded in 1722 by Friedrich Wilhelm I , the "Soldier King". He financed the construction and the technical equipment of the workshops and had houses and churches built for the Catholic workers.
The rifle factory manufactured not only handguns, but also cutting and stabbing weapons , in accordance with the meaning of the word "rifle" at the time. The main customer was the Prussian Army . Until 1850 the production was privately owned under a lease agreement. After that, the company was taken over by the state and the Potsdam site was given up. The Spandau plant formed the basis of the armaments industry there.
The almost 200-year history of the rifle factory ended in 1919 after the First World War in accordance with the restrictions of the Versailles Treaty . The rifle factory, along with twelve other army and naval workshops, became part of the newly created Deutsche Werke AG , whose operations now produced for civilian needs and henceforth operated under the name of Deutsche Industriewerke .
prehistory
When Friedrich Wilhelm I ascended the throne in 1713, Prussia was an economically and militarily weak state that had only a few arms factories: cannon foundry in Berlin, cannonball foundry in Zehdenick , blade forge in Hagen. The measures initiated by his grandfather, the Great Elector , within the framework of the mercantilist order to stimulate trade and industry, which had been neglected by his successor, he continued to a greater extent in the field of arms production. Here too, the "money should be kept in the country" through self-sufficiency .
Planning and establishment
The suggestion for founding the rifle manufacture came from Gottfried Adolph Daum , who, together with his partner David Splitgerber, ran the trading house Splitgerber & Daum , whose focus for decades was the business with military equipment and artillery ammunition. The negotiations on behalf of the king were conducted by Colonel Christian Nicolaus von Linger , who later also earned services to the royal powder factory and the armory . After Gottfried Daum launched his project “Wie seine Königl. Majesty new rifle factory in Dero Lande kan estabiliret […] and good rifles are made […] ”, the king received confirmation with the highest resolution of March 31, 1722, which should form the basis of the cooperation. In it he guaranteed the workers privileges (free religious practice, permission to consume brandy on the factory premises, exemption from the cantonal regulations ). The entrepreneurs were also granted special rights, which they could not invoke in an emergency (see the section on unusual leases ).
The militarily secured royal residence city of Potsdam , which belonged to the manor of the Hohenzollern and had become a garrison town , offered itself as a location .
Production was split up. For all rough work such as forging, drilling, hammering and grinding, an area was found outside the city of Spandau that also belonged to the king. The Havel waterway could be used to transport the rifle parts . Final production, quality control, administration and management were in Potsdam. The rifle factory with its immediate status belonged to the military sector and was directly subordinate to the royal court and chamber court .
The specialists necessary to implement the project, who did not exist in Prussia, were recruited by Gottfried Daum mainly in Liège , a center of arms production at the time. After completion of the workshops and houses, Splitgerber & Daum were able to lease the rifle factory in 1722 and Gottfried Daum took over the management. Some masters were also given to the king by the Essen rifle factory.
Potsdam location
The rifle factory was built on a piece of land east of the drainage ditch near its inlet into the Havel. At the same time as the factory was built, the king had this ditch expanded as a transport route to the Potsdam city canal and the unpaved street An der Gewehrfabrik (today: Hoffbauerstraße) laid out. The paving took place 40 years later.
The foundation stone for the factory - consisting of two-storey individual buildings - was laid on March 26, 1722. The king added the small church he founded for the recruited Catholic workers.
After the previous building of the garrison church was completed in the same year , work began on the large military orphanage opposite on the other side of the city canal , which should also produce offspring for the rifle factory. All of the buildings during this period were built in half-timbered construction on unsafe ground.
The first damage was seen on the garrison church, which was then torn down and replaced from 1730 by the well-known new building by Philipp Gerlach . Gradually, the other buildings also had to be renewed. In the years 1776–1780, the rifle factory was given a four-story massive main building based on plans by Georg Christian Unger . This was followed by further block perimeter development on the large property, with the half-timbered buildings in the courtyard being used for some time. From 1771 to 1778 the military orphanage was rebuilt according to a design by Carl von Gontard . A management building for the rifle factory of Johann Gottfried Büring was built in 1755 on the corner lot Breitestrasse / An der Gewehrfabrik. The house, which is no longer in existence, contained official apartments for the royal commissioner and the director of the rifle factory. Long-time director with 45 years of service (1740–1785) was Johann Friedrich Rücker, whose grave is preserved in the Bornstedt cemetery .
