Fun Fact #510
Fun Fact #510
Rheinmetall
Founded during The German Empire (1889), Rheinmetall has advanced well beyond merely making ammunition, by achieving fame in 1896 with the world’s first firearm (The X49 “Ehrhardt” more commonly known as The MK1 Field Gun) to use the recoil of the action to reload –although today we’d call it Artillery given its size. Later during The Great Depression Rheinmetall bought up several bankrupt companies helping to keep as many people employed in that time of turmoil as they possibly could.
However after WW2 the company was split between West and East Germany. The East went on to make Mopeds, Printers, Computers, and cameras, whereas the West had a bit more trouble becoming a holding company until they were allowed to make ammunition again in 1956. From here their growth quickly snowballed from Machine guns, to Howitzers, and acquired several companies along the way in related fields like metal packaging and Automobiles. In 2000 they decided to specialize in Defense Technology, Automotive Technology, and Electronics. These moves resulted in them becoming the 5th largest arms manufacturer in Europe and the 28th in the world.
https://www.greatwarforum.org/topic/282552-unkown-german-artillery-piece/ Image of the X49 Ehrhardt from The Flanders Fields Museum in Ypres, Belgium.