Arms production in Potsdam ended in 1850, which caused the city to lose its largest manufacture. The Prussian armaments industry was concentrated in Spandau. The rifle factory in Potsdam was converted into a barracks and was part of the building complex for the 1st Guards Regiment on Foot . The part of the main building of the factory (Hoffbauerstraße corner Henning-von-Tresckow-Straße) still preserved today is under monument protection and is used by the Ministry of Infrastructure and Agriculture of the State of Brandenburg (status: 2013).
Spandau location
The area in the "Plan" (later: "Gun plan and powder factory") was within sight to the east of the Spandau Citadel and was later included in the expanded Spandau Fortress . In Spandau, too, the first buildings - both the workers' houses and the workshops - were simple half-timbered buildings . The small half-timbered church built here for the Catholic rifle makers recruited from Liège was the first newly built Catholic church in Prussia after the Reformation ; Due to the growth of the community, it was replaced in 1847/48 by the larger St. Marien am Behnitz , which still exists today . The hydro-powered hammer and boring mills for iron processing were in Spandau . In 1726 Gottfried Daum set up a warehouse for the cannonballs cast in Zehdenick .
In 1755 the king financed a new drill mill and a new iron magazine. However, he “didn't want to give a penny ” for the necessary maintenance of the factory buildings , because it would only benefit the entrepreneurs. In the years 1775–1777, he finally commissioned extensive repairs to workshops and houses.
With the relocation of the Royal Fireworks Laboratory from Berlin to the Spandau Citadel (1817) and the relocation of the Royal Powder Factory from Jungfernheide near Berlin to Spandau (1834), two more armaments industries were located here in addition to the already established rifle factory. The gun foundry followed in 1855 and the artillery workshop in 1869.
The rifle examination commission began its work in Spandau in 1877.
Unusual lease
The basis was the royal resolution of March 31, 1722 - a unilateral declaration of intent by Friedrich Wilhelm I in favor of the entrepreneurs, to whom he owed the rifle manufacture. In recognition of this, he gave them the factory for "perpetual use" free of charge.
The benevolence was also expressed in the fact that the entrepreneurs were allowed to take the weapons required for export from the royal armories. This enabled them to deliver promptly, regardless of ongoing production. The replenishment of the arsenals in kind was allowed to take place in several annual steps. In return, the entrepreneurs had to accept compromises in other privileges and autocratic interference in production and administration over time.
Interventions of the crown
The thrifty soldier king made the start himself. As the founder of the factory, he had set the price for a musket at 7 talers and 12 groschen , but then only paid 6 talers and 19 groschen. After he had largely covered his needs, the orders fell and the king wanted to reduce the price to six talers. This price dictation would have exacerbated the already existing dependence of production on the armed forces and willingness of the sovereign to go to war. When the entrepreneurs wanted to withdraw from the entire project, he finally agreed to pay 6 thalers and 12 groschen.
Further interventions concerned the use of Silesian iron, which caused considerable production losses and costs, interference in personnel issues, which led to the loss of 30,000 thalers, and the appointment of state directors and a rifle inspection commission.
The assured unique position as a weapons manufacturer in Prussia was violated with the establishment of the Royal Rifle Factory Saarn in 1815 .
With this gradual annulment of special rights, the abandonment of mercantilist thinking also took place, which ultimately led to the termination of the lease contract by the state (1850). The entrepreneurs submitted to the changed political circumstances and accepted the compensation of 42,000 thalers.
Changing productivity
Years of boom - especially during the Silesian Wars - alternated with times of short-time work. The large profits in production-rich years were offset by losses caused by continued wages in peacetime and war damage ( contributions , confiscations, closures). Declines in productivity occurred every time a model was changed. The start-up difficulties increased with the increasingly complicated weapons.
Difficulties in work
The soldier king insisted on an early start of production, although not all conditions were met. In the first few years the ramrods were obtained from Solingen and the wooden rifle stocks from Nuremberg. The biggest challenge was the recurring personnel problem. New people constantly had to be recruited because disappointed workers returned to their homeland. This migration increased when, during the Silesian Wars, rifle factory workers were ordered to follow the fighting troops on the orders of the king and carry out rifle repairs on the spot. Already parking people caused a personnel bottleneck in the plant so that the increased war-related need for weapons could not be met. Splitgerber & Daum had to buy 20,000 rifles from third-party production without profit.
The dwindling authority of the employers led to resistance among workers to the introduction of new manufacturing processes. The use of templates (1827) for the parts of the gun lock could only be enforced with difficulty, as was the use of the first steam engine (1843).
In 1840 the dissatisfaction of the workers had turned into open rebellion, which had to be ended with the help of the police and the military. The consequence was an official regulation for the workers of the royal rifle factories .
Arms production from 1722 to 1850
The first handgun from Potsdam-Spandau production, musket M1723 with flintlock , was the replica of a musket the Liege manufacturers FP Henoul that belonged to the former supplier of the Prussian army. The shotgun, modified several times, was also made for export to friendly countries. From 1780 the production of the infantry rifle model 1780/87 began. The Nothardt rifle followed in 1801 , the general introduction of which was prevented by the armed conflict with Napoleon . After Scharnhorst's military reform and the withdrawal of the French, the rifle factory resumed work on an improved musket, the New Prussian infantry rifle M / 1809 . Most of these rifles were then converted to percussion locks.
The needle rifle by Johann Nikolaus von Dreyse ushered in a new era of weapon and combat technology . To prevent espionage, the rifle should only be manufactured in Dreyses own factory and in state institutions. That is why Prussia canceled the lease agreement that had existed since 1722 with the trading company Splitgerber & Daum - most recently the Schickler brothers - and concentrated arms production in Spandau.
The production program of the Royal Prussian Rifle Factory also included pistols and carbines from the start . Swords , sabers , pikes and bayonets were made for edged weapons . In 1750 the manufacture of cuirasses began .
During the 130-year lease, the weapons were given the official markings "POTSDAMMAGAZ" and Prussian eagle, as well as the initials of the tenants, whereby there were three versions due to the change of generation: "S&D" for Splitgerber & Daum and Daumsche Erben (1722–1779), " DSE “for David Splitgerber seel. Heirs (1780–1795) and “GS” for the Schickler brothers (1795–1850).
Arms production from 1852 to 1918
After the closure of the Potsdam production facilities in 1850 and the concentration in Spandau- Stresow - with the corresponding modernization of the technical systems - the first weapon manufactured there was the Dreyse needle rifle M / 41, which was able to maintain its technical lead for around 20 years. Thereafter, the development of the superior French Chassepot rifle also made a Dreyse successor model (M / 62) necessary, which was eventually replaced by the M / 71 Mauser rifle .
After it was founded in 1877, the state rifle examination commission based in Spandau began developing its own rifle, the so-called "commission rifle" with the official designation Gewehr 88 . Although it was produced in millions of other rifle factories, it did not meet expectations, so that a new weapon was soon considered. The result was the Mauser Model 98 , which was manufactured in various designs from 1898 and was standard equipment for the army during the First World War . This rifle is still used today (as of 2013) by the guard battalion at the Federal Ministry of Defense in the protocol service.
Directors
- 1852-1854 Major Linger
- 1854 Captain Karl von Avemann
- 1854–1857 Captain Von Garnier
- 1857–1875 Captain Hermann von Schaetzel
- 1875–1877 Colonel Eduard Albert Friedrich Klatten
- 1877 - Major Gerhardt.
literature
- Friedrich Nicolai: Description of the royal royal cities of Berlin and Potsdam 1789.
- HCP Schmidt: History and topography of the Königl. Prussian residence city of Potsdam , Ferdinand Riegel publishing house, Potsdam 1825.
- JDF Rumpf: The Prussian Monarchy . Publishing house JW Boicke, Berlin 1825.
- Erika Herzfeld: Prussian Manufactories . Verlag der Nation, Berlin 1994, ISBN 3-373-00119-6 .
- Heinrich Müller: The army in Brandenburg and Prussia from 1640 to 1806. Volume 1: The armament. Brandenburgisches Verlagshaus, Berlin 1991, ISBN 3-327-01072-2 .
- Bernhard R. Kroener (Ed.): Potsdam - State, Army, Residence in Prussian-German Military History. Propylaen Verlag, Frankfurt am Main u. a. 1993, ISBN 3-549-05328-2 .
- Wilhelm Hassenstein: On the history of the royal rifle factory in Spandau with special consideration of the 18th century. In: Yearbook of the Association of German Engineers. 1912, Vol. 4, OCLC 174576314 , pp. 28-62.
- Friedrich Lenz, Otto Unholtz: The history of the banking house Gebrüder Schickler, commemorative publication for the 200th anniversary , Verlag G. Reimer, Berlin 1912, digitized by the University of Toronto .
- Andrea Theisen, Arnold Wirtgen (Hrsg.): Spandau military town - center of Prussian arms production from 1722 to 1918. City History Museum Berlin-Spandau, Brandenburgisches Verl.-Haus, Berlin 1998.
Individual evidence
- ^ Friedrich Nicolai: Description of the royal royal cities of Berlin and Potsdam , 1789, Volume 3, pp. 1022, 1024
- ^ Meyers Lexikon, Bibliographisches Institut, Leipzig 1925, columns 682/683
- ↑ Friedrich Lenz, Otto Unholtz: The history of the bank Brothers Schickler , p 350
- ^ HCP Schmidt: History and topography of the royal. Prussian residence city of Potsdam , Verlag Ferdinand Riegel, Potsdam 1825, p. 124, 194
- ↑ JDF Rumpf: Die Prussische Monarchie , Verlag JW Boicke 1825, p. 192
- ^ Bernhard R. Kroener: Potsdam - State, Army, Residence in Prussian-German Military History. Propylaeen Verlag, Berlin 1993, p. 253.
- ^ Heinrich Ludwig Manger: Building history of Potsdam , Friedrich Nicolai, Berlin – Stettin 1789, vol. 1, p. 18
- ↑ Friedrich Lenz, Otto Unholtz: The history of the bank Brothers Schickler , p 140
- ^ Heinrich Ludwig Manger: Building history of Potsdam , Friedrich Nicolai, Berlin – Stettin 1789, vol. 2, p. 444
- ^ Heinrich Ludwig Manger: Building History of Potsdam , Friedrich Nicolai, Berlin – Stettin 1789, Vol. 2, pp. 359, 360, 400
- ^ Heinrich Ludwig Manger: Building history of Potsdam , Friedrich Nicolai, Berlin – Stettin 1789, vol. 1, p. 200
- ↑ Friedrich Lenz, Otto Unholtz: The history of the bank Brothers Schickler. P. 31.
- ↑ Friedrich Lenz, Otto Unholtz: The history of the bank Brothers Schickler. P. 140.
- ^ Meyers Konversations-Lexikon . Bibliographisches Institut, Leipzig and Vienna 1895, Vol. 7, p. 512.
- ↑ Friedrich Lenz, Otto Unholtz: The history of the bank Brothers Schickler , p 352
- ↑ Friedrich Lenz, Otto Unholtz: The history of the bank Brothers Schickler , p 176
- ↑ 1 thaler = 24 groschen
- ^ Wilhelm Treue, Economic and Technical History of Prussia , p. 43
- ↑ Friedrich Lenz, Otto Unholtz: The history of the bank Brothers Schickler , pp 36-38
- ↑ Friedrich Lenz, Otto Unholtz: The history of the bank Brothers Schickler , p 278
- ↑ Friedrich Lenz, Otto Unholtz: The history of the bank Brothers Schickler , p 211
- ↑ Friedrich Lenz, Otto Unholtz: The history of the bank Brothers Schickler , p 34
- ↑ Friedrich Lenz, Otto Unholtz: The history of the bank Brothers Schickler , p 319
- ↑ Friedrich Lenz, Otto Unholtz: The history of the bank Brothers Schickler. Pp. 84/85.
- ↑ Friedrich Lenz, Otto Unholtz: The history of the bank Brothers Schickler. P. 139.
- ↑ Friedrich Lenz, Otto Unholtz: The history of the bank Brothers Schickler. P. 278.
- ↑ Friedrich Lenz, Otto Unholtz: The history of the bank Brothers Schickler. Pp. 213, 255, 281, 282.
- ↑ Friedrich Lenz, Otto Unholtz: The history of the bank Brothers Schickler , p.39
- ↑ Friedrich Lenz, Otto Unholtz: The history of the bank Brothers Schickler , p 84
- ↑ Friedrich Lenz, Otto Unholtz: The history of the bank Brothers Schickler , p 316
- ↑ Friedrich Lenz, Otto Unholtz: The history of the bank Brothers Schickler , p 317
- ↑ Friedrich Lenz, Otto Unholtz: The history of the bank Brothers Schickler , p 317/318
Coordinates: 52 ° 23 ′ 38 " N , 13 ° 3 ′ 12" E